Claude Code: zsh: command not found: claude

What it means

The install finished but the install directory is not in your PATH. Platform variants: bash: claude: command not found (Linux), 'claude' is not recognized as an internal or external command (Windows CMD), claude : The term 'claude' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet (PowerShell). The installer reports Native installation exists but ~/.local/bin is not in your PATH.

Causes

• ~/.local/bin (macOS/Linux) or %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin (Windows) missing from PATH
• A terminal opened before the PATH change
• Only the VS Code extension installed, which does not add claude to PATH

How to fix it

1. 1
   Fix 1.

   Check that the binary exists.

   Snippet

   Copy

   ls -la ~/.local/bin/claude

2. 2
   Fix 2.

   For Zsh (macOS default), add the install directory to PATH and reload.

   Terminal

   Copy

   echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
   source ~/.zshrc

3. 3
   Fix 3.

   For Bash on Linux, use ~/.bashrc; for Bash on macOS, use ~/.bash_profile.

   Terminal

   Copy

   echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
   source ~/.bashrc

4. 4
   Fix 4.

   Open a new terminal window and verify.

   Terminal

   Copy

   claude --version