Desktop app quickstart

The Claude desktop app wraps Claude Code in a graphical interface. You choose a folder, describe what you want, and review Claude's edits in a proper diff view. It bundles its own copy of Claude Code, so you do not need Node.js or the CLI installed. You do need a Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise subscription.

If you already have it running, skip to the full desktop app guide. If you want claude in your terminal too, that is a separate install covered in the quickstart.

Download

The three tabs

The app has three modes along the top:

• Chat: ordinary conversation with no access to your files, much like claude.ai.
• Cowork: an autonomous agent that works through tasks in the background.
• Code: Claude Code proper, with direct access to a folder on your computer. This is what the rest of the handbook is about.

Install and sign in

1. Run the installer (or follow the Linux steps), then launch Claude from Applications, the Start menu or your launcher.
2. Sign in with your Anthropic account.
3. Click Code at the top centre.

If clicking Code asks you to upgrade, your account needs a paid plan. If it asks you to sign in online, do so and restart the app. A 403 error is covered in the desktop troubleshooting section.

Your first session

1. Pick where Claude runs

Choose Local and click Select folder to work on files on this machine. My advice: start with a small project you know inside out, so you can judge the output quickly.

The other options:

• Cloud runs the session on Anthropic's infrastructure so it keeps going after you close the app. See Claude Code on the web.
• SSH connects to a remote box (your server, a cloud VM, a dev container). The app installs Claude Code there the first time.
• WSL (Windows only) runs inside a WSL 2 distribution with Linux paths and tooling. See desktop with WSL.

2. Pick a model

Use the dropdown beside the send button. You can change it at any point. Model configuration compares the options.

3. Ask for something small

A few good first prompts:

Read this project and write a CLAUDE.md describing how to build, test and lint it

The date shown on the invoice page is in US format. Make it DD/MM/YYYY everywhere.

Add unit tests for the slugify helper and run them

Each conversation is a session with its own context and its own set of changes.

4. Review the result

What you see depends on the permission mode in the selector next to the send button:

• Auto or Accept edits: Claude writes the changes straight away, and a counter such as +18 -4 appears. Click it to open the diff.
• Manual: Claude proposes each change and waits. You see the diff for each file with Accept and Reject buttons. Nothing touches disk until you accept, and if you reject, Claude asks what you would like instead.

Things to try next

Steer mid-flight. Click stop to interrupt, or just type a correction and press Enter; it is delivered without killing the current action.

Give it context. Type @ and a filename to pull a file in, attach images or PDFs, or drag files into the prompt box.

Use skills and commands. Type / or click + then Slash commands to browse built-in commands, your skills and plugin skills.

Comment on the diff. In the diff view, click a line, leave a note, and Claude revises. Type /code-review to have Claude review its own work.

Choose your level of control.

More detail in permission modes.

Install plugins. + then Plugins adds skills, agents and MCP servers. See plugins.

Arrange panes. Chat, diff, terminal, file and browser panes can be dragged into any layout. Ctrl+` opens the terminal.

Preview your app. Start your dev server and it opens in the browser pane, where Claude can see it, hit endpoints and read logs.

Watch your PR. After opening a pull request, the app tracks CI and can fix failures or merge once checks pass.

Schedule work. Scheduled tasks run Claude on a timer: a morning code review, a weekly dependency check.

Go parallel. Start more sessions from the sidebar, optionally each in its own git worktree; open a side chat for quick questions; or push long jobs to the cloud.

Related

• Desktop app guide
• Desktop scheduled tasks
• Best practices
• Common workflows