Bug: claude command not found after npm install -g on macOS with Homebrew due to incorrect symlink

[Jiacheng-Liu]

Description

When installing @anthropic-ai/claude-code globally via npm on macOS
(with Node.js installed via Homebrew), the claude command is not
correctly added to the PATH. The installation creates an incorrect
symbolic link in the Homebrew binary directory, causing a "command not
found" error when trying to execute claude.

Environment

• OS: macOS
• Package Manager: Homebrew
• Node.js Version: v23.2.0
• npm Version: 11.4.2

Steps to Reproduce

1. On a macOS system with Homebrew, install Node.js: brew install node.
2. Install the Claude Code CLI globally: npm install -g
   @anthropic-ai/claude-code.
3. Attempt to run the claude command: claude --version.

Expected Behavior

The claude command should be accessible from the shell and should print
its version number.

Actual Behavior

The shell returns a "command not found" error.

Further investigation reveals that npm creates an incorrect symbolic
link:

• Location: /opt/homebrew/bin/claude
• Incorrect Target:
  ../lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js

This link points to a JavaScript file instead of the executable
launcher script.

Workaround

The issue can be resolved by manually replacing the incorrect symbolic
link with the correct one.

1. Remove the incorrect link:

1 rm /opt/homebrew/bin/claude

2. Create the correct link to the executable in the Homebrew Cellar:
   (Note: The Node.js version in the path may vary)

1 ln -s /opt/homebrew/Cellar/node/23.2.0/bin/claude
/opt/homebrew/bin/claude

After performing these steps, the claude command works as expected.
This suggests the issue lies in the package's installation script or
npm's handling of global binaries in a Homebrew environment.

[mtblz]

Same thing for me with the Node.js 24.3.0 (homebrew) and macos 15.5

[zhengye1]

Same for windows... I need to manually add that into environment variable

[britaliano]

May also be affected, after running on a Mac running MacOS 13.7.6:

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

I get

/opt/homebrew/bin/claude: No such file or directory

[kopyl]

Same bug.

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

changed 2 packages in 1s
$ claude
-bash: claude: command not found
$ which npm npx node | xargs -n1 readlink
/Users/olehkopyl/.nvm/versions/node/v20.0.0/bin/npm
/Users/olehkopyl/.nvm/versions/node/v20.0.0/bin/npx
/Users/olehkopyl/.nvm/versions/node/v20.0.0/bin/node

[wolffiex]

yeah, you'd have to say which claude to debug this. if it is an alias you will have to remove or unalias

[kopyl]

Here is what helped me on macOS:

1. Wiping out nvm
2. Installing node from scratch via brew

[hlorenz]

Same here with Node.js 22 on Windows WSL. Reinstalling Node (from nvm) and reinstalling claude code solved that problem (...for now)

[kuzdogan]

I realized this is because claude is installed on a different nodejs version.

E.g. I had claude installed on node 20.12. claude command fails on node 22.4

[samcschneider]

I was having the same problem on osx + brew and found my way here. The workaround wasn't working for me, so I just removed everything under /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai (which was just claude-code for me) and then re-ran the standard install. I'm back in action now. HTH 🍻

[wolffiex]

One note for folks who are having trouble: the installer and updater are not multi-process safe. We're working on tightening this up, but for now, when twiddling with your install, it's best to quit all instances of Claude Code.