What is the difference between Claude and Claude Code?

The short answer: an assistant that answers, an agent that acts

Both tools come from Anthropic and run on the same AI models, those of the Claude family. What changes is not the intelligence: it’s the scope of action.

Claude lives in a chat window: it reads what you give it and sends text back. Claude Code lives on your machine: it reads your files without you copy-pasting them, creates new ones, edits existing ones and chains several work steps without you approving every sentence. One answers you, the other works.

Claude: ask questions, get answers

Claude is the chat you may already know: claude.ai in the browser, or the mobile and desktop apps. You write, it answers. You can attach documents, ask it to draft, summarise, translate, think with you.

Its limit is structural: everything goes in and out through the conversation window. The result is yours to collect — copy, paste, file in the right place. For a one-off question or a draft, that’s perfect. For work that lives in folders and repeats every week, it quickly turns into manual handling.

Claude Code: hand over missions inside your files

Claude Code installs on your computer. Born in the terminal — the command window —, it now also exists as a desktop app and in the browser. The principle stays the same: you open it in a folder, describe your mission in plain language, and it acts.

Concretely: it reads the folder’s files, proposes a plan, creates documents, edits them, checks its work and chains the steps. Designed first for developers, it actually serves any work that lives in files: writing, structuring client folders, turning notes into written processes, keeping documented routines.

Access and pricing: what changes between the two

At the time of writing, Claude has a free version — with usage limits — and paid plans that raise those limits. Claude Code is not included in the free tier: it requires a paid Claude plan or usage credits. There is no separate subscription: the same Claude account opens access to both.

Anthropic’s offers and pricing change regularly: before committing, check the current terms on the official website. The simplest path: start with free Claude to get a feel, and move to Claude Code when your usage calls for an agent that acts.

Which one to use, depending on your work

The choice doesn’t depend on your technical level, but on the shape of your work.

• One-off questions, drafts, brainstorming: Claude is enough — fast, no installation, free to start.
• Work that lives in files — client folders, deliverables, documentation: Claude Code, because the result lands directly where you need it.
• Missions repeated every week with the same rules: Claude Code, opened in a folder that keeps your context from one session to the next.
• Both together: many users keep Claude for quick questions and Claude Code for deep missions — it’s the same account.

The detail that changes everything with Claude Code: the folder

Claude Code’s least-known trait: it reads the files in the folder you open it in before starting — in particular instruction files such as AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md, which tell it its role, your rules and how you work. Opened in an empty folder, it knows nothing about you and answers like any chat. Opened in a prepared folder, it knows your line of work before touching the keyboard.

That is exactly what the Claude Code AI Workspace Kit prepares: you answer a few questions about your line of work, and your Context Folder is generated — AGENTS.md, rules, typical missions, examples. The kit is being built: sign up on its page to be told when it ships.