ClaudeDesk

A powerful desktop terminal for Claude Code CLI with multi-session management, split-view layouts, and advanced productivity features.

ClaudeDesk is an Electron-based desktop application that wraps the Claude Code CLI in a feature-rich terminal interface. Manage multiple Claude sessions simultaneously, organize your workspace with split views, use prompt templates, and monitor your API usage — all in one beautiful desktop app.

Screenshots

Create Session — Workspace-aware session creation with directory search and permission modes.

Git Integration — Built-in git panel with file staging, inline diffs, AI commit messages, and history.

Workspace Layouts — Choose from preset layouts or build a custom grid with up to 4 panes.

Settings & Workspaces — Configure workspaces, templates, drag-and-drop, atlas, and more.

Fuel Status Popup — Quick glance at API quota from the toolbar.

Fuel Status Panel — Detailed 5-hour and 7-day reserves with burn rate tracking.

Features

Multi-Session Management

• Multiple Claude sessions in tabbed interface
• Session persistence — resume sessions after app restart
• Named sessions for better organization
• Session history — search and export conversation logs
• Checkpoints — save and restore session states

Split-View Terminal

• Split screen support with up to 4 terminal panes
• Flexible layouts — horizontal, vertical, and grid splits
• Layout picker — preset layouts (single, 2-column, 3-column, 2x2) or custom grids
• Drag-and-drop session assignment to panes

Git Integration

• Full git workflow — status, staging, branches, commit, push/pull/fetch, diff, log
• AI commit messages — heuristic-based conventional commits generation
• Real-time file watching — status updates automatically as you work
• Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+G and staged count badge in toolbar

Prompt Templates & Command Palette

• Keyboard shortcut (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P) to launch command palette
• Prompt template library for common tasks
• Variable substitution — {{clipboard}}, {{currentDir}}, {{selection}}, etc.
• Custom templates — create and edit your own
• Fuzzy search for quick template access

API Quota Monitoring

• Real-time quota display — see your Claude API usage at a glance
• Burn rate tracking — monitor spending over time
• Budget alerts — get notified when approaching limits
• Fuel gauge in toolbar with detailed popup and side panel

Agent Teams

• Automatic team detection — monitors ~/.claude/teams/ for agent team activity
• Team Panel — sidebar showing team hierarchy, members, and status
• Task Board — Kanban-style visualization with per-team tasks
• Message Stream — real-time inter-agent communication feed
• Agent Graph — interactive node-based relationship visualization
• Auto-layout — automatically arranges panes when teammates join

Repository Atlas Engine

• Automated codebase mapping — scans files, analyzes imports, infers domain boundaries
• CLAUDE.md generation — creates architectural atlas for AI tools to navigate the repo
• Domain-to-file index — generates docs/repo-index.md with per-domain file tables
• Preview and approve — review generated content before writing to disk

Terminal Features

• Full xterm.js terminal with rich text formatting
• Clickable links — URLs automatically detected
• Copy/paste support with keyboard shortcuts
• Tokyo Night dark theme with JetBrains Mono font
• Drag-and-drop file insertion into terminal

Prerequisites

Before installing ClaudeDesk, ensure you have:

1. Node.js 20+ — Download here
2. Claude Code CLI — Install via:

   npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

   Or follow the official installation guide
3. Claude API credentials — ClaudeDesk reads from ~/.claude/.credentials.json (set up by Claude CLI)

Installation

Option 1: Download Pre-built Binary (Recommended)

Download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page.

• Windows: .exe installer
• macOS: .dmg
• Linux: .AppImage or .deb

Option 2: Build from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/carloluisito/claudedesk.git
cd claudedesk

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run electron:watch

# Or build for production
npm run package

Build for specific platforms:

npm run package:win    # Windows
npm run package:mac    # macOS
npm run package:linux  # Linux

Built packages will be in the release/ directory.

Quick Start

1. Launch ClaudeDesk from your applications menu or run npm run electron:watch
2. Create your first session — click "+" or press Ctrl+T, pick a workspace and directory
3. Start using Claude — type your prompt in the terminal
4. Try the command palette — press Ctrl+Shift+P to browse prompt templates
5. Enable split view — use the layout picker or click split controls in the pane header

Keyboard Shortcuts

| Shortcut | Action | |----------|--------| | Ctrl+T | New Session | | Ctrl+W | Close Current Session | | Ctrl+Tab | Next Session Tab | | Ctrl+Shift+Tab | Previous Session Tab | | Ctrl+Shift+P | Open Command Palette | | Ctrl+Shift+G | Open Git Panel | | Ctrl+, | Open Settings | | Ctrl+C | Session Termination Dialog |

Tech Stack

| Layer | Technology | |-------|-----------| | Framework | Electron 28 | | Frontend | React 18 + TypeScript | | Terminal | xterm.js + node-pty | | Styling | Tailwind CSS (Tokyo Night theme) | | Graph | reactflow | | Build | Vite + electron-builder | | Testing | Vitest 4 (233 tests) + Playwright |

Project Structure

claudedesk/
├── src/
│   ├── main/              # Electron main process (9 managers)
│   ├── preload/           # Context bridge (auto-derived from contract)
│   ├── renderer/          # React app (hooks, components, utils)
│   └── shared/            # IPC contract, types, shared utilities
├── test/                  # Test setup and helpers
├── e2e/                   # Playwright E2E tests
├── docs/                  # Documentation and screenshots
└── .github/workflows/     # CI pipeline

See docs/repo-index.md for a detailed domain-to-file mapping.

Development

npm install              # Install dependencies
npm run electron:watch   # Dev mode with hot reload
npm test                 # Run all 233 tests
npm run test:watch       # Watch mode
npm run test:e2e         # E2E tests (local only)
npm run test:coverage    # Coverage report

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development guidelines.

Privacy & Security

• Local-first — all session data stored on your machine
• No telemetry — no usage data collected or transmitted
• No third-party services — only communicates with Anthropic's official API
• Credential security — reads Claude CLI credentials locally, never logs or stores them

For more details, see SECURITY.md.

Known Issues

• Windows: cmd.exe is used as the default shell. Ensure claude is in your PATH.
• macOS: Requires macOS 10.13+ (High Sierra or later).
• Linux: May require libxtst6 and libnss3 packages.

Contributing

1. Report bugs — Open an issue
2. Suggest features — Request a feature
3. Submit PRs — See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines

Please read our Code of Conduct before contributing.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.

Copyright (c) 2026 Carlo Luisito Adap

Disclaimer

ClaudeDesk is an unofficial community project and is not endorsed, affiliated with, or supported by Anthropic.

This is an independent wrapper around the Claude Code CLI. For official support, refer to Anthropic's documentation.

Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Security: See SECURITY.md for reporting vulnerabilities
• Email: [email protected]

Made with love by Carlo Luisito Adap