Claude Code
Anthropic's terminal-native coding agent with MCP-native tool use and skills system.
- License
- proprietary
- Install
- npm package
- Website
- https://claude.com/claude-code
- GitHub
- https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
GitHub Copilot
GitHub's AI pair programmer in VS Code, JetBrains, and the GitHub.com chat surface.
- License
- proprietary
- Install
- vscode ext
- Website
- https://github.com/features/copilot
- GitHub
- —
code --install-extension GitHub.copilot
When to reach for which
Claude Code — Anthropic's terminal-native coding agent with MCP-native tool use and skills system.
GitHub Copilot — GitHub's AI pair programmer in VS Code, JetBrains, and the GitHub.com chat surface.
Both sit in the AI Coding Agents category — they're substitutes, not complements. Pick by your install constraint (MCP-native, license, hosting model) and which tag overlap matters most to your stack.