Claude Code Setup in India — Install, Pricing (INR), and Your First Project

Claude Code is Anthropic's command-line coding agent — the official way to drive Claude Opus 4.6 from a terminal. For Indian developers, it's a different approach from Cursor or Copilot: terminal-native, file-aware, git-aware, with a 1M context window.

Why Try It

Cursor is IDE-based (a VS Code fork). Claude Code is terminal-based. If you:

• Work over SSH on remote servers
• Live in tmux or neovim
• Have a git-heavy workflow (commits, PRs, reviews)
• Navigate large codebases

...then Claude Code is a natural fit.

Install Steps

Prerequisite: Node 18+. Claude Code installs from npm:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# or with bun
bun install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Verify:

claude --version

Authentication (India Setup)

Two options:

Option 1 — Claude Pro / Max Subscription (Recommended For Most)

• Pro: $20/mo (~Rs 1,660). Daily message budget, Claude Opus 4.6 access, typical Claude Code usage covered.
• Max (5x): $100/mo (~Rs 8,300). 5x limits, priority.
• Max (20x): $200/mo (~Rs 16,600). 20x limits.

Sign up at claude.ai, subscribe, then in your terminal:

claude
# First run → prompts for login → browser opens → auth flow

Option 2 — API Key (Pay-As-You-Go)

Create an API key on the Anthropic console at console.anthropic.com

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."
# Add to .bashrc / .zshrc for persistence

Pricing for Opus 4.6:

• Input: $15/M tokens (~Rs 1,245)
• Output: $75/M tokens (~Rs 6,225)
• A typical 1-hour coding session: Rs 50-200

The Pro subscription is usually better value unless you use it only occasionally.

Your First Project — A Real Walkthrough

Navigate to a sample Next.js app:

cd ~/my-project
claude

Prompt (type in the terminal):

Read src/app/page.tsx and refactor it into smaller components.
Create src/components/ with logical splits.
Update imports. Run tsc --noEmit to verify no errors.

Claude Code will:

1. Read the page file
2. Propose a plan
3. Ask for permission on each edit
4. Create components
5. Run the type check

You can approve or reject each step.

Pro Tips For An Indian Setup

1. GitHub Integration

gh auth login
# Claude can now read PRs, issues, create commits

2. Slash Commands

Useful commands in Claude Code:

• /compact — summarize long conversations
• /init — generate a CLAUDE.md for the project
• /review — review a git diff

3. The CLAUDE.md File

Add a CLAUDE.md in the project root — Claude Code always reads it:

# Project Context

## Stack
- Next.js 15 + TypeScript + Tailwind
- PocketBase backend
- Deployed on Cloudflare Pages

## Conventions
- Use cn() helper for className merges
- One component per file in src/components/
- No Docker — direct installs only

4. Indian Network / VPN

On some ISPs, routes to Anthropic are slow. Cloudflare WARP (free) usually fixes it:

# Ubuntu/Debian
curl -fsSL https://pkg.cloudflareclient.com/pubkey.gpg | sudo gpg --yes --dearmor --output /usr/share/keyrings/cloudflare-warp-archive-keyring.gpg
# ... then install warp-cli
warp-cli register
warp-cli connect

When to Use Claude Code vs Cursor

• Terminal / SSH / vim: Claude Code
• Visual file browsing / debugger: Cursor
• Large refactors across many files: Claude Code (the 1M context handles it)
• Quick autocomplete while typing: Cursor or Copilot

You can use both in parallel — Claude Code for planning, Cursor for typing.

Monitoring Your Quota

Pro hits rate limits. Check status:

/status

It shows daily usage. Note that the Claude.ai chat and Claude Code draw on separate quotas.

Troubleshooting

• "Not logged in": claude logout then restart with claude
• Rate limited: upgrade to Max or switch to an API key for overflow
• Slow responses: try WARP VPN
• Changes not saving: check file permissions, or use the --dangerously-skip-permissions flag (carefully)

Claude Code is a proper daily driver for Indian developers. Also see the Cursor vs Copilot comparison for a decision framework.