Claude Code FAQ
8 common questions about Claude Code — answered.
No, Claude Code is not free. It requires either a Claude Max subscription ($100/month) or an Anthropic API key with pay-per-token pricing. There is no free tier, but API usage typically costs $0.10-$2.00 per session depending on task complexity.
Claude Code pricing has two options: Claude Max at $100/month (includes Claude Code with generous usage limits) or API-based pricing where you pay per token used. API costs vary — simple tasks cost cents, while complex multi-file operations can cost $1-2 per session.
Claude Code is Anthropic's official command-line AI coding tool. Unlike IDE-based assistants that suggest code inline, Claude Code is an agentic tool — it reads your entire codebase, runs shell commands, edits multiple files, creates commits, and executes complex development tasks autonomously from your terminal.
Install Claude Code in three steps: (1) Ensure you have Node.js 18+ installed, (2) Run npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code in your terminal, (3) Run claude and authenticate with your Anthropic account. It works on macOS, Linux, and Windows via WSL.
Cursor is an AI-powered IDE (fork of VS Code) best for developers who want AI-assisted editing within a visual editor. Claude Code is a terminal-native agent best for developers who prefer CLI workflows and need autonomous multi-file operations. Cursor excels at inline suggestions and visual diffs; Claude Code excels at complex debugging, refactoring, and codebase-wide tasks. Many developers use both.
Yes — file editing is one of Claude Code's core capabilities. It can read, create, and edit files across your entire project. Unlike simple text replacement, Claude Code understands your code semantically and can make coordinated changes across multiple files (e.g., renaming a function and updating all call sites).
Claude Code runs in any terminal, including VS Code's integrated terminal. While it's not a VS Code extension, you can use it alongside VS Code — run Claude Code in the terminal panel while using VS Code for visual code browsing and editing. There's also a VS Code extension that provides inline integration.
Claude Code supports all major programming languages including Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, Go, Rust, C/C++, Ruby, PHP, Swift, Kotlin, and more. It's language-agnostic — it reads and understands code in any language, and can work with mixed-language projects (e.g., a Python backend with a TypeScript frontend).