Anthropic has released a major redesign of the Claude Code desktop app, shifting the product away from a mostly single-conversation setup toward parallel multi-session work. The update is now available to Claude Code users on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans, as well as developers accessing it through the Claude API, with no waitlist required.
A new sidebar keeps active sessions in one place
The biggest interface change is a left-hand sidebar that shows ongoing and recent sessions in one view. Developers can launch tasks across multiple repositories and move between them as results come back. Sessions can be filtered by status, project, or execution environment, and they can also be grouped by project for faster navigation.
If a session is tied to a pull request that has been merged or closed, it is automatically archived. That keeps the sidebar focused on work still in progress rather than turning into a backlog of finished tasks.
Side Chat lets users ask questions without changing the main thread
The redesigned app also introduces Side Chat, available through ⌘ + ; or Ctrl + ;. This branch conversation can pull context from the main thread, but its replies do not get written back into that thread.
Anthropic says the feature is meant to prevent temporary questions from pushing the main task off course. A developer can check a detail, ask for clarification, then return to the main workflow without contaminating the core execution path.
Terminal, diff inspection, and previews now sit inside the app
Another part of the update is tool consolidation. Claude Code desktop now includes an integrated terminal, file editor, live HTML and PDF preview, and a faster Diff Viewer. That removes some of the need to jump back and forth between the app, an editor, and a separate terminal window.
Each pane can be moved through drag-and-drop controls. Developers can arrange the terminal, preview panels, diff view, and chat windows into their own preferred grid layout.
Desktop and CLI plugins now match, while SSH expands to Mac
Anthropic says the desktop app now reaches feature parity with CLI plugins. Organization-managed plugins and locally installed plugins both behave the same way inside the desktop environment as they do in the terminal.
SSH support has also been expanded from Linux to Mac. Users on Mac or Linux desktop can point a session at a remote machine and run work there directly.
Three display modes and usage tracking are now built in
The updated app includes Verbose, Normal, and Summary display modes. Verbose shows Claude’s tool calls in full, Normal is the default setting, and Summary limits the view to the final result. Developers can switch depending on how much process detail they want to inspect.
Anthropic has also added new keyboard shortcuts for creating, switching, and navigating sessions. Pressing ⌘ + / or Ctrl + / opens the full shortcut list. A usage button in the top-right corner now shows current context window consumption and cumulative usage for the active session.
The redesign follows a change in coding rhythm
Anthropic framed the release around a broader shift in agentic coding. Instead of sending one prompt and waiting for a single finished answer, developers are now more likely to start a refactor, a bug fix, and a testing task at the same time, monitor progress, intervene when needed, and review the diff before shipping.
On the same day, the company also announced a new Claude Code feature called Routines. It allows developers to set scheduled or triggered automation tasks that run on Claude Code’s cloud infrastructure and connect to repositories and other connectors.