Claude Code¶

Every workspace has Claude Code installed, and Claude can use everything in the workspace: DDEV, Docker, Git, Composer and the rest. You can use it in four ways:

All of them use the same installation and the same login, both kept in your home directory, so they survive restarts.

Logging in¶

The first time you run Claude Code, it asks how to log in:

1. Run claude in a terminal and choose to log in with your Claude account.
2. Claude Code prints a link. Open it in your browser, approve the login, and copy the code it shows.
3. Paste the code back into the terminal.

Claude Code works with a Claude Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise subscription, or with an Anthropic API key (set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, for example in ~/.bashrc). Remote control needs a subscription; API keys don’t work for it.

In a terminal¶

Open a terminal in the project directory (in VS Code for Web, Terminal → New Terminal) and start Claude:

cd ~/my-site
claude

Useful options:

claude --continue    # continue the last conversation here
claude --resume      # pick an earlier conversation

# one-off question: prints the answer and exits
claude -p "why does ddev start fail?"

tmux new -s claude      # run claude in here; Ctrl-b d detaches
tmux attach -t claude   # reattach later

From your own computer, you can run Claude in the workspace over SSH with coder ssh my-site, then cd to the project and run claude. See Using the Coder CLI.

In VS Code¶

The Claude Code extension adds a Claude panel to VS Code, with inline diffs of Claude’s proposed changes.

In VS Code for Web:

1. Open the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X, or Cmd+Shift+X on macOS).
2. Search for Claude Code and install the one published by Anthropic.
3. Open it with the Claude icon in the editor toolbar or the activity bar, or run Claude Code: Open from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P).

The extension is installed in the workspace, so it stays installed across restarts.

In desktop VS Code: connect to the workspace with the Coder extension (or coder open vscode my-site), then install the Claude Code extension in that remote window. VS Code installs it in the workspace, and Claude runs there, next to DDEV, rather than on your computer.

If you have already logged in from a terminal, the extension uses the same login. See Anthropic’s VS Code documentation for everything the extension can do.

Tips for working with DDEV¶

• Tell Claude the project uses DDEV. Put a CLAUDE.md (or AGENTS.md) in the project saying to run PHP, Composer, Drush and tests through DDEV, for example ddev composer install, ddev drush cr, ddev exec vendor/bin/phpunit. Otherwise Claude may try to run them directly in the workspace, where the project’s PHP version and extensions aren’t installed.
• Let Claude check the site from inside the workspace. Claude can test its work with curl. Inside the workspace, the project’s https://<project>.ddev.site URL reaches the site directly; the coder.ddev.com URLs need your browser login, so Claude can’t use them. If curl rejects the certificate, run mkcert -install once.
• Projects share one Docker daemon. ddev poweroff, ddev stop --all or docker system prune affect every project in the workspace. Say so in CLAUDE.md if you run several projects.
• Permission prompts. By default Claude asks before running commands or editing files. You can allow specific commands as you go. Skipping prompts entirely (--dangerously-skip-permissions) lets Claude run anything in the workspace, including deleting databases.

Keeping Claude Code up to date¶

Claude Code is installed with Homebrew, which persists across restarts:

brew upgrade claude-code@latest
claude --version

The VS Code extension updates itself from the Marketplace.

Claude Code remote control¶

Turn on Enable Claude Code remote control in the workspace’s settings (all templates offer it) to drive Claude Code in the workspace from claude.ai/code or the Claude mobile app, even when no browser tab or terminal is open.

1. Turn the setting on when creating the workspace, or later in Settings → Parameters, then restart.
2. First use: click the Claude Code app button on the workspace page (or SSH in and run tmux attach -t <workspace>) and complete the one-time login and the workspace trust prompt.
3. The session then shows up on claude.ai/code under the workspace’s name.

Claude runs in the tmux session named after the workspace, starting in your home directory. To work in a particular project, cd into it in any terminal and run claude-here. That starts a new remote-control session in that directory, named <workspace>-<directory>, and the previous session stops appearing in claude.ai/code.

• Claude Code: skip permission prompts runs Claude with --dangerously-skip-permissions. Only use it if you’re comfortable with Claude running any command in the workspace without asking.
• Requires a Claude Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise subscription. API keys, Bedrock, Vertex and custom gateways are not supported.
• Remote sessions disconnect after about 10 minutes offline. The workspace restarts Claude when it starts, or when you click the Claude Code app button.

Claude Code self-hosted runner¶

Freeform only. Turn on Run a Claude Code self-hosted runner to make the workspace a self-hosted environment for Claude Code on the web. Sessions you start on claude.ai/code in that environment then run in this workspace, with its Docker and DDEV.

One-time setup:

1. On claude.ai, create a self-hosted environment and copy its environment secret.

2. In the workspace, save it:

   mkdir -p ~/.claude-runner
   # paste the secret, press Enter, then Ctrl-D
   cat > ~/.claude-runner/environment-secret
   chmod 600 ~/.claude-runner/environment-secret
   

3. Restart the workspace.

On every start, the runner runs in the tmux session claude-runner (tmux attach -t claude-runner), logging to /tmp/claude-runner-<n>.log. Sessions clone their repositories under ~/workspace/runner-<n>. Run claude-sessions to list live sessions with their checkout, branch and number of unpushed commits.

• Use a workspace only for the runner. The runner rewrites ~/.gitconfig and ~/.config/git before every session. It can’t be turned on together with remote control.
• Concurrent sessions (1 to 4) sets how many sessions run at once. They share the workspace’s Docker daemon and DDEV, and a skill installed in ~/.claude/skills/coder-shared-workspace tells them how to stay out of each other’s way. For full isolation, use several workspaces with one session each; the same environment secret works in all of them.