Part 0 — What is a terminal, PowerShell, and Git Bash, and how do I open them?

Everything in this guide involves typing commands rather than clicking buttons. This might feel old-fashioned, but it's how you talk directly to your computer, to GitHub, and to your VPS, and it's exactly how Claude Code does its work too — you'll see it doing the same thing throughout this guide.

What is a "terminal"?

A terminal (also called a "command line" or "console") is a plain black or dark window where you type a command, press Enter, and see the result printed as text. There's no mouse-clicking involved beyond opening it. It looks intimidating at first purely because it's unfamiliar — it's not actually harder than using any other app.

Windows gives you a few different terminal programs

• PowerShell — built into every Windows computer already. No install needed.
• Command Prompt (cmd) — an older, more limited terminal. You won't need it for anything in this guide.
• Git Bash — gets installed alongside Git (see Part A2 below). It understands the same style of commands used on Mac, Linux, and on your VPS. Most coding tutorials (and this guide) assume this style, so Git Bash is what you'll use most often in this guide.

You don't need to pick a favorite — you'll end up using both PowerShell and Git Bash at different points, and that's completely normal.

How to open PowerShell

1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard (or click the Start button).
2. Type PowerShell.
3. Click "Windows PowerShell" (or just "Terminal" on newer Windows — either is fine).
4. A window opens with a prompt like PS C:\Users\YourName> — this is waiting for you to type something.

How to open Git Bash

(You'll be able to do this once Part A2 below is done.)

• Option 1: Press the Windows key, type Git Bash, click it.
• Option 2: Open File Explorer, navigate to a project folder, right-click inside it, and choose "Git Bash Here" — this opens a terminal already pointed at that exact folder, which saves you having to navigate there manually.

How to actually use one

1. Click inside the terminal window so it's focused.
2. Type a command (for example node --version) exactly as written in this guide.
3. Press Enter.
4. The result prints below, and you get a fresh prompt line — that means it's done and ready for your next command.
5. To close it, just close the window like any other, or type exit and press Enter.

Whenever this guide says "run this command," it means: open a terminal (Git Bash unless told otherwise), type the command, press Enter.

Opening a terminal as Administrator (and when you actually need to)

Windows has a second, more powerful mode for terminals called Administrator mode (also called "elevated" or "admin"). It gives the terminal permission to change things that affect the whole computer, not just your own user account.

To open PowerShell as Administrator:

• Press the Windows key, type PowerShell, then instead of clicking it, right-click it and choose "Run as administrator".
• Or press Win + X and choose "Windows PowerShell (Admin)" or "Terminal (Admin)" from the menu that pops up.
• Windows will ask "Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?" (this is called User Account Control, or UAC) — click Yes.
• You'll know it worked because the window's title bar says "Administrator: ...".

To open Git Bash as Administrator: find it in the Start menu, right-click it, choose "Run as administrator", then click Yes on the UAC popup.

Should you just always open in admin mode?

No — don't make admin mode your default. Here's the actual trade-off:

• Almost nothing in this guide needs it. git, npm, node, ssh, gh, claude, and ./deploy.sh are everyday commands that work fine in a normal, non-elevated terminal.
• Running everything as admin removes a real safety net, not just an inconvenience. In an elevated terminal, every command — including a typo, or something malicious hiding inside a package you installed — has permission to change system files, other user accounts, or security settings. In a normal terminal, the same mistake stays contained to your own user account.
• The few moments you might genuinely need it:
  • A .exe installer (Node.js, Git, GitHub CLI) pops up its own "allow this app to make changes?" prompt — click Yes there; you don't need to have opened the terminal as admin beforehand for this.
  • If npm install -g ... fails with a permission error, retrying it from an admin PowerShell is a reasonable one-off fix.
  • Installing Docker Desktop or enabling Windows features like WSL (not required by this guide — Docker only runs on the VPS here, never on your laptop).

Rule of thumb: open a normal terminal by default, and only reach for "Run as administrator" when something specifically tells you it needs elevated permission.