Claude Code in VS Code

You can install Claude Code into RCP's VSCode launcher as an extension. Claude works in a panel beside your files, and each change it proposes appears in the editor as a before-and-after you accept or reject.

Prefer a plain terminal? See the Claude Code launcher guide. New to all of this? Start with Setup.

⚠️ Claude Code usage is billed separately to your HBS or personal Claude account, and metered by tokens. Your RCP compute is billed separately again. See Cost, billing, and data handling.

Step 1 — Launch a VS Code session

⚠️ Important: Please ensure that the project owner has enabled the VS Code launcher.

Inside RCP, go to the Workbench tab and find VSCode among the available software options.

Select it, give the session a name, and pick a configuration.

💰 The configuration you pick sets your hourly RCP cost. The dropdown shows the hourly rate next to each option — from roughly \$0.09/h for General-Purpose-t2.large up to about \$12.70/h for r7i.48xlarge. Claude Code itself does not need a large or GPU node. Unless your actual analysis requires one, a general-purpose configuration is the right choice.

Step 2 — Connect to your session

Once the session is Active, click Connect.

💡 Tip: Cost to Date on this tile is your RCP compute cost only. Claude token usage is billed to your Claude account and does not appear here.

Step 3 — Install the Claude Code extension

In VS Code, open the Extensions panel and search for claude. Select Claude Code for VS Code by Anthropic and click Install.

⚠️ Check the publisher. Search results include several community extensions with similar names. You want the one published by Anthropic.

Once installed, the orange Claude starburst icon appears in the top-right of the editor and in the left activity bar.

⚠️ The extension does not survive a Terminate. It persists if you Stop the session, but a terminated session resets to a clean environment and you will reinstall it. See Stop vs. Terminate.

Step 4 — Start logging in

Click the Claude icon. The panel opens and asks how you want to log in.

For an HBS enterprise or personal Claude subscription, click Claude.ai Subscription.

Choose Anthropic Console instead only if you are paying for API usage through your own Console account.

VS Code will offer to open an external website. Click Cancel.

Why cancel? code-server is running on a remote RCP machine that has no browser of its own. Letting it try to "open" the URL there does nothing useful. You need that URL in the browser on your computer instead — which is the next step.

Step 6 — Copy the authorization URL

After cancelling, the panel shows a Continue in browser screen with the URL in a text field and a copy button beside it.

Click the copy button to copy the full URL. Leave this panel open — you will come back to the code field at the bottom.

Step 7 — Authorize in your own browser

Paste the URL into a new tab in the browser on your local machine and log in with your Claude credentials. You will see the authorization screen:

Click Authorize.

You will then be shown an authentication code.

Click Copy code.

🔒 Treat this code like a password. It grants access to your Claude account. Do not paste it into a shared document, a ticket, or a chat.

Step 8 — Paste the code back into VS Code

Return to the Claude Code panel in RCP and paste the code into the Or, paste your authorization code manually field, then click Continue.

Step 9 — Start using Claude Code

Claude Code is now authenticated. The panel shows the model in use and a prompt box.

A few things worth noticing in that panel:

Model selector (bottom left of the prompt box) — shows which model you are talking to. Larger models cost more per token.
Permission mode (bottom right, e.g. Manual) — controls how much Claude can do without asking you first. Manual asks before each action. Keep it there until you trust what a given task is doing to your project space.
Terminal fallback — the panel notes you can switch to the terminal experience in Settings, or just run claude in VS Code's integrated terminal.

What Claude can reach

Claude Code works from the folder that is open in VS Code. That folder, and everything below it, is what Claude can read and change — anything outside it is out of reach.

To point Claude somewhere else, use File → Open Folder and choose the directory you want to work in. The Claude panel picks up the new folder along with the rest of the editor.

Where to go next

Tips, patterns, and CLAUDE.md — getting good results efficiently
Cost, billing, and data handling — the two-meter problem

Getting help

📧 research@hbs.edu