What Claude is
Claude is Anthropic’s family of general-purpose AI models and assistants. It is available through the Claude product for direct use and through Anthropic’s developer platform for applications and agents. Model names, availability, and interfaces change, so current details belong to the Claude product page and model documentation.
Uses and boundaries
Claude can support writing, analysis, questions, code, and applications built on a model. Developers call the Claude API with supported credentials and model identifiers. A model family is not a fixed capability or quota: the surrounding application still owns prompting, tool permissions, data handling, error handling, and review.
Claude and Claude Code are related but separate products. Claude is the general model and assistant family; Claude Code places a model inside a terminal and software-engineering workflow.
Discussion in the show
Weekly #001’s chapter “Harness evaluation: completion rate, token cost, and the kill line” discusses Claude and Claude Code together, focusing on how models, tools, and execution environments shape an agent experience; see the Chinese transcript chapter. An English transcript chapter is not available.
Frequently asked questions
How do I log in to Claude?
Start at claude.ai. For desktop use, Anthropic’s desktop installation guide links to the official download page.
How do I connect to the Claude API?
Create a Claude Console account and credentials, then use the Claude API overview for the Messages API or official SDKs. The API platform is separate from signing in at claude.ai.
Does Claude have a desktop app?
Yes. Anthropic’s desktop installation guide provides macOS and Windows download paths; sign in with a Claude account after installation.
How is Claude different from Claude Code?
Claude is the general model and assistant family. Claude Code is a coding agent that combines a model, repository context, and terminal tools in a software-engineering workflow. Their permissions, entry points, and usage rules are documented separately.