[FEATURE] Desktop app: start new sessions in a Remote Control environment (like mobile and claude.ai/code)

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet (related but different: #48949 asks for always-on Remote Control for Desktop's own sessions; #99942 is about session grouping)
• [x] This is a single feature request

Problem Statement

I run claude remote-control --spawn same-dir as a systemd service on a Linux dev box, so sessions live on the box and don't depend on any client. From the Claude mobile app and claude.ai/code, I can start a new session in that Remote Control environment: pick the environment, type a prompt, and the server spawns a session.

The Claude Desktop app (macOS) can't do this. In the Code tab, the only ways to start a session on the box are:

• SSH remote mode. The session runs as a child of Desktop's own remote server, so it dies when Desktop replaces that server after an auto-update (#100172). Desktop-hosted tools also stop working while the laptop sleeps (#94887).
• /remote-control in a Desktop session. This only mirrors that same Desktop-owned session to other devices. It's still subject to both problems.

So the most robust way to run long, unattended work (a Remote Control server on the box) is the only one Desktop can't start. I end up opening claude.ai/code in a browser next to the Desktop app just to create a session, then switching back.

Proposed Solution

In Desktop's Code tab, list the user's Remote Control environments (servers running claude remote-control) next to Local and SSH. Picking one and sending a prompt should create the session on that server, the way the mobile app and claude.ai/code do. The session then lives on the server and survives Desktop quitting, sleeping or updating. Desktop is just a client for it, like the phone.

Nice to have: show the server's capacity (e.g. 2/3) and whether it's online, as the mobile session list already does with the green dot.

Alternative Solutions

• Start sessions from claude.ai/code or the phone, then view them in Desktop. That works, but it means two apps for one task.
• Use Desktop SSH mode for long work. That's fragile for the reasons above.

Priority

Medium - Would be very helpful

Feature Category

Other

Use Case Example

1. A dev box runs claude remote-control --spawn same-dir --capacity 3 as a user service.
2. At my laptop, in Claude Desktop → Code → new session → environment "dev-box" → "run the eval suite and fix failures".
3. I close the laptop. The session keeps working on the box; Desktop's server update doesn't kill it, and nothing it needs runs on the laptop.
4. Later I pick it up on my phone, then back in Desktop.

Additional Context

Desktop for macOS, latest as of 2026-10-07. CLI 2.1.291 on the box (Ubuntu).