How to run Claude Code on a Chromebook

Claude Code runs on a Chromebook inside ChromeOS's Linux development environment: switch Linux on, paste curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash into its Terminal and sign in through Chrome. It needs a paid Claude plan, 4 GB of RAM and a 64-bit chip, and on Intel or AMD the chip must have AVX. Where Linux is switched off, Claude Code can run on another machine with Chrome as the screen.

The ChromeOS steps below come from Google's Chromebook Help and chromeos.dev. The Claude Code ones come from Anthropic's setup and install troubleshooting pages. We read all of them on 24 October 2026.

What a Chromebook needs to run Claude Code#

There is no ChromeOS build of Claude Code. Anthropic's requirements name macOS, Windows, Ubuntu, Debian and Alpine. The Linux development environment Google puts on Chromebooks is a Debian system with apt, so you install the Linux build of Claude Code inside it. The commands in the last column run in its Terminal, once Linux is on (next section).

Of the five rows, the two CPU ones are what rule Chromebooks out. An armv7l from uname -m, or any other 32-bit ARM name, means 32-bit Linux, and Claude Code has only 64-bit Linux builds: its npm package lists linux-x64 and linux-arm64, plus their musl versions. Anthropic's install script reads the same uname -m value and stops with Unsupported architecture on anything else.

AVX is the other one. Anthropic's troubleshooting page says a CPU without it gets Illegal instruction, with no native-binary workaround, and the other install methods download the same binary. Check before you buy a cheap model: Intel's spec page for the Celeron N4020, for example, lists only Intel SSE4.2 under instruction set extensions. Run the check inside Linux rather than trusting a spec sheet, because Linux on ChromeOS runs in a virtual machine, and Anthropic notes that a VM can hide AVX from what runs inside it.

Turn on Linux on your Chromebook#

1. Open Settings › About ChromeOS › Developers. If your Settings has no Developers entry there, look under Settings › Advanced › Developers, the path Google's port-forwarding page still gives.
2. Next to Linux development environment, select Set up.
3. The setup dialog has asked for a username and a disk size since ChromeOS 84. Pick a bigger disk if you can spare the space (see below).
4. Google says setup can take 10 minutes or more. It's done when a Terminal window opens.
5. Run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade, Google's own command for bringing the packages up to date.

No Linux entry at all means one of two things: the Chromebook doesn't support Linux, or an admin turned it off. Google's page says a work or school Chromebook might not be able to use Linux and sends you to your administrator; chromeos.dev adds that admins control it from the management console.

Install Claude Code in ChromeOS's Linux#

In the Linux Terminal:

1. curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash (a container without curl needs sudo apt install curl first). Nothing on screen moves while it downloads; that's how the installer behaves.
2. Open a fresh Terminal window and run claude --version. If it prints a version number, the install worked.
3. Run claude doctor for a read-only check of the install and your settings.
4. Change to a project folder and run claude.

This native install needs no root and updates itself in the background. Because the container is Debian, Anthropic's signed apt repository works too, if you'd rather update Claude Code with the rest of the system. That route never updates itself, so you run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade claude-code yourself. The key download, fingerprint check and repository line are in installing Claude Code on Linux.

Installation was killed before it could finish (exit code 137) usually means Linux ran out of memory. Anthropic puts the installer's need at roughly 512 MB free, so close what you can and run it again.

Keep your projects in Linux's own storage, which the Files app shows as Linux files. Your Chromebook's Downloads folder is outside it.

Sign in to Claude Code through Chrome#

Run claude and pick the login method for your plan. Claude Code opens a sign-in page in the browser and waits for it to redirect back to a callback server Claude Code runs on your machine. On a Chromebook that redirect can reach Linux, because chromeos.dev says servers running in the Linux environment are forwarded to Chrome automatically.

If it doesn't come back, Anthropic's troubleshooting page has three fixes:

• No browser window: press c, which copies the sign-in URL, and paste that into Chrome.
• Chrome shows a code and goes no further: paste the code at Paste code here if prompted.
• If pasting into that prompt does nothing, run claude auth login, which reads the code from standard input.

Disk space and dev server ports#

Linux has its own disk, sized when you set it up, and everything lives on it: your repositories, their dependencies, and the versions of Claude Code the native installer keeps under ~/.local/share/claude/versions. df -h ~ shows how much is left. You don't have to start over when it fills up: Android Police reported that ChromeOS 84 made the Linux container resizable without removing it.

A dev server Claude Code starts in Linux opens in Chrome at localhost:PORT, with its port in place of PORT, and chromeos.dev offers penguin.linux.test:PORT as a fallback. Android browsers from the Play Store count as another device, so they need the address hostname -I prints, not localhost.

A phone on the same Wi-Fi needs the port forwarded first. Google's page gives Settings › Advanced › Developers › Linux › Port forwarding (on a Chromebook where Developers sits under About ChromeOS, start there), then Add next to Ports, with the port number and TCP, which chromeos.dev says is the default. Linux has to be running for the port to switch on. The phone then opens the Chromebook's IP address, shown under Settings › Network for the network you're on, and that port.

When the Chromebook can't run it: school devices and slow chips#

Anthropic gives you two ways to use Claude Code from Chrome while it runs somewhere else, and SSH is the third:

Of the three, only cloud sessions need nothing but a browser. Each one runs in its own VM at Anthropic and carries on when you close the lid. To carry one on in a terminal later, see pulling cloud sessions into your terminal.

Remote Control is for when a stronger computer of yours can stay on: run claude remote-control there and the session shows up in the list at claude.ai/code. Execution and files stay on that machine.

SSH gives you the whole terminal: running Claude Code over SSH covers headless sign-in and keeping the session alive in tmux. With no machine to SSH into, a rented VPS works; sizing and securing a VPS for Claude Code gives the size to rent and the setup, step by step.

A managed Chromebook's admin decides all three: the first two need claude.ai allowed, and SSH needs Linux or the Secure Shell extension.

How Shuriken does it on a Chromebook#

Shuriken is our harness for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI and 64 more coding agents. It works on a Chromebook in two ways.

The first is the Linux desktop app inside ChromeOS's Linux. When you visit shuriken.sh/download from ChromeOS, we offer you the Linux build: an AppImage or a .deb, for x64 or Arm (pick the one uname -m points to). Move the .deb into Linux files, then in the Terminal run sudo apt install ./ followed by the file's name. The Chromebook then counts as one linked device, and the Free plan has two. Google's help page lists hardware acceleration among the things Linux apps don't get yet, so on a slow Chromebook the second way may suit it better.

The second keeps the agents on your other computers or on a server and leaves the Chromebook as a screen. Open app.shuriken.sh in Chrome and you see every chat on every computer of yours, the queue, the changes, and the chats waiting for your answer. Browsers never count as linked devices, on any plan. If you need a server for the agents, add one with Settings › Devices › Add device › A server. The command it gives you sets up Git, the GitHub CLI, Claude Code and Codex, and checks that each one runs. The same web app on a phone is covered in running Claude Code from your phone.

Either way, the agents run on your own machines with your own plans; Shuriken doesn't bill for model usage. To try it, download Shuriken, or open app.shuriken.sh in Chrome once a computer of yours runs it.