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Troubleshooting reference Type your error message or a keyword in the search box. Click any entry to expand the full fix. Each entry tells you whether the fix involves the terminal, and walks you through opening it if needed.
▸ 30-second triage Run four quick checks before reading further. Catches 80% of common issues. 30-second triage · terminal ▸ Account and OS requirements Confirm your Anthropic plan and operating system meet the minimums before installing. Before installing ▸ “command not found: claude” (macOS) Claude Code is installed but Terminal does not know to look for it. macOS · terminal ▸ “Apple could not verify claude is free of malware” macOS Gatekeeper is blocking the binary because it does not trust its signature. macOS ▸ “dyld: Symbol not found” or “Abort trap: 6” Your macOS version is older than 13.0; the binary is built for newer OSes. macOS ▸ Multiple Claude Code installs conflicting An old install (npm or Homebrew) is shadowing the new native install. macOS · terminal ▸ npm permission errors (EACCES) You tried to install via npm; the recommended installer is simpler and avoids permission issues entirely. macOS · terminal ▸ Apple Silicon: Homebrew not found On Apple Silicon Macs, Homebrew lives at /opt/homebrew/bin and is not on a fresh shell's PATH. macOS · terminal ▸ Xcode Command Line Tools prompt macOS asks to install Apple's developer tools. Claude Code does not need them, but Git does. macOS ▸ ~/.zshrc edits not taking effect You added a line to ~/.zshrc but PATH or environment changes do not appear in new Terminal windows. macOS · terminal ▸ Keychain locked: prompted to log in every session You sign in successfully, but every new Claude Code session asks you to sign in again. macOS · terminal ▸ University or work-managed Mac (MDM, Jamf, Intune) Install completes but Claude Code will not launch (“blocked by your administrator”), or the Allow Anyway button is grayed out. macOS ▸ “Which terminal am I in?” Windows has multiple terminals (PowerShell, CMD, Git Bash, WSL). Many install errors come from being in the wrong one. Windows ▸ “running scripts is disabled on this system” PowerShell's default security policy blocks the installer. Loosen it once for your user account. Windows · terminal ▸ “'claude' is not recognized” after install (Windows) Install succeeded but PowerShell does not know to look in the install folder yet. Windows · terminal ▸ Typing “claude” opens Claude Desktop, not the CLI An older Claude Desktop install registered a system-wide shortcut that takes priority over the CLI. Windows ▸ “Claude Code on Windows requires either Git for Windows or PowerShell” Claude Code needs at least one shell installed to run shell commands on your behalf. Windows ▸ SmartScreen or antivirus blocks the installer Windows protected your PC, or the install fails partway because antivirus quarantines the binary. Windows · terminal ▸ “Claude Code does not support 32-bit Windows” You opened the 32-bit version of PowerShell by accident, or your Windows is itself 32-bit. Windows · terminal ▸ “Could not create SSL/TLS secure channel” Older Windows 10 builds default to a TLS version too old for modern web installs. Windows · terminal ▸ “unable to get local issuer certificate” on a corporate network Your university or workplace network re-signs HTTPS traffic, and the installer does not trust the corporate root certificate. Windows · terminal ▸ “Exec format error” in WSL Your Linux distro is on WSL1; Claude Code needs WSL2. Windows · terminal ▸ “HCS_E_HYPERV_NOT_INSTALLED” or “Virtualization is not enabled” WSL2 needs virtualization enabled in BIOS and certain Windows features turned on. Windows ▸ OAuth login flow gets stuck in WSL Your browser opens, you sign in, but Claude Code in WSL keeps waiting because it cannot receive the callback. Windows · terminal ▸ “This organization has been disabled” or surprise API charges An old ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable is overriding your Pro/Max subscription credentials. Sign-in · terminal ▸ Browser does not open during sign-in Terminal says “Opening browser…” but nothing happens. Sign-in · terminal ▸ “Invalid code. Please make sure the full code was copied” The code expired (you took too long) or your terminal truncated the paste. Sign-in · terminal ▸ You signed in to the wrong Anthropic account Common when university SSO lands you on a fresh free-tier claude.ai account that does not have Pro or Max. Sign-in · terminal ▸ University SSO (Shibboleth, Okta, Duo) interferes Browser sign-in stalls at an SSO prompt or opens a new tab and loses the OAuth state. Sign-in ▸ “403 Forbidden” after sign-in Sign-in succeeded but Claude Code refuses to run prompts. Usually a plan or permission issue. Sign-in ▸ Logged out unexpectedly mid-session Sign-in worked, but a few hours later you are signed out again. Sign-in ▸ Pro vs Max vs Console: which plan should you have? Quick decision tree for which Anthropic plan is right for the workshop. Sign-in ▸ 429 or 529 errors on first prompt Anthropic capacity issue, not yours. Wait briefly and retry, or switch models. First run ▸ “Do you trust the files in this folder?” and other permission prompts Claude Code asks before editing files or running shell commands. This is the safe default. First run ▸ “Claude can’t see my files” You launched Claude Code from your home directory; it only sees the folder it was launched from. First run · terminal ▸ Network errors: “Failed to fetch from downloads.claude.ai” Claude Code cannot reach Anthropic's servers. Most common cause is a captive portal you have not accepted. First run ▸ claude doctor reports green but Claude Code is still misbehaving Diagnostics pass but the tool acts strange. Usually a context-window or session-state issue. First run ▸ You do not have a GitHub account Required only for the Codespace fallback. Free signup at github.com/signup. Codespace fallback ▸ Two-factor authentication blocks Codespace creation GitHub now requires 2FA on all accounts. Set it up before the workshop, not during. Codespace fallback ▸ Codespace creation hangs or times out The chosen GitHub region is congested. Switch to a different default region. Codespace fallback ▸ Sign-in inside the Codespace gets stuck Same root cause as the WSL OAuth issue: the browser opens locally but the Codespace cannot receive the callback. Codespace fallback · terminal ▸ “My Codespace stopped during the break and I lost my session” Codespaces auto-stop after 30 minutes idle by default. Bump the timeout for the workshop week. Codespace fallback · terminal Sources Authoritative on commands, requirements, and supported platforms. Use these if a reference entry above is out of date.