Install claude-code with Homebrew Cask

Project links

• Homepage
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• claude

Project history

Anthropic introduced Claude Code on February 24, 2025 alongside Claude 3.7 Sonnet, calling it a limited research preview for delegating substantial engineering tasks to Claude directly from a terminal. The npm registry records the `@anthropic-ai/claude-code` package as created the same day.

The project later shifted away from npm as the preferred install path. The official GitHub README now says npm installation is deprecated and points users to native installers, Homebrew, WinGet, and setup documentation. Official docs describe Claude Code as available through terminal, VS Code, JetBrains, desktop, web, GitHub/GitLab CI, Slack, and other workflow surfaces.

Adoption history

Official distribution broadened from the original npm package to native install scripts for macOS, Linux, WSL, and Windows, Homebrew casks, WinGet, and Linux package managers including apt, dnf, and apk. Homebrew's `claude-code` cask tracks the stable channel, while docs mention `claude-code@latest` for the latest channel.

The npm registry remains a useful historical source: it records 448 package versions and published version 2.1.196 by June 2026. Homebrew cask metadata records the cask binary artifact as `claude`, with cask zap paths covering Claude cache, config, local state, and `.claude` directories.

How it is used

The CLI is launched as `claude` from a project directory. Official docs highlight workflows such as building features, fixing bugs, writing tests, resolving merge conflicts, updating dependencies, creating commits and pull requests, connecting tools through MCP, customizing with CLAUDE.md, skills, and hooks, and piping command output into the CLI.

Claude Code stores settings in user and project scopes: `~/.claude/settings.json`, `.claude/settings.json`, and `.claude/settings.local.json`; it stores other configuration in `~/.claude.json` and project MCP servers in `.mcp.json`. These files became a configuration surface for many companion tools in this batch.

Why package nerds care

Claude Code is package-nerd significant because it rapidly turned an AI coding assistant into a multi-channel developer toolchain package: npm for early installs, native auto-updating binaries, Homebrew casks, WinGet manifests, Linux packages, IDE extensions, and CI actions all point at the same underlying agent.

It also created a secondary package ecosystem. Tools such as Claude Code Router, Claude Code Templates, claude-cmd, claude-hooks, and Claude Squad exist because Claude Code exposes configurable files, commands, hooks, MCP servers, worktrees, and terminal workflows that can be wrapped, routed, templated, or orchestrated.

Timeline

• 2025-02-24: Anthropic announces Claude Code as a limited research preview with Claude 3.7 Sonnet.
• 2025-02-24: npm registry records creation of `@anthropic-ai/claude-code`.
• 2026: Official README marks npm installation deprecated in favor of native install, Homebrew, and WinGet.
• 2026-06: npm registry records published version 2.1.196 after 448 published versions.

Related projects

• Claude 3.7 Sonnet is the model announcement alongside Claude Code's public research preview.
• Model Context Protocol is documented by Claude Code as the way to connect external tools and data sources.
• Claude Code Router, Claude Code Templates, claude-cmd, claude-hooks, and Claude Squad are related companion packages in this batch.
• Anthropic's VS Code, JetBrains, desktop, web, Slack, GitHub Actions, and GitLab CI/CD integrations are official adjacent surfaces.

Sources

• https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-3-7-sonnet
• https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code
• https://code.claude.com/docs/en/overview.md
• https://code.claude.com/docs/en/setup.md
• https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settings.md
• https://registry.npmjs.org/@anthropic-ai%2fclaude-code
• https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/claude-code.json