If you want to know how to install Claude Desktop, the download itself takes about three minutes. Go to claude.ai/download, run the installer, sign in. Done.
That is not why this guide exists.
Claude Desktop on its own is a chat box. A very good one, but a chat box. The version that reads your email, watches your calendar, updates your CRM and actually does work alongside you needs three more free tools installed underneath it. Most people never find that out. They install the app, poke at it for six minutes, ask it to write a LinkedIn post, decide it is fancy autocomplete, and never open it again.
I spent years as an avionics technician on F-18s in the RCAF before I ever sold anything. Every task had a documented procedure, and not because the technicians were incapable of remembering. Memory is the weakest link in any system that has to produce the same result twice. Follow the procedure and the aircraft flies. Improvise and you file a snag report.
So this is the procedure. All four installs, every screen, every answer. This is the same guide we hand to clients during a paid install, written out in full.
- VS Code is the workbench. It goes first because the installers that follow look for it.
- Claude Desktop is the AI. It goes second so its chat can help you with every screen after this point.
- Git is the record keeper. It protects everything your AI builds so nothing breaks beyond undo. Its installer asks fifteen strange questions and every answer is below.
- Node.js is the engine. It lets the AI plug into your other software. You install it once and never open it again.
The order genuinely matters. Step 3 only goes smoothly because of Step 1. If you install Git before VS Code, one of its screens turns into a trap that strands beginners inside a 1991 text editor. More on that when we get there.
Before you start: system requirements
- Mac: macOS 11 (Big Sur) or higher
- Windows: Windows 10 or higher
- A Claude account, free to create
- An internet connection and about twenty minutes
If your work machine is newer than roughly 2020, you are fine. Claude Desktop is also in beta for Linux on Ubuntu and Debian, and available on ChromeOS through the Google Play Store, but Windows and Mac cover almost every business owner I work with.
Business data belongs on a business grade plan, meaning Team, Enterprise, or an API account. Not a personal one. Chat works on every tier including Free, but the connector features that make this whole setup worth doing sit on the paid tiers, and some are gated behind an admin toggle that only a Team or Enterprise owner can flip.
Step 1: Install VS Code (about 4 minutes)
Go to code.visualstudio.com, click Download for Windows or Mac, and run it.
Two words appear throughout this guide. KEEP means leave whatever is already selected and click Next. CHANGE means pick what we tell you first.
| # | Screen | Action | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | License Agreement | CHANGE | Click “I accept the agreement”, then Next. |
| 2 | Select Destination Location | KEEP | Next. |
| 3 | Select Start Menu Folder | KEEP | Next. |
| 4 | Select Additional Tasks | CHANGE | Tick both “Open with Code” boxes. Leave “Register Code as an editor” and “Add to PATH” checked. Desktop icon is your call. Next, Install, Finish. |
Those two “Open with Code” boxes add a right-click option you will use constantly. They are worth the extra tick.
Step 2: Install Claude Desktop (about 3 minutes)
Go to claude.ai/download and download the desktop app for your system. On Windows you may be offered two builds: x64 for most machines, and arm64 for Snapdragon and other ARM laptops. If you are not sure, x64 is correct. Mac gets a single universal DMG that works on both Intel and Apple Silicon.
Run it, then sign in with the account your business uses.
This is exactly why Claude goes in at step 2 instead of last. The two installs left are the ones with the confusing questions, and you now have a patient expert sitting beside you for both.
If any screen confuses you, ask it plainly: “I’m installing Git and it’s asking me about line ending conversions. What do I pick?” Or take a photo of the screen with your phone and drop it into the chat. Claude reads screens and will walk you through click by click.
The pro move is to keep Claude open on your phone while you install on the computer. No window switching. And there are no dumb questions here. Installers are confusing because they were written by programmers for programmers. You are not supposed to already know this.
Step 3: Install Git, every screen and every answer
Go to git-scm.com and click Download for Windows. This installer asks more questions than the other three combined, which is where most people give up. Here is every screen in order.
Git installer, screens 1 through 8
| # | Screen | Action | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | License | KEEP | Information only. Next. |
| 2 | Select Destination Location | KEEP | The suggested location is right. Next. |
| 3 | Select Components | KEEP | Leave the checkboxes exactly as they are. Next. |
| 4 | Select Start Menu Folder | KEEP | Next. |
| 5 | Choosing the default editor | CHANGE | The one real trap. It suggests “Vim”, a text editor from 1991 that traps beginners inside it with no obvious way out. Open the dropdown and pick “Use Visual Studio Code as Git’s default editor”. It is in the list because you did Step 1. Next. |
| 6 | Adjusting the name of the initial branch | CHANGE | Pick “Override the default branch name” and leave the word main in the box. This matches what the rest of the world uses. Next. |
| 7 | Adjusting your PATH environment | KEEP | The middle option, “Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software”, is already selected. That is the right one. Next. |
| 8 | Choosing the SSH executable | KEEP | “Use bundled OpenSSH”. Next. |
Git installer, screens 9 through 15
| # | Screen | Action | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Choosing HTTPS transport backend | KEEP | “Use the OpenSSL library”. Next. |
| 10 | Configuring the line ending conversions | KEEP | The first option, “Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style line endings”. Next. |
| 11 | Configuring the terminal emulator | KEEP | “Use MinTTY”. Next. |
| 12 | Default behavior of git pull |
KEEP | “Fast-forward or merge”. Next. |
| 13 | Choose a credential helper | KEEP | “Git Credential Manager”. It remembers logins safely so you do not have to. Next. |
| 14 | Configuring extra options | KEEP | “Enable file system caching” stays checked. “Enable symbolic links” stays unchecked. Next. |
| 15 | Configuring experimental options | KEEP | Leave both boxes unchecked. Click Install, wait, then Finish. |
Keep what is already selected on every screen except two: the editor on screen 5 and the branch name on screen 6. That is the whole thing.
If your installer shows a screen this guide does not have, or the order shifts slightly, that is just a version difference. Keep the default and move on, or ask the chat. The answers above do not go out of date.
On a Mac there is no maze
Open the Terminal app, type git, and press Enter. macOS offers to install its command line tools. Click Install and you are done. VS Code, Claude and Node all download the same way as on Windows.
Step 4: Install Node.js (about 3 minutes)
Go to nodejs.org and click the big green LTS button. LTS means Long Term Support, the steady reliable version. That is the one you want, not the newer one beside it.
Run the installer: Next, accept the license, Next, Next, Install. The defaults are correct throughout. One screen asks about “Tools for Native Modules” with a checkbox. Leave it unchecked and click Next.
That is the last install. You will never open Node. It runs quietly underneath everything your AI connects to.
Step 5: Pick your lane, Cowork or Claude Code
There are two ways to actually use the thing you just built, and picking wrong wastes weeks.
Cowork, the no-code way
This is where most business owners belong. It lives inside the Claude app. You click to connect your everyday tools: email, calendar, files, popular CRMs. This is the layer we build on when we do an AI integration for a client. No coding, ever. If you are not technical, start here and do not let anyone talk you out of it.
Claude Code, the power way
More technical. You need it when you want to connect a custom application or run things on your own server. You can add it later without redoing anything above.
Not sure? Cowork. You can always grow into Code when you outgrow it.
The part almost everyone skips
Your computer is now ready. This is where the people who get value and the people who quit go their separate ways, and it has nothing to do with any of the software above.
1. Feed it your business context before you ask it anything
You would never put a new hire in front of a customer on day one, tell them nothing about what you do, how you charge or what you refuse to promise, and then judge them on the result. You would call that an onboarding failure, not a people failure. That is exactly what most owners do with AI, then conclude the output is generic.
So write it down once. What the business actually does, who it serves, how the money works, the questions people ask you over and over, the things you never say, and two or three samples of your own writing so it can hear your voice.
It does not matter what the business is. A trades company, a clinic, a brokerage, a restaurant, a sales team. That one page is the difference between an assistant that sounds like your business and one that sounds like everybody else’s. It moves output quality more than any prompt trick, tool switch or subscription upgrade I have tested.
2. Connect one tool you already live in. One.
Not nine. The instinct after a successful install is to connect everything, and it fails every time because you end up supervising nine half-configured integrations instead of getting value from one. Pick the tool you are in most, connect it, use it for a week.
3. Pick one repeating task and run it there for two full weeks
Attempts one through four feel like extra work. That is normal and it is where most owners quit. Around attempt seven it clicks. By the end of week two a forty minute job is a six minute job. This adoption curve is the single biggest reason we run AI training for teams as a coached engagement rather than a one-off workshop. The owners still saying AI is overhyped are almost always the ones who stopped at attempt four.
When something goes wrong
Windows says the app will not run
You probably grabbed the wrong build. Check whether your machine is x64 or arm64 in Settings, System, About, under System type. Download the matching installer.
Mac blocks it as an app from an unidentified developer
Right-click the app and choose Open instead of double-clicking. That gives you the override prompt macOS hides on a normal launch.
The connector or MCP options are missing
Almost always a plan or permission issue rather than a broken install. On Team and Enterprise plans an admin has to enable connectors before they appear for anyone else.
Git’s installer stranded me in a black window full of tildes
That is Vim, and you picked the default on screen 5. Press Esc, then type :q! and press Enter to escape. Then re-run the Git installer and choose VS Code as the editor this time.
The output is generic and sounds like a robot
Nothing is broken. You skipped the business context page. Go back and do that step properly, because no amount of clever prompting substitutes for it.
Frequently asked questions
Do I really need all four tools?
For chat, no. Claude Desktop alone is fine. For an AI that connects to your business software and builds things that persist, yes. Git and Node are what make the connections possible and recoverable.
Is Claude Desktop free?
The app is free and chat works on the Free tier. The connector and integration features that justify this whole setup sit on paid plans, and business data belongs on a business grade plan regardless.
How long does the full setup take?
About twenty minutes of installing across all four tools. Getting genuinely good at using it takes two weeks of small daily corrections, which is the part nobody advertises.
Can I break something?
No. Every screen in this setup has one right answer and it is written above. Git exists specifically so that nothing your AI builds is ever lost or broken beyond undo.
What if my installer looks different from this guide?
Versions change. Keep whatever is already selected and move on, or ask the chat. The two screens that matter, editor and branch name, have not moved in years.
Does this work on a work computer with IT restrictions?
Sometimes. Locked-down corporate machines may block installers or require admin approval. If you hit a wall, that is a conversation with IT, not a problem with the guide.
The tool is fine. The procedure was missing.
Nothing above is difficult. It is just undocumented, scattered across four vendors’ websites, and written for people who already know. That gap is the entire reason most owners bounce off AI in week one and conclude it is not for them.
You now have the procedure. Work it in order, ask the chat when a screen looks strange, and give it two weeks on one real task before you judge the results.
Want it installed with you instead of by you?
ATP does this live, on a call, on your machine, then builds the AI around how your business actually runs. Calgary based, working with owners across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Panama and the Philippines.