How to install and configure Claude Code, step by step

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. Claude Code has been making waves in the development world. I recently used Anthropic's coding assistant to build a complex and fairly sophisticated iPhone app from start to finish. I started by using Claude Code inside Apple's Code Intelligence feature of Xcode, but found Code Intelligence to be buggy. It crashed or hung fairly consistently. I confirmed that it was Code Intelligence, not Claude Code, causing the issues, because when I tried using OpenAI's Codex in Code Intelligence, I encountered the same buggy behavior. Also: How to create your first iPhone app with AI - no coding experience needed When I set up Claude Code to run from the terminal via command line, everything settled down. I had an incredibly productive experience. That's what we'll discuss in this article: how to set up Claude Code in the terminal, and how to get it working with Xcode. Please don't think this article will only be helpful if you're planning to code an Apple app. Everything I'm going to show you applies to other apps as well. It's just that my project is an iPhone app, so that's what will be in my examples. Here's the thing: You can't get a lot of agentic coding done with the free tier of Claude. You will need to sign up for the Pro plan ($17/month) or the Max plan (starting at $100/month). I recommend starting with the Pro plan. After about five hours, if you decide you like Claude Code, you'll have to move to the Max plan, but it's fai...