Anthropic has released a redesigned Claude app for desktop that supports parallel agents so you can run more Claude Code tasks simultaneously.
“Today, we’re releasing a redesign of the Claude Code desktop app that includes a new sidebar for managing multiple sessions, a drag-and-drop layout for arranging your workspace, an integrated terminal and file editor, plus performance and quality-of-life improvements,” the announcement post explains. “The new app is built for how agentic coding actually feels now: many things in flight, and you in the orchestrator seat.”
Here’s what’s new.
New sidebar. The sidebar now displays active and recent sessions together, letting you moved between them more easily. You can also filter by status, project, or environment, or group the sidebar by project to find and resume sessions faster.
Side chats. You can now kick off a side chat any time by typing Ctrl + ; (or Cmd + 😉 when you need to ask a question mid-task or branch off a conversation. Side chats get context from the main thread, Anthropic says, but they don’t impact that thread so that tasks aren’t misdirected.
New and improved tools. The new app includes an integrated terminal for running tests and builds alongside your session, an in-app file editor, an improved diff viewer, and expanded preview support for HTML and PDF files. And these are all drag-and-drop capable, so you can position them as needed.
CLI plug-in parity. Claude for desktop app now has parity with CLI plugins, so any centrally managed Claude Code plugins in your organization will work the same in the desktop app as they do in the terminal. You can still run sessions locally or in the cloud, and the Mac version of the app now supports SSH so you can access remote machines. (This already worked on Linux.)
View modes. Claude for desktop supports three view modes–Verbose, Normal, and Summary–so you can customize its look and feel.
Other changes. There are no keyboard shortcuts for session switching, spawning, and navigation, a usage button for displaying your context window and session usage together, and reliability and performance improvements throughout.
The redesigned Claude desktop app is available now for all Claude Code users on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans, and via the Claude API. You can download it from the Anthropic website.