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Step 7 of 10 · about 15 minutes

Run a command Claude gives you

By the endYou can paste a command into the Terminal pane, run it, answer the computer's own password or permission question, and let Claude check the result.

Your computer:

Claude runs almost every command itself, after an Allow question. Now and then it hands one to you instead. Three reasons:

  • A safety check stopped Claude. Some actions it is not allowed to do on its own, on purpose.
  • The command needs your computer's password, or your OK in a box that Windows shows. Claude must never know your password, so you handle that part.
  • The command asks questions while it runs, like a sign-in. Claude can't answer those for it.

When that happens, Claude puts the command in a copy box and tells you where to paste it. This step is the where and how.

The Terminal pane

The Terminal is a plain text window. You type a command, press the Enter key (called Return on a Mac), and the computer does it. The Code tab has one built in. To open it: click Terminal in the title bar of the session, or hold Control and press the backtick key (`), the key at the top-left of the keyboard.

A pane opens, usually below or beside the chat. Inside is a short line with a blinking cursor after it. That line is the prompt. It means: waiting for you. Nothing runs until you press Enter.

On a Mac

The prompt line ends in % or $.

On a Windows PC

The prompt line looks like PS C:\Users\YourName>, with your project folder's path in the middle, and ends in >. That is PowerShell, Windows' own terminal. (If yours ends in $ instead, the pane opened Git's terminal; everything in this guide works the same there.)

Run it

On a Mac
  1. In Claude's message, find the copy box with the command. Click its Copy button. No button? Drag across the command to select it and press Command + C.
  2. Click inside the Terminal pane, anywhere.
  3. Press Command + V. The command appears after the prompt. It can be one line or several.
  4. Press Return.
  5. Text scrolls by. Wait until a new prompt line appears at the bottom. That means it finished.
On a Windows PC
  1. In Claude's message, find the copy box with the command. Click its Copy button. No button? Drag across the command to select it and press Ctrl + C.
  2. Click inside the Terminal pane, anywhere.
  3. Press Ctrl + V. The command appears after the prompt. It can be one line or several. If nothing appears, right-click inside the pane instead; in a terminal, a right-click pastes.
  4. Press Enter.
  5. Text scrolls by. Wait until a new prompt line appears at the bottom. That means it finished.

If it asks for your password, or your OK

On a Mac

The Terminal may show Password: and wait. Type your Mac password, the one you sign in with. Nothing appears while you type, not even dots. That is normal. Press Return when you have typed it. You get three tries.

This is the one place a password is typed near Claude: inside the Terminal pane, where the Mac itself asks for it. Claude doesn't see what you type there. Never type it in the message box.

On a Windows PC

A PC rarely asks for a password in the Terminal. Instead, when a command needs to change the PC, Windows shows a box: Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? (the step "Download and open a file" in Part 1). Check that it names the tool Claude said it was installing, then click Yes. On some PCs it asks for your PIN. That box belongs to Windows; Claude never sees what you type in it.

If a command ever does show Password: in the pane, type your password there and press Enter. Nothing appears while you type. That is the one place a password is typed near Claude, and Claude doesn't see it. Never type it in the message box.

If it asks a question

Some commands pause with a question: "Press ENTER to continue", or "Continue? (y/n)". Claude's message should say what to answer. If it didn't, type nothing, and ask Claude in the message box: "The Terminal is asking [the question]. What do I answer?"

Tell Claude, and let it check

When the prompt is back, type in the message box:

Claude can read the Terminal pane itself. Don't copy the output into the chat unless Claude asks. And don't let Claude ask you "Has it finished?" again and again; the answer to that is the message above.

Practice

Run it as above, then send "I ran it. Please read the Terminal and check."

Advanced

This is optional. Your computer also has a terminal of its own: on a Mac, the Terminal app in Applications, then Utilities; on a Windows PC, PowerShell or Windows Terminal, from the menu that opens when you press Windows + X. They work the same way, but they start in your home or user folder instead of your project folder, so commands that expect the project folder fail there. Everything in this guide uses the pane in the Code tab instead.

Last checked October 28, 2026