Same brain, three bodies — and the one that looks geekiest is the one professionals actually use.
Claude Code exists as the desktop app (subscription-billed, tied to your login), the original terminal CLI (usage-billed against your own API key from platform.claude.com), and as an extension inside any IDE with a terminal — VS Code, Cursor, or Google's Antigravity. Functionally they are the same thing; the differences are billing, weight, and update order.
The trainer's ordering: updates land in the terminal first, then the app; the terminal is lightest on the machine, which matters once you run several instances at once. The IDE route is just the CLI hosted inside the editor's own terminal panel — it uses your API key, not the IDE's assistant.
He opens all three live: the app on his Pro plan, a blank terminal where typing 'claude' brings up the folder-trust prompt, and Antigravity with the Claude Code extension opening a CLI session inside the IDE.
Choosing the interface is choosing your billing model and your ceiling — the terminal's usage pricing and lightness is what makes the later multi-instance, sub-agent work affordable.
The IDE integration is the IDE's own AI.
It is the same Claude Code CLI running in the IDE's terminal on your API key — the IDE contributes only the window.
Claude Code is now becoming like this one-stop tool which connects to the rest of the tools, and then you just use that.0:09:22
['You already run Claude Code in Cowork; the transferable point is the billing split — your Fable/Opus credit management mirrors his subscription-vs-API tradeoff.']
Try it now
Open your terminal, type claude, and read the folder-trust prompt carefully before accepting — note exactly which folder you are granting.
Answer from memory first — the recall attempt is what makes it stick. Then reveal.
Which of the three interfaces bills against your API key, and which against a subscription?
The terminal CLI (and its IDE-hosted twin) bill against your API key from platform.claude.com; the desktop app runs on your subscription and login.












