claude

Interact with Claude AI model

TLDR

Execute with prompt

$ claude prompt

Update claude

$ claude update

Get the list of specified MCP servers

$ claude mcp list

Create commit with command

$ claude commit

Get the list of configurations

$ claude config list

Continue the most recent session

$ claude [[-c|--continue]]

Interactively select a session to continue

$ claude [[-r|--resume]]

-m, --model MODEL
    Select Claude model (e.g., claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022)

-k, --api-key KEY
    Anthropic API key (overrides env var)

--max-tokens INT
    Maximum tokens in response (default: 1024)

--temperature FLOAT
    Sampling temperature (0.0-2.0, default: 1.0)

--stream
    Stream response token-by-token

--system PROMPT
    Custom system prompt

-f, --file FILE
    Read prompt from file

--chat
    Enable interactive chat mode

-h, --help
    Show help

DESCRIPTION

The claude command is a third-party command-line interface (CLI) tool for interacting with Anthropic's Claude family of large language models directly from the Linux terminal. It enables users to send natural language prompts to models like Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, or Haiku, and receive generated responses. Ideal for developers, scripting automation, quick queries, or integrating AI into shell workflows.

Installation typically involves Python's pip: pip install claude-cli or similar packages from PyPI/GitHub repos (e.g., "claude-term" or "anthropic-cli" variants). An Anthropic API key is required, set via export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-.... It supports streaming responses, conversation history, and system prompts, making it a lightweight alternative to web UIs.

Note: Not a core Linux utility; multiple unofficial implementations exist. Official Anthropic SDK provides Python bindings, but "claude" refers to community CLIs.

CAVEATS

Requires internet and valid paid Anthropic API key; subject to rate limits and costs. Not officially supported by Anthropic; use at own risk. Multiple similar tools may conflict.

INSTALLATION

pip install claude-cli or clone from GitHub (e.g., git clone https://github.com/[repo]/claude-cli). Set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY.

EXAMPLE

claude --model claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022 "Explain quantum computing"
claude --chat

HISTORY

Community-driven CLIs emerged in 2023 post-Claude 2 launch, with active repos on GitHub (e.g., claude-cli). Gained popularity in 2024 with Claude 3.5 releases for agentic coding tasks. No official Anthropic binary named 'claude'; builds on anthropic Python SDK (v0.1+).