How do you sign in to your account?
Installation and first steps · lesson 5 of 11
The first time you type claude and press Enter, the program asks you to authenticate (to prove who you are).
Usually your browser opens and you log in there. You have three options:
- Claude subscription (Pro / Max / Team / Enterprise) — the simplest. You log in with your claude.ai account.
- API key from the Anthropic Console — a “password for programs”. You pay for what you use, counted in tokens (small pieces of text, roughly a syllable or a short word). It’s handy for automation, for example CI (systems that run checks on their own every time the code changes).
- Cloud providers — Amazon Bedrock or Google Vertex AI. For companies that already use these services. They’re set up through environment variables (settings that programs read when they start).