Your first conversation

Time to say hello. In this step you use Claude in your web browser at claude.ai. The Claude app for your computer (step 9) looks the same.

The chat screen

• The message box sits in the middle of the page, or at the bottom once a chat has started. It may show grey text like "How can I help you today?". You type here.
• The sidebar is the column on the left. At the top is New chat. Below it is a list of your past chats, newest first. If you don't see the sidebar, click the small icon at the top left to open it.
• Your initials are at the bottom left. Clicking them opens Settings.

A chat is one conversation. Claude remembers everything said inside one chat, from the first message to the last. A new chat starts fresh.

Send your first message

1. Click inside the message box.
2. Type your message. Pressing Return (marked Enter on a Windows PC) sends it, so for a new line inside a message press Shift + Return.
3. Press Return (or click the arrow button at the right end of the box).
4. Watch the answer appear, word by word. Wait until it stops.

Here is a first message you can copy. The Copy button on the box puts it on your clipboard; then click the message box and press Command + V on a Mac, or Ctrl + V on a Windows PC.

Read the answer. If a word is new, ask about it in the same chat. For example:

Start a second chat

1. Click New chat at the top of the sidebar.
2. The message box is empty again. Claude has forgotten the Binder chat, because this is a new one.
3. Your first chat is still in the sidebar. Click it any time to continue it.

That's the whole skill: type, send, read, reply. Everything else in this guide is built on it.