Claude Code is Anthropic's terminal-native agentic coding tool. Unlike Cursor or GitHub Copilot which wrap VS Code, Claude Code runs as a CLI in your existing shell, uses your existing git setup, and integrates with your existing development environment. This makes it particularly well-suited for terminal-heavy workflows, scripting, CI/CD pipelines, and multi-agent orchestration.
Claude Code runs a session where Claude (using Sonnet 4.6 or Opus 4.6) can invoke a set of tools: Bash (execute shell commands), Read/Write/Edit (file operations), Grep/Glob (search), and Agent (spawn sub-agents, optionally in git worktrees for isolation). A CLAUDE.md file at the project root (or home directory for global) provides persistent context and instructions. Permission modes control which commands auto-run vs prompt vs deny. The session maintains conversation state across invocations via /resume.
Included with Claude Pro ($20/month) and Max ($100+/month) subscriptions, with usage limits scaled by tier. Also available via API with pay-per-token pricing matching Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Opus 4.6 rates. Free to install the CLI binary.
Engineers at Anthropic, many AI-first companies, and developers who live in the terminal. Particularly popular for CI automation, refactoring, and multi-repo workflows.