Experiments: Claude Code Installation in Mac

Process Monitoring

Mac and in Windows WSL:

for pid in $(pgrep claude); do
  cmd=$(ps -p $pid -o command= | awk '{print $1}')
  [ "$cmd" = "claude" ] && cmd=$(which claude)
  echo "$pid: $cmd"
done

Windows:

Get-Process claude | Select Path

claude code running in a mac terminal: /opt/homebrew/bin/claude
claude code running in Mac VS Code Extension: /Users/aleksandr.sapozhkov/.vscode/extensions/anthropic.claude-code-2.0.62-darwin-arm64/resources/native-binary/claude
Visual Studio Claude Code extension running in Windows: c:\Users\azureuser\.vscode\extensions\anthropic.claude-code-2.0.75-win32-x64\resources\native-binary\claude.exe
Visual Studio Claude Code extension running in Windows opened from WSL: c:\Users\azureuser\.vscode\extensions\anthropic.claude-code-2.0.75-win32-x64\resources\native-binary\claude.exe
Visual Studio Claude Code extension running in Windows opened from WSL in dev-container: /root/.vscode-server/extensions/anthropic.claude-code-2.0.75-alpine-x64/resources/native-binary/claude

Check the contents of the HOME variable

Mac:

env | grep HOME

Windows:

$env:HOMEPATH;

usual terminal in Macos: HOME=/Users/aleksandr.sapozhkov
VS code terminal: HOME=/Users/aleksandr.sapozhkov
VS code Claude Code Extension: HOME=/Users/aleksandr.sapozhkov
VS code dev container: HOME=/home/vscode
VS code Claude Code Extension when running in dev container: HOME=/home/vscode
VS code Claude Code Extension in Windows:

VS code Claude Code Extension in WSL:

VS code Claude Code Extension in WSL + dev-container:

Check Claude Authorization

Mac:

security dump-keychain 2>&1 | grep -i "claude"

Fresh MacOS VM with installed Claude Code and VS with extension
security dump-keychain 2>&1 | grep -i "claude" returns nothing
Running claude code and authenticating using console account
security dump-keychain 2>&1 | grep -i "claude" returns

    0x00000007 <blob>="Claude Code"
    "svce"<blob>="Claude Code"

Running Claude Code Extension in Visual Studio Code

Observed: Claude Code is not requesting authentication

Options or using credit balance

Mac

via ~/.claude/settings.json

contents of ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "apiKeyHelper": "~/.claude/anthropic_key.sh"
}

contents of ~/.claude/anthropic_key.sh:

echo 'sk-ant-api03-HIDDEN'

Testing Immediate Effect After Setting the API Helper

Open first Visual Studio Code window.
Open a second window.
Set the key via ~/.claude/anthropic_key.sh.
In the second window, open the Claude Code Extension and make a prompt.

Observed: Claude Code has no credits.

Close second window but not closing the first window.
Open a new window and repeat the prompt.

Observed: Claude Code works as it should.

Conclusion: after setting up new API key via ~/.claude/anthropic_key.sh, we don't need to close all VSCode windows and open again.

via environment variable

echo 'export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"' >> ~/.zshrc

verify:

echo $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

Inspired by: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12304248-managing-api-key-environment-variables-in-claude-code#h_93fc3d36f7

Testing Immediate Effect After Setting the Variable

Open first Visual Studio Code window.
Open a separate terminal window.
In the terminal window set the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY variable.
Without closing the first Visual Studio Code window, open a second one.
In the second window, verify in the terminal that the variable is set.
In the second window, open the Claude Code Extension and make a prompt.

Observed: Claude Code has no credits.

Close all Visual Studio Code windows
Open a new window and repeat the prompt

Observed: Claude Code works as it should.

Conclusion: after setting up new API key via environment variable, we need to close all VSCode windows and open again.

In a devcontainer via environment variable

Set the following content in a git repo in .devcontainer/terraform-az-claude-extension/devcontainer.json:

{
  "name": "Dev Container with Claude Code Extension",
  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/vscode/devcontainers/base:debian",
  "customizations": {
    "vscode": {
      "extensions": [
        "anthropic.claude-code"
      ]
    }
  },
  "remoteEnv": {
    "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "${localEnv:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}"
  }
}

On the host set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY variable
Close all VS Code windows
Open a window with the git repo
Open in devcontainer
Rebuild container
In terminal, verify that the variable is set
Open Claude Code Extension
Ask for any prompt

Observed: Claude Code responds with Invalid API key · Please run /login.

Set contents of .claude/settings.json:

{
  "apiKeyHelper": "echo $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"
}

Reopen VS Code window and open in devcontainer
Open Claude Code Extension
Ask for any prompt

Observed: Claude Code responds properly

Conclusion: For running Claude Code Extension in devcontainer, we need to use ~/.claude/settings.json.

Setting up

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
cd /opt/homebrew/bin/
ls
PATH=$PATH:/opt/homebrew/bin
cd
touch .zshrc
echo export PATH=$PATH:/opt/homebrew/bin -> .zshrc

softwareupdate --install-rosetta --agree-to-license

brew install --cask docker
brew install --cask claude-code
brew install --cask visual-studio-code

code --install-extension anthropic.claude-code

Testing

Open VS code with any project
Ignore suggestion of opening the project in a dev container
Open claude code extension
Login with any account

Empty dialog

Open a new Claude Code session:

...

Open project in dev container
Open claude code extension
Login with any account