Installing Claude Code and Codex on another computer

A session on another computer needs Claude Code, Codex or Grok installed there, and signed in. You do not have to go to that computer and type install commands. The studio looks at what is missing, tells you whose installer would put it where, and runs that installer on your yes. The sign-in stays yours.

Partly built. The installers of Claude Code, Codex and Grok have been run for real on a Mac and a Windows laptop. Installing Node.js, Docker, Python, Rust and Git with winget is built and tested, but no real winget run has been done yet. Installing those project programs from the studio is not built for a Mac.

Install an AI tool

1. Open Settings, then Computers, and find the row of the computer.
2. Each tool is listed there: Claude Code, Codex and Grok. A missing one says Not on this computer. Click Install.
3. A box opens: These will be installed on the computer, with each tool, the maker whose own installer is used, where it is fetched from, and where it goes. Untick any you do not want.
4. Click Install again to confirm, or No to leave everything as it is.

The studio uses each maker's own installer: Anthropic's for Claude Code, OpenAI's for Codex, xAI's for Grok. It fetches the installer file first and runs it second, so that a failure can say which of the two went wrong. The program goes into your own folder on that computer, and no administrator is needed. The studio ships no copy of any tool.

While it works, the row names the step: waiting its turn, fetching the installer, installing, trying the program. If something fails, the row says which link failed: the installing did not start, the address of the installer did not answer, the installer ended with an error, it ended and the program was not found, or the program was installed and does not start. The installer's own words are shown under it.

Sign in

When a tool is installed but nobody is signed in, its row says Nobody is signed in and shows Sign in. Click it. The tool's own sign-in window opens on that computer, not on yours, so you need to be at that computer. The studio never sees what you type there. When the sign-in works, the window closes by itself and the row shows a tick with the plan.

The studio keeps asking that computer whether the sign-in has happened, for up to ten minutes after you clicked.

Programs a project names

A project often needs more than the AI tool: Node.js to run its scripts, Docker, Python, Rust or Git. The studio finds out from the project's own files. It looks for package.json, Dockerfile, requirements.txt, Cargo.toml or a .git folder in the project's root or a folder right under it, and for version files such as .nvmrc.

These show as small chips in the project's header, beside the Unity editor if the project is a Unity one. A chip for a missing program has a tooltip that says which file named it and which version the project asks for. Click Install in that line.

1. Read the box Install these programs on the computer. Each has its maker, the file that names it and the version wanted.
2. Tick the ones you want.
3. Docker Desktop has terms of its own and is not free for large companies. Its terms are shown with their address. Tick I have read the terms and accept them before it can be installed.
4. Click Install.

On Windows, each is installed by winget, Windows' own installer, which fetches it from the maker and checks it. Windows may ask for an administrator on that computer's screen. If the program does not answer right after, that computer may need a restart. On a Mac the studio only names what is missing and shows the maker's own page.

The Unity editor and its Android modules have their own version of this, described in Carrying a whole project to another computer. The row of a computer also offers ripgrep, the search program that Claude Code and Codex use and are slower without. It is installed with winget on a click.

The tools are updated once a day, while no session works: the studio runs each tool's own update command and logs the versions. For the computers themselves, see Working on another computer.

Small tips

Questions