I’m not a software engineer. I’m a Technical Program Manager, which means I work around<\/em> engineers every day \u2014 but I don’t usually write code myself. So when I decided to install Claude Code<\/strong>, Anthropic’s command-line AI tool, I expected it to be painful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It kind of was. But in a fixable way. Here’s exactly what happened and how I got it working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Claude Code is a command-line tool that lets you work with Claude (the AI) directly from your terminal. Instead of going back and forth in a chat window, you can ask Claude to write code, edit files, run commands, and build things \u2014 all without leaving your terminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Think of it as having an AI developer sitting next to you while you work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I followed the official instructions and ran the install command in Terminal. The installation itself went smoothly and ended with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Great sign. Or so I thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After installation, I tried to run Claude Code:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And got this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I tried again. Same error. I even tried The installer placed the I confirmed the file was there:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It existed. My terminal just couldn’t find it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Add the path to your shell config:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Reload your shell:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then verify it works:<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s it. The tool was there the whole time \u2014 my terminal just needed to be told where to look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once the PATH was fixed, I ran:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And was greeted with this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n …and a tiny ASCII pig. \ud83d\udc37<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is something I didn’t think about until after setup: it matters where in your file system you launch Claude Code from.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The best practice is to create a dedicated folder for your projects and launch Claude from inside the relevant project folder:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Claude Code will create its own config files in that folder, so it remembers context for that project each time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The installation itself is straightforward. The only real hurdle is the PATH issue \u2014 and once you know what it is, it takes 30 seconds to fix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you hit That’s all it takes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that Claude Code is running, I’m planning to use it for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ll keep sharing what I learn here. If you’re a non-engineer curious about AI dev tools, stick around \u2014 I’m figuring this out alongside you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have questions or hit a different error? Drop a comment below. \ud83d\udc47<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m not a software engineer. I’m a Technical Program Manager, which means I work around engineers every day \u2014 but I don’t usually write code myself. So when I decided to install Claude Code, Anthropic’s command-line AI tool, I expected it to be painful. It kind of was. But in a fixable way. Here’s exactly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.wakacin-lifestyle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Facebook\u306e\u6295\u7a3f-How-I-Set-Up-Claude-Code.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakacin-lifestyle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakacin-lifestyle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakacin-lifestyle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakacin-lifestyle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakacin-lifestyle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2847"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakacin-lifestyle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2850,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakacin-lifestyle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847\/revisions\/2850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakacin-lifestyle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakacin-lifestyle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakacin-lifestyle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakacin-lifestyle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nWhat Is Claude Code?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nMy Setup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nStep 1: Installation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u2705 Installation complete!\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nStep 2: The Error That Stumped Me<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
claude\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nzsh: command not found: claude\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nclaude claude<\/code> (yes, I panicked a little). Still nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWhat Was Actually Wrong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
claude<\/code> binary in ~\/.local\/bin\/<\/code>, but my terminal didn’t know to look there. This is a PATH issue<\/strong> \u2014 a very common problem that catches a lot of people off guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\nls ~\/.local\/bin\/\n# claude \u2713\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe Fix<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
echo 'export PATH=\"$HOME\/.local\/bin:$PATH\"' >> ~\/.zshrc\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsource ~\/.zshrc\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nclaude --version\n# 2.1.177 (Claude Code)\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nStep 3: First Launch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
claude\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nWelcome to Claude Code v2.1.177\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWhere to Run Claude Code From<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
mkdir -p ~\/Claude\/my-project\ncd ~\/Claude\/my-project\nclaude\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nMy Takeaway<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
command not found: claude<\/code> after installation, don’t reinstall. Just run:<\/p>\n\n\n\necho 'export PATH=\"$HOME\/.local\/bin:$PATH\"' >> ~\/.zshrc && source ~\/.zshrc\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWhat’s Next<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\n