Claude in Your IDE β Install, Setup & Run
Claude integrates natively into VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, and as a standalone terminal agent (Claude Code). Each integration gives Claude full awareness of your codebase so it can assist, review, generate, and refactor without context-switching.
VS Code β Claude Extension
Install the Extension
Open VS Code β Extensions panel (Cmd+Shift+X) β Search "Claude for VS Code" by Anthropic β click Install.
Add Your API Key
Open VS Code Settings (Cmd+,) β search claude.apiKey β paste your key from console.anthropic.com. Never commit this to git β add it to ~/.zshrc as ANTHROPIC_API_KEY instead and set the setting to ${env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}.
Open the Chat Panel
Click the Claude icon in the Activity Bar or press Cmd+Shift+C. Select code and use slash commands: /explain, /fix, /test, /doc.
Extension Installed
Chat Panel Open
{ "claude.model": "claude-sonnet-4-6", "claude.apiKey": "${env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}", "claude.inlineCompletion": true, "claude.completionTrigger": "automatic", "claude.contextFiles": ["CLAUDE.md", "README.md"], "claude.maxTokens": 4096, "editor.inlineSuggest.enabled": true }
JetBrains IDEs β Claude AI Plugin
Works with IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand, and all other JetBrains IDEs.
Install via Plugin Marketplace
Go to Settings β Plugins β Marketplace β search "Claude AI" β Install β Restart IDE.
Configure API Key
Go to Settings β Tools β Claude AI β paste your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY. Recommended: use the built-in secrets store (Settings β Appearance β System Settings β Passwords).
Use Claude in Context
Select any code β right-click β Claude AI β choose action. Or open the Claude tool window from the right sidebar. Use Alt+Enter on any error to trigger "Fix with Claude".
Claude Code β Terminal Agent
Claude Code is a terminal-native agentic tool that gives Claude direct access to your filesystem, shell, git, and test runner. It can autonomously plan, write, test, debug, and commit code across an entire project.
Install Claude Code
Requires Node.js 18+. Install globally:
# Install globally via npm npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code # Verify installation claude --version # β Claude Code v1.0.3 # Set your API key (add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc) export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-your-key-here" # Launch in your project directory cd ~/shopmate claude
# Inside a Claude Code session: /help # List all commands /status # Show current context and token usage /compact # Compress conversation to save tokens /clear # Start fresh conversation /cost # Show session token cost # Non-interactive (pipe a task and exit): claude -p "Write tests for support_agent.py" --output-format json claude -p "Review this PR diff" < git.diff # With MCP server: claude --mcp-config .mcp.json
Which Integration to Use?
| Integration | Best For | Key Strength | Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| VS Code Extension | Daily coding, inline completions | Seamless UX, zero context switch | Limited to single file context by default |
| Windsurf + Cascade | Agentic multi-file tasks | Full codebase awareness, autonomous editing | Separate IDE install required |
| JetBrains Plugin | Java/Kotlin/Python in JetBrains | Deep IDE integration, Alt+Enter fix | Fewer agentic features than Windsurf |
| Claude Code (Terminal) | Autonomous long-horizon tasks | Full shell/git/test access, scriptable | No visual UI, terminal only |
Use Windsurf for large agentic tasks (building new features, refactoring), VS Code extension for quick inline completions and chat when editing, and Claude Code for CI automation, pre-commit hooks, and scripted code generation pipelines.