Set up your workspace.

1. Get Claude Code

   No-terminal path (recommended for most): install the Claude desktop app for Mac or Windows from DESKTOP-LINK, and sign in with the account you just checked.

   Builder path (if you like the terminal): follow Anthropic's current setup page at code.claude.com/docs/en/getting-started.

   # Mac, Linux, or WSL
   curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
   
   # Windows
   winget install Anthropic.ClaudeCode
   
   # confirm it worked
   claude --version

   Windows note. This is the one step that occasionally snags. If you run Claude Code natively on Windows (not WSL), install Git for Windows too, so Claude Code gets a Bash tool. It is a two-minute fix tonight and a panic at 8:59am. WSL users can skip it.

2. Get the workspace onto your machine

   This folder is your workspace. Everything lives inside it, including your skills. Nothing gets installed onto the rest of your computer, and you can delete the folder anytime to start over.

   Download the workspace

   Already use git? Clone it instead: REPO-LINK. Either way, unzip or clone it somewhere you will find again, like Documents/claude-code-mastery.

3. Open it and make it yours

   In Claude Code, open that folder. Then run one command:

   /vault-setup

   It asks you a few short questions and fills in your workspace for you: your Script (the CLAUDE.md Claude reads first), your first client file, and today's note. That is it. You have a working workspace. On Day 1 we build on top of it.

4. See your files outside Claude Code Recommended

   You want one window that shows the same markdown Claude is writing. You can use the Claude desktop app's own file view, so this is optional. Obsidian is just a nicer window onto the exact same files.

   If you want Obsidian: install it from OBSIDIAN-LINK, choose Open folder as vault, and point it at your workspace folder. Whatever you pick, you only need to be able to open one markdown file from your workspace and see it.

5. Add the research tools Optional

   Firecrawl and Exa are MCPs: tools Claude loads only when it needs them, so they cost nothing until you use them. They need Node (from nodejs.org) and a free key from each service. This is the one step that touches the terminal, so it is fine to wait and do it together live.

   claude mcp add exa -s user --env EXA_API_KEY=<your-key> -- npx -y exa-mcp-server
   claude mcp add firecrawl -s user --env FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=<your-key> -- npx -y firecrawl-mcp

   Keys at exa.ai and firecrawl.dev.

Read the files in this workspace and tell me what you can see.
Then create a file called ready-check.md with today's date, and tell me where you saved it.

You are ready when Claude names real files from the workspace (not invented ones), the new file exists, and you can open it outside Claude Code. If Claude cannot see your files, you opened it from the wrong folder. Reopen Claude Code from the workspace folder and run it again.