How to use Claude Code in VS Code (beginner tutorial with a 3D game build)

0:00 Claude Code in VS Code: what you'll build

In this video, I'll show you how to take your vibe coding further with Claude, what it costs, and what you get for the money. We'll add Claude Code to VS Code, pick the right model, and have Claude plan and build a complete 3D tower defense game, then use Claude in the terminal too. You'll need VS Code connected to Linux, which we set up in an earlier video. The link is in the description.

0:28 Copilot Free's limits: why go beyond free

Copilot Free is a great way to start, but there are two limits you'll run into as your projects get bigger. The first is the monthly allowance. Every prompt uses some of it, and when it runs out, you wait until next month. The second is the model. The free plan picks one for you, and the stronger models, Claude included, are marked Upgrade. Bigger projects go better with a stronger model and an agent that can work through a long task on its own. That's Claude Code. It's a coding agent made by Anthropic, the company behind Claude, and it works right inside VS Code. You could upgrade Copilot instead, but a Claude plan gets you Claude's own agent, and the same plan also covers chatting with Claude on the web and your phone.

1:15 What Claude Pro and Max cost

Claude's plans are on claude.com, under Pricing. The free plan is just for chatting, and it doesn't include Claude Code. Pro is the one to start with. At the time of recording, it's twenty dollars a month, or seventeen if you pay for the year. Max starts at a hundred dollars a month, with five or twenty times the usage of Pro, for when you build all day. Both of them include Claude Code. Your usage resets every five hours, with a weekly limit on top, and chatting with Claude counts toward the same limits.

1:49 Install Claude Code in VS Code

Now we're going to add Claude Code to VS Code. Click Extensions on the left and search for Claude Code. You'll see lots of lookalikes, so pick the one by Anthropic with the blue check mark. Click Install. The first time, VS Code asks whether you trust the publisher. Extensions run on your computer, so only install them from publishers you trust. Anthropic is verified, so click Trust Publisher and Install. When it's done, Claude Code gets its own tab next to Copilot's chat.

2:21 Sign in

Click the Claude Code tab to sign in. Choose Claude.ai Subscription, since that's the plan you just got. VS Code asks before it opens a website, so click Open. Your browser opens on Claude's website. If you're signed in there already, it just asks you to let Claude Code use your account. If you're not, sign in with the account you subscribed with first. Click Authorize. That's it, and you can close the browser. Back in VS Code, Claude Code is ready.

2:52 Models, effort and modes explained

Before a big build, it's worth picking the right model. Click the model name at the bottom of the prompt box. Haiku is the fastest, for quick questions and small edits. Sonnet is the efficient everyday choice for simpler changes, and it goes easier on your limits. Opus is the default, for complex work and bigger builds like this one. And Fable is the most capable, for your toughest challenges. It's included with Max, but on Pro it costs extra credits. The effort setting decides how long Claude thinks. Medium is right for everyday work, and a higher effort thinks harder but uses more of your limits. For a whole game, turn it up to high. Next to the model is the mode, which decides what Claude can do without asking you. Manual asks before every edit. Edit automatically changes files without asking. Auto is the default. It runs anything that passes a safety check and stops for anything risky. And Plan explores and writes a plan first, then waits for your OK before it changes a thing. For a big build like a game, start in Plan.

4:02 Plan mode: plan the game

Now describe the game. Since this is a big build, the prompt covers four things: how it should look, what you can do, what's in it, and how polished it should feel. The more you give it, the closer the first version gets to what you picture. In Plan mode, Claude doesn't touch a file yet. It works out what the game needs and writes the whole design down first. A few minutes later, the plan opens next to the chat, and Claude waits for your answer.

4:33 Review the plan and change it

The plan reads like a game design document. It starts with the look, down to sharp shadows and no blurry glow, then lays out every tower, enemy and wave with real numbers. To change anything, select it and add a comment. Here, when the golem boss dies, it should crumble into boulders that tumble off the island.

4:57 Build the game

Send your feedback, and Claude updates the plan to match. When it looks right, choose Yes and use auto mode, and Claude starts building. You don't have to wait for it to finish to ask for more. A message you send while Claude works waits in a queue until it's ready, so here it's a title screen with a Play button. When it's done, Claude sums up what it built.

5:27 Play it

In a new terminal, type npm run dev, and open the address it shows. There's the title screen we asked for while Claude was working. Click Play. Pick a tower at the bottom, and the tiles you can build on light up. Then start the first wave. Every tower aims and fires on its own, and the enemies get health bars that drop as they take hits. Frost slows them down, cannons hit whole groups, and lasers burn through the toughest ones. The speed button runs the game two or three times as fast. Claude also added test shortcuts for itself, so it could check the boss fight without playing all ten waves. Add question mark debug to the address to use them. Click a tower to see its stats, with what the next upgrade adds. Each upgrade changes how the tower looks too.

6:37 The boss fight

On the last wave, the golem boss marches out of the portal, and every tower turns on it. When it falls, it breaks into boulders that tumble off the island, just like the comment asked.

7:08 Install Claude Code in the terminal (CLI)

Claude Code also runs right in the terminal, which is handy on a server where there's no VS Code window. To install it, open a new terminal and paste the install command from the description. The setup notes say its folder isn't on your path yet. That just means typing claude won't find it, so run the command it gives you, and you'll only need to do this once. Now type claude. The first time you run it in a folder, it asks whether you trust the files there. This is your own project, so choose Yes. It's the same Claude, signed in with the same plan, and it even shows the model and effort you picked in VS Code. Let's add one more feature from here: a pause menu. Claude works through it right in the terminal, editing files and checking its work just like in the panel. In the terminal, Shift Tab switches between the modes, and you can see which one you're in at the bottom.

8:08 Add a pause menu from the terminal

Back in the game, start a wave and press P. There's the pause menu, styled to match the title screen, and the whole battle freezes behind it.

8:22 Is Claude Pro worth it?

So here's when Claude is worth paying for. While you're learning, Copilot Free is plenty. When you run out every month, or your projects get bigger like this one, Claude Pro is the next step, for about the price of a couple of lunches a month. That's all it takes to level up your vibe coding with Claude. You bring the ideas, Claude brings the know-how, and together you can finally build the project you've been dreaming about. Be sure to leave a like and subscribe, so we can keep bringing you more great videos.