It’s been hard for me to sit back and watch everyone dig into Claude Code without me. This weekend I took a little time to get it installed and it was a journey. Claude Code doesn’t run native on Windows so I had to do some WSL magic. I want to write about Claude Code, but not write now. Let’s just say I’m not going back to Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf or Aider… I’m team Claude Code, until the next shiny thing distracts my attention.

Any way Ubuntu isn’t my thing so this was harder than it should be. Good thing we have these super intelligent machines at our disposal. I asked my AI assistant George to write an install guide. Below is what I got. This wasn’t as straight forward as the guide lays it out, but it wasn’t too hard to go back and forth with George to get everything up and running.

I am basically running Claude Code in Cursor running in Ubuntu. Fun times.

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This guide walks you through installing and configuring a full-featured development environment using WSL, Ubuntu, and essential development tools. You’ll be ready to develop locally with Docker, Claude Code, Azure, GitHub, and more.

1. Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11 with WSL enabled
• WSL2 installed (wsl –install in PowerShell)
• A Linux distribution (we used Ubuntu 24.04)
• Terminal: Windows Terminal

2. Setup Folder Structure

mkdir -p ~/projects

cd ~/projects

Keep all your development projects in this folder. Easy to back up, mount, and manage.

4. Git + GitHub CLI

sudo apt update

sudo apt install git gh -y

gh auth login

Use gh to clone, create, and manage GitHub repos easily.

5. Node.js (via nvm)

# Install NVM (Node Version Manager)

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.7/install.sh | bash

# Load nvm into current shell session

export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"

source "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"

# Verify nvm is available

nvm –version

nvm install --lts

nvm use –lts

nvm alias default 'lts/*'

node -v

npm -v

3. Claude Code + Cursor Setup

Install Cursor (AI coding editor)

In WSL Ubuntu:

cd ~/projects

mkdir my-project && cd my-project

cursor .

Inside Cursor terminal, run:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

claude doctor

Inside Claude run:

/terminal-setup

/init

If Claude is stuck “Synthesizing” or “Offline”:

• Make sure Claude is signed in and internet is stable and you are working on a folder in Ubuntu not Windows
• Press Esc to cancel
• Restart Cursor and check Claude Code panel

6. .NET SDK

wget https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/24.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb -O packages-microsoft-prod.deb

sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb

sudo apt update

sudo apt install dotnet-sdk-8.0 -y

7. Azure CLI

curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash

az login --use-device-code

If login doesn’t open a browser, copy the code and paste it at: https://microsoft.com/devicelogin

8. Docker CLI

Install Docker Desktop for Windows with WSL integration enabled.

In Ubuntu:

docker version

docker context ls

Ensure your context is set to desktop-linux if needed:

bash

docker context use desktop-linux

If permission denied on /var/run/docker.sock:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

newgrp docker

9. Optional Dev Tools (Highly Recommended)

Tool	Use Case	Install Command
make	Build automation	sudo apt install make
jq	JSON manipulation	sudo apt install jq
htop	Process monitor	sudo apt install htop
fzf	Fuzzy file finder	sudo apt install fzf
ripgrep	Fast file search (used by Claude)	sudo apt install ripgrep
tree	Directory visualizer	sudo apt install tree
redis-cli	Redis command-line	sudo apt install redis-tools
psql	PostgreSQL command-line	sudo apt install postgresql-client

10. Azure Functions Core Tools

npm install -g azure-functions-core-tools@4 --unsafe-perm true

11. Terminal Enhancements

Oh My Zsh (already installed if you ran /terminal-setup)

To fix re-opening setup prompt:

rm ~/.zshrc.pre-oh-my-zsh

Add completions:

gh completion -s zsh >> ~/.zshrc

az completion >> ~/.zshrc

source ~/.zshrc

12. Sync Windows Projects to Ubuntu (Optional)

rsync -avh /mnt/c/Users/YourName/path/to/project/ ~/projects/

Final Checklist

Area	Tools
AI Pairing	Claude Code + Cursor
Git Workflows	Git + GitHub CLI (gh)
Web Dev	Node.js, npm, nvm
C#/.NET	.NET SDK 8
Cloud	Azure CLI + Functions Core
Containers	Docker + Desktop Integration
Data Access	PostgreSQL + Redis CLI
Dev Tooling	jq, htop, tree, ripgrep, fzf

You’re done. You’ve got a complete AI-first, cloud-ready, full-stack dev environment right in your Ubuntu WSL.