Working in your IDE

What you’ll be able to do

Use Claude Code from inside VS Code or a JetBrains IDE, review its changes as visual side-by-side diffs, and point it at code simply by selecting it.

Why this matters

In the terminal, Claude shows proposed edits as text. That works, but reviewing a change to a 300-line file in a terminal is harder than in the editor you use every day. The IDE integration doesn’t change what Claude can do: it’s the same agent, with the same permissions and the same loop. It changes how you see and steer its work:

• Visual diffs. Proposed edits open in the editor’s diff viewer, with the old and new versions side by side, where you accept or reject them.
• Selection context. Whatever code you highlight is shared with Claude, so you can say “the selected function” instead of pasting it.
• Diagnostics. Claude can see the errors and warnings your editor reports, such as type errors and lint problems, and fix them directly.
• Quick access. A panel, a toolbar button or a keyboard shortcut opens Claude Code without leaving the editor.

Step 1: Install the integration

VS Code (and editors based on it, such as Cursor): open the Extensions view, search for Claude Code (published by Anthropic) and install it. A Claude Code icon appears in the editor toolbar and side bar.

JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm and others): open Settings → Plugins → Marketplace, search for Claude Code, install it and restart the IDE.

In VS Code, the extension gives you a full chat panel: a prompt box, a permission-mode selector and a Focus view that keeps tool calls collapsed so the conversation stays readable. You can work entirely from that panel, or keep using claude in a terminal and connect it to the editor (step 2). Both use your existing sign-in.

Step 2: Connect a terminal session

If you prefer the terminal, run claude in the editor’s built-in terminal or in a separate one, then connect it to the editor from inside the session:

/ide

Pick your editor from the list. From then on, edits open as visual diffs in the editor, and your selection is shared.

Step 3: Try the editor-aware workflow

Open a project of your own, or the loop-practice project from lesson 1.2, and work through these three tasks.

1. Ask about a selection. Highlight a function and ask:

Explain the selected code and point out any edge cases it misses.

What you’ll see: an answer about exactly the code you highlighted, without any copying or pasting. If Claude talks about a different function, check the connection with /ide.

2. Review a diff visually. Keep the function selected and ask:

Add JSDoc comments to the selected function.

What you’ll see: the change opens in the editor’s diff view. Read it there, then accept it, or reject it and tell Claude why. Rejecting with a reason (“keep comments to one line”) is how you teach it your preferences within the session.

3. Fix what the editor reports. This needs a project where your editor shows errors, for example TypeScript, or JavaScript with a linter. Introduce a mistake on purpose, such as calling a function with the wrong number of arguments, then ask:

Fix the problems the editor is reporting in this file.

What you’ll see: Claude reads the editor’s diagnostics, fixes the cause, and the error marker disappears.

Terminal or IDE?

Use the terminal when…	Use the IDE when…
You’re on a remote server, or connected over SSH	You want to review diffs visually
You’re scripting with claude -p	You’re focused on one file and want to share your selection
You prefer working entirely from the keyboard	You want Claude to see the editor’s errors and warnings

Many people combine them: Claude Code in the IDE’s terminal pane, connected with /ide, so they get the terminal’s speed and the editor’s visual diffs.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the IDE version is a different product. It’s the same agent, with the same permissions and settings. Everything in this course applies to both.
• Forgetting to connect. If Claude doesn’t seem to know about your selection, run /ide and pick the editor.
• Accepting diffs without reading them. Visual diffs make reviewing easier, not optional.

Verify it worked

• The Claude Code extension or plugin is installed, from Anthropic
• You asked about a selection and Claude referred to exactly that code
• You accepted or rejected an edit in the visual diff viewer
• You know how to connect a terminal session with /ide

Next (Module 2): writing prompts that get the result you want on the first try.