VS Code and JetBrains

You can use Claude Code without leaving your editor.

VS Code (and forks such as Cursor): install the "Claude Code" extension from the Extensions view. Open it from the Spark icon in the editor toolbar, the Activity Bar or the Command Palette ("Claude Code: Open in New Tab"). You get a graphical panel with:

• inline diffs you can review and accept,
• @-mentions of files, including line ranges from your current selection,
• plan review: read and edit Claude's plan before accepting it,
• a permission mode indicator to switch modes,
• conversation history, several conversations in tabs, and checkpoints.

It uses the same settings, CLAUDE.md and MCP configuration as the terminal, and the same sessions: claude --resume in a terminal can pick up an extension conversation. Some features are terminal-only (all commands, the ! shell shortcut), and installing the extension does not put claude on your PATH; install the CLI separately if you want both.

JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm and others): install the Claude Code plugin from the JetBrains Marketplace. It runs the CLI inside the IDE's terminal, which must be installed separately, and adds interactive diff viewing and selection sharing.

Terminal plus IDE: if you prefer the CLI, run claude in your editor's integrated terminal and it connects automatically; from an external terminal run /ide to connect. The connection lets Claude see your current selection and open diffs in the editor.

There is also a desktop app and claude.ai/code in the browser for cloud sessions; the skills you are learning apply there too.