Running Claude Code on Windows without WSL

Install

Follow the current instructions in Anthropic’s Claude Code documentation — they list the native Windows installer and the npm package, and they change faster than any third-party page. Two things are worth having first:

• Git for Windows. Claude Code uses git, and it can use the bundled Git Bash as its shell.
• A modern terminal — Windows Terminal or any terminal that uses ConPTY — so the interactive interface renders and resizes correctly.

The Windows snags

• Line endings. If core.autocrlf rewrites files on checkout, every agent diff looks bigger than it is. Decide on a setting per repository, and add a .gitattributes.
• Shell differences. Commands written for bash fail in PowerShell and vice versa. Say which shell the project uses in CLAUDE.md.
• Long paths. Deep node_modules trees can hit the old 260-character limit; enable long paths in git (core.longpaths) and in Windows.
• Antivirus scanning. Real-time scanning of large repositories slows every file operation; excluding the dev folder helps noticeably.

Several sessions side by side

Once one session works, the next step is running two or three on separate tasks. Give each its own git worktree so they never share a working copy — the guide on running multiple Claude Code sessions has the exact commands.

Nix Agents does the worktree-per-session setup natively on Windows (x64 and ARM64), with a real terminal for each Claude Code session and the diff to review before merging. It launches the claude you installed, with your login.