Previously, Anthropic distributed Claude Code via NPM:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

New alternatives

While the method above still works, there are now 2 alternative ways to get Claude Code.

1) Via Bash Script

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

2) Via Homebrew

brew install --cask claude-code

These alternatives do not require NPM as a prerequisite. 


Switching

1) Before switching, you should uninstall Claude Code via NPM.

npm uninstall -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

2) Then install Claude Code via one of the alternatives.

% curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
Setting up Claude Code...

✔ Claude Code successfully installed!

  Version: 2.0.32

  Location: ~/.local/bin/claude

3) Run it!

claude