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Module 2 · Lesson 2.5 · 11 min

The Terminal in 10 Commands

Master the handful of terminal commands needed to navigate folders and start Claude Code in the right place.

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Module 2

Fearless Setup on Mac and Windows

Every click shown, nothing skipped

Bruno Ashford

2.1 Plans and costs

Which plans include what

Plan	Claude Code	Cowork	Best for
Free	No	No	Trying Claude chat
Pro	Yes	Yes	Most owners, to start
Max	Yes	Yes	Heavy daily use
Team / Enterprise	Yes	Yes	Staff seats, admin control
Console (API)	Yes	No	Pay per use, automation

Check live prices on claude.com/pricing before buying.

2.1 The real question

Do not ask what the plan costs. Ask how many hours it has to save to pay for itself.

Bruno Ashford

2.2 First steps in Cowork

Your first agent, no terminal

1Practice folderCopies, never originals
2Connect itChoose Cowork, add the folder
3Brief the outcomeFinish line, no deleting
4Spot checkFive rows against the files

2.3 Installing on Mac

Five minutes, one line

Open Terminal with Cmd + Space, then:

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
Open a new Terminal window
claude --version to verify
claude to start and log in

2.4 Installing on Windows

PowerShell, not CMD

Look for PS at the start of the line.

Optional: install Git for Windows
irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex
No Administrator rights needed
New window, then claude --version

2.5 The terminal in 10 commands

Most of what you will ever type

Job	Mac	Windows PowerShell
Where am I?	pwd	pwd
What is here?	ls	ls or dir
Go in / up	cd name / cd ..	cd name / cd ..
Create folders	mkdir A B	mkdir A, B
Open in window	open .	explorer .
Start Claude	claude	claude

2.5 The one idea

Claude Code works inside the folder you start it in. Choose the folder, choose what it sees.

Bruno Ashford

2.6 When setup goes wrong

Error, cause, fix

You see	It means	Fix
command not found	PATH not set	PATH fix, new window
irm is not recognized	You are in CMD	Open PowerShell
403 after login	Plan or role issue	Check subscription or role
Organization disabled	Old API key	Remove ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

2.6 The golden rule

Four moves for any error

1ReadThe exact words on screen
2MatchFind them in the guide
3FixApply the one-line fix
4RestartOpen a new window

Module project

Your company workspace

End this module with a real place to work.

Claude Code installed and verified
Company folder, one subfolder per department
README.md written by Claude
First session saved as a file

Recap

The hardest part of this course is behind you. From here on, you mostly speak plain English.

Bruno Ashford

01 / 12

Use ← → to move. The marker highlights text and the pencil draws on the slide; navigation locks while you annotate. Undo removes the last mark, Esc exits.

1Know where you are and what is there

pwd shows the folder you are in. ls lists what is in it (on Windows PowerShell, ls or dir). Run both whenever you feel lost.

Terminal

pwd
ls

2Move between folders

cd moves into a folder, cd .. goes up one level and cd ~ takes you home. Use quotes for names with spaces, and press Tab to auto-complete names.

Terminal

cd ~
cd Documents
cd ..

3Create your company workspace

Make one Company folder with a subfolder per department. On Mac, separate names with spaces. On Windows PowerShell, separate them with commas: mkdir Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations.

Terminal

cd ~/Documents
mkdir Company
cd Company
mkdir Sales Marketing Finance Operations

4See it in the window you know

open . on Mac or explorer . on Windows opens the current folder in Finder or File Explorer. Use it to see what Claude creates in a familiar view.

5Start Claude in the right place

From inside the Company folder, type claude. Then give it its first job in your workspace.

Prompt for Claude

Look at this folder and tell me what you see. Then create a README.md that explains, in plain English, what each subfolder is for in my business, and suggest two more subfolders I might need.

6Know the controls inside Claude

Esc interrupts Claude. /help lists commands. /clear starts a fresh conversation. Shift + Tab cycles permission modes. exit leaves. Keep the Terminal in 10 Commands cheat sheet next to you for the first two weeks.

MDThe Terminal in 10 Commands (Mac and Windows)Cheat sheet MDSetup Troubleshooting GuideGuide

I promised you would not need to learn the terminal, and I meant it. You need ten commands, and half of them are the same on Mac and Windows. Everything after that is plain English inside Claude.

The single most important idea in this lesson is this: Claude Code works inside the folder you start it in. Start it in the right folder and it sees your business. Start it in the wrong one and it either sees nothing useful or far too much. These ten commands are how you control that.

Key points

Claude Code works inside the folder you start it in.
pwd, ls and cd are 80 percent of what you need.
One Company folder, one subfolder per department.
open . or explorer . shows it in a normal window.
Esc, /help, /clear and exit are your controls inside Claude.

Avoid

Starting Claude in your home folder or Desktop.
Forgetting the commas when creating several folders in PowerShell.
Typing long folder names instead of using Tab to auto-complete.
Panicking at an error instead of running pwd to see where you are.

Real-world example: an e-commerce store

The skincare founder started Claude Code in her home folder on day one and it began reading through years of unrelated files when she asked for help. After this lesson she created a Company folder with Products, Customer Service, Suppliers and Finance subfolders, and always starts Claude there. Her sessions got faster and more focused immediately, because the agent only saw what mattered.