FEATURE: Multi-window support in Claude Code Desktop

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1. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/27725

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This would be fantastic!

+1 on this feature request. I want to expand on why parallel operation is so critical, not just convenient.

The core ask: true parallel multi-window + split-pane

Beyond split-pane view, I want to be able to launch multiple independent windows simultaneously — each running different tasks in parallel at the same time. Use cases include:

• Referencing output from one session while actively working in another
• Running separate tasks concurrently (research, coding, writing) without context-switching
• Comparing outputs side by side in real time

Parallel operation is a game-changer — and Claude Code CLI already does it

This is not a nice-to-have. Parallel operation dramatically expands what is possible with Claude. The ability to run multiple agents or conversations simultaneously is one of the most powerful productivity multipliers available.

Here is what makes this frustrating: Claude Code (CLI) already supports this. You can run multiple claude processes in separate tmux panes or terminal windows and work on completely different tasks in parallel. That capability exists today in the terminal.

But Claude Desktop — the GUI product aimed at broader audiences — cannot do this. That is a significant regression in capability. Power users who rely on Claude daily are being pushed back to the CLI just to get parallel workflows.

The gap should not exist

Claude Desktop is Electron-based, so multi-window support is technically straightforward. The infrastructure for multiple sessions already exists. This feature would close a real gap between what Claude can do in the terminal vs. what it can do in the desktop GUI — and for many users, that gap is the difference between a tool that transforms their workflow and one that merely assists it.

Parallel execution is not just a UX improvement. It is a fundamental capability unlock. Please prioritize this.

Yes please- tabs, windows, whatever. Claude is powerful and now that it actually does agentic work, I find I want to work on parallel streams of different tasks instead of just sitting waiting on one. And I work across the Chat, Cowork, and Code modes in the same sitting session, so I'd love to have tabs or windows or a faster way to navigate between them (can't help but mention the performance of the macOS app is quite laggy navigating around on my M4 Pro with 48 GB RAM)

Yes please!

I would love this, just went searching to see if this was available already. As much as I love Boris, I do not want to be running multiple TMUX windows haha

+1 — and I'd like to extend this request specifically to Cowork (not just Claude Code sessions).

As a non-developer power user on the Max plan, I rely heavily on Cowork for multi-step tasks like file organization, document generation, and research synthesis. My main pain point: I cannot run multiple Cowork tasks in parallel.

What I've tried:
• Switching between tasks in the sidebar → previous task gets interrupted
• Launching a second instance via open -n -a "Claude" → active Cowork session immediately exits ("Finishing up... Cowork is taking a moment to cleanly exit")

What I'd like:
• Ability to run 2-3 independent Cowork tasks simultaneously, each in its own window or tab
• Tasks should continue running in the background when I navigate to another task

This would be a major productivity unlock for business users who use Cowork as their primary agentic workflow tool. The in-task queue is helpful but doesn't solve the problem of genuinely independent workstreams.

This would be a major productivity unlock for business users who use Cowork as their primary agentic workflow tool. The in-task queue is helpful but doesn't solve the problem of genuinely independent workstreams.

this is exactly my use case, at any given time i have 3-4 unrelated workstreams and i'm using MacOS desktops to maintain these different contexts isolated. Codex is really good at splitting out windows which is what I'm finding myself using more and more.

bump :)

bump :)

bump :)

Give this to us!!

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please, i am now running 7 separate claudes on my M1 MAcbook simultaneously, but that's a disaster for my ram and cpu. I nee d this very badly, that would be a major upgrade

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I'm unsubscribing from this. someone @ me if they added it.

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please release thiss!

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agreed. critical feature and seems easy to implement.
e

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Yes, please, for Windows too!

I want to be able to use different windows for different Claude accounts under the same email. With one instance I am unable to perform both work and personal tasks without interrupting one or the other.
I have both plans under the same email, but if I want to switch between the two, I have to interrupt tasks in order to proceed.

<img width="299" height="538" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/70a2a277-8659-41b2-ab8a-4941d5f4f25d" />

I would love to have this as well!

Bump

+1 (working around by asking it to create artefact that i open with code editor)

+1 I want to segment my work by multiple desktops on Windows 11; one per client, plus an 'admin' one for things like time tracking and internal work. When I swap desktops, I want my Claude Desktop (not Claude Code) to be open on that desktop and in the proper context for that client / admin work. I won't be running Claude commands simultaneously; I just want a clean context switch when I change focus.

I'm not sure if this is helpful, but I made a small solution using Claude:
https://github.com/LewisIsWorking/ComeOnOverDesktopLauncher

It does what I was looking for from this issue request in the first place.

You can launch multiple Claude Desktop instances on your windows machine.

Feel free to give it a go and lemme know if this helps.
Supports up to 100 Claude Desktop windows.

+1 — adding a concrete real-world use case where this is biting hard.

I'm a solo dev maintaining a backend for a construction/contracting company (PostgreSQL on GCP, ~10 Cloud Functions, multiple third-party integrations: Plaid, Bouncie, two state 811 systems, Glide app, etc).
On any given day I'll have 3+ parallel work streams: a long-running backfill script in one session, an investigation in another, and quick ad-hoc Glide/SQL questions in a third.

The CLI handles this perfectly via terminal tabs (one claude per tab, each with its own working directory and history). The Desktop app forces serial work — /resume swaps the active session instead of opening a parallel one, and (per #43919) "new session" actions seem to cancel the current one rather than spawn alongside it.

Workarounds I've tried, all suboptimal:

• Multiple Desktop windows → app is single-instance on Windows, second launch focuses the existing window
• /resume → serial, not parallel; defeats the point
• Mixing Desktop + CLI in terminal → works, but inconsistent UX and splits attention across two interfaces

The CLI already proves the multi-session infrastructure exists. The Desktop UI just needs to expose it — either as tabs (browser-style) or as multiple windows (per the OP). Either pattern would unblock this.

Bonus ask: whatever the final UX, please make sessions clearly labeled by working directory so it's obvious which session is which when you have 3+ open. Tying in with #44628 (auto-assign session colors).

+1

This is the single biggest reason why I do not use the Claude Code desktop interface. I organize chats into windows on desktops for different purposes. Switching via the left sidebar is useless to me as I don't know what is "active".

confused. Hasn't been solved? You can have 4 active sessions in the desktop right now

confused. Hasn't been solved? You can have 4 active sessions in the desktop right now

Can you describe how so we can call this solved?

Indeed. I run 4 active sessions and sometimes 10+ if i'm doing a lot of small stuff. I now have to click back and forth to sessions. Let me have 4 individual screens where i can track what's happening. And the sidebar isn't always accurate on what is waiting on approval, so I loop through them again and again

> confused. Hasn't been solved? You can have 4 active sessions in the desktop right now Can you describe how so we can call this solved?

Split View

> Can you describe how so we can call this solved? Split View

What if you have different Anthropic accounts you want to work with? like a personal account and a work account?

1. this is common sense to do more than one thing at a time.
2. i do this all day in copilot.

+1 for this feature.

I currently use VSCode purely because I can do multiple windows, but would love to switch to the Claude Code Desktop app if it had multiple window support

Yes yes yes. And here's another vital use case not yet mentioned:

I constantly work on multiple virtual desktops. Either in fully separate projects and/or in multiple working trees in the same project. Without the ability to have a window for each such workspace open I'm forced to constantly switch first virtual desktop, and then find the correct session in the desktop app.
The time taken goes from a fraction of a second to look over to my other screen, to several seconds just to get to the session, then much the same to get back to my IDE. This is an absolute must have feature to me.

And while you are at it, why not implement https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/61306 so that each session integrates with whatever IDE I'm working with the same way that the CLI does. Meaning that effectively the desktop app becomes a plugin for every IDE that supports /ide, starting with every Jetbrains IDE?

+1
Also, On app update or restart, restore each window to its previous virtual desktop and screen position (Chrome already does this well via session restore + IVirtualDesktopManager).
Electron exposes BrowserWindow.getBounds() for position/size, and the Win32 IVirtualDesktopManager COM API returns the desktop GUID for a window handle. Persisting {bounds, desktopGuid, sessionId} per window on shutdown and replaying on startup is the same pattern Chrome uses.

+1

Yes, yes, yes!

I'd love the ability to open multiple Claude windows simultaneously, each holding its own conversation.

Context: I've completely switched my workflow to Claude — it's now how I get all of my work done. I use a separate macOS Space (desktop) for each project I'm working on, with the relevant tools pinned to each Space. Today I can't do this with Claude because it only allows a single window — switching projects yanks the one Claude window over to whichever Space I'm in, which scrambles my workspace layout and forces me to navigate back to the right conversation manually.

Here's the thing: when I'm in the flow, the friction of shuffling windows around to get what I need disrupts me more than waiting on Claude does. The window management is now the bottleneck in my workflow, not response latency.

Ideal behavior: ⌘N opens a new window with a new conversation, and existing conversations can be opened in their own windows. Each window would stay put in whichever Space I assigned it to (standard macOS window behavior).

Most native Mac apps (Safari, Notes, Messages, Mail, VS Code, Xcode) support this, and it would be a meaningful productivity win for anyone working across multiple projects. Thanks for considering.

Context: I've completely switched my workflow to Claude — it's now how I get all of my work done. I use a separate macOS Space (desktop) for each project I'm working on, with the relevant tools pinned to each Space. Today I can't do this with Claude because it only allows a single window — switching projects yanks the one Claude window over to whichever Space I'm in, which scrambles my workspace layout and forces me to navigate back to the right conversation manually.

I could've written pretty much this whole post!

I think the Mac has been pretty good at standardizing complex/multi-window app idioms since iTunes days (and before), and so it bums me out that Claude (Code)—the superapp that I utilize in so many more ways than any other in all the years I've been using computers—doesn't take advantage of it and fit in. Really looking forward to this happening one day.

I don't know when this got added but on Claude Desktop Windows v1.9659.4, I can click and hold a session name from the left nav bar and drag it out of the main Claude Desktop Window. It creates a second window of the same session!!! I discovered this by accident. My Claude couldn't find any Anthropic documentation about this but it works!

<img width="2076" height="2922" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/de7fb135-90f2-473c-b4a4-7e2a579b60c0" />

I don't know when this got added but on Claude Desktop Windows v1.9659.4, I can click and hold a session name from the left nav bar and drag it out of the main Claude Desktop Window. It creates a second window of the same session!!! I discovered this by accident. My Claude couldn't find any Anthropic documentation about this but it works! <img alt="Image" width="1421" height="2000" src="https://private-user-images.githubusercontent.com/35241027/602632464-de7fb135-90f2-473c-b4a4-7e2a579b60c0.png?jwt=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.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.NGSc5Xw6_MlCQDZozcSPCqPcCD_eBT72wIdUUKo5Y0M">

Yes this works!

side-by-side isn't a window feature, it's a session-model one.

@hooolio I just tried that in the Mac and it works on the Mac as well!!! While it does not solve all of my use cases, it will help me a ton. Thank you so much for pointing this out.

Claude code team, please please please add support for multiple windows. For me I want window per project so that each of those windows can stay pinned on a different desktop.

This is dope, the drag and drop DOES work... BUT ONLY ON THE "code" tab! Hey Team, could you consider bringing this feature to the CHAT tab? I want to be able to Chat simultaneously while I use Code.

please add to the Cowork tab as well. thanks!

I had to come across this issue to learn about the drag-to-new-window feature.

I wonder what other features I'm missing. Consider making them easier to discover.

Update (Sep 2026) — correcting this comment: the app is not free any more. It was when I posted this in June; it is now $9.49 on the Microsoft Store, one-time purchase. Correcting it here rather than deleting, because the "free" above is simply wrong now.

Still accurate for the multi-window problem in this issue: Multi Instance for Claude Desktop runs several isolated Claude Desktop windows side by side on Windows, each with its own profile, session, account and MCP servers via a separate --user-data-dir.

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NG247TJ47P0?cid=gh-30154

### I am a non-technical user who is on board with getting up to speed, but I'm used to multiple tabs/windows to reference. It would be nice to be able to have multiple "screens" open so they can be referenced back and forth. since the 3 identities don't talk to eachother very well, it would allow copy and paste to be SIMPLE. Thank you!

+1 — this is the missing piece for me.

I run multiple long-lived sessions in parallel plus cloud Routines, and the single-window sidebar means I'm constantly clicking between them and losing my glance-view of tool output and diffs. On a multi-monitor setup that's a real drag.

Two things I'd add to the ask:

1. Let Routine/cloud runs detach too, not just local sessions — right now they're read-mostly in desktop, so a poppable window that at least stays live-visible would help a lot.
2. Restore each window to its previous monitor/position on app restart (Chrome-style) so the layout survives updates.

The parallel-session redesign is great. This is the one addition that would unlock the screen real estate to actually use it. Would love to see it land.

What I want

Two connected things:

1. Let me open a new session in its own window, and let me open several of these windows at once.
2. Let me compose a prompt in a new session and hold it, so nothing runs until I choose to send it. Today a session starts working the moment I submit.

Why

I often have several separate tasks in mind at once. I want to write each one up in its own session ahead of time, then launch them one at a time. When two sessions run against the same project at the same time they collide: one session commits or pushes, and the files, the branch, or the live site move underneath the other session, which then reports that things changed under it.

Staging the sessions in advance and releasing them one by one would let me serialize the work and avoid those collisions. Separate windows would also let me keep each task in view on its own screen instead of switching sidebar tabs.

What exists today and why it falls short

• Sessions run in parallel, but only as tabs in a single window switched from the sidebar. There is no way to pop one out into its own window.
• There is no way to draft a prompt and hold it. A session begins as soon as I submit.
• My current workaround is to submit a session whose first message says "do not do anything until I say go." This is unreliable. The session often starts working anyway without waiting for my go-ahead, which defeats the purpose of stacking them up.

What would solve it

• A "New session in a new window" option (for example on the New button, or right-click a session tab and choose Open in New Window).
• Support for multiple session windows open at once.
• A compose-and-hold state: I can type a prompt into a new session and it stays as an unsent draft until I press send, with the draft preserved if I switch away and come back.

Related

This builds on the multi-window request in this issue, and on #50963 (detach a session into its own window). My addition is the compose-and-hold-before-submit part, which is what actually keeps parallel sessions from stepping on each other.

Update (Sep 2026): two corrections and one addition to what I wrote here.

The corrections: it is no longer free, it is $9.49 on the Microsoft Store (one-time, no subscription), and the old store link I posted has been replaced by the one below.

The addition, which is the part that changed the tool: each window can now run a different AI engine. One instance on your Anthropic subscription, another on Kimi (Moonshot), GLM (Z.AI), DeepSeek, OpenAI, OpenRouter or a local Ollama model, at the same time on the same machine. Worth knowing why that is not trivial to do yourself: ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL is global, so switching it moves every window at once. Each instance instead carries its own token and a local bridge maps token to instance to engine to key, rewriting the model name in flight (Claude Desktop sends claude-opus-5, which Kimi rejects outright).

Disclosure: I built both. The multi-engine one is Multi Instance Pro ($9.49): https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9N3X1FSCLMWK?cid=gh-30154-engine

Plain multi-window with Anthropic accounts only is Multi Instance for Claude Desktop, same price: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NG247TJ47P0?cid=gh-30154

Single window only desktop app is a huge limitation to parallelizing workflows. The agent bar is not enough. Multiple windows allow for sensible groupings of related threads versus a total mess in a single window. If there are 10+ threads open the sidebar is a hot mess and clicking on it is a pain. If there are 3 threads open in 4 windows where each of the 3 threads are related to each other and the windows can quickly be flicked between with hotkeys its a FAR more efficient workflow

I desperately need this feature. Running multiple projects at once, I can isolate them nicely into virtual desktops... but Claude Desktop is the weak link in the chain. Please resolve this ASAP... use Fable and your infinite compute. ;)

I desperately need this feature. Running multiple projects at once, I can isolate them nicely into virtual desktops... but Claude Desktop is the weak link in the chain. Please resolve this ASAP... use Fable and your infinite compute. ;)

Same here! Claude Desktop is the weak link to make this happen in my working environment. I get confused and messed up all the time because Claude is missing this feature.

I have a work account and a personal account, I want to use both at once

So I guess this is fixed now. You can open in a new window, or you can open in a browser window as remote control. It's not quite the same... but it's there.

+1, and please consider this for the Chat and Cowork tabs as well, not just Code. My main use case: keeping multiple conversations visible side by side (long-running process)

I previously reported this as "fixed". It's not fully fixed.

When you open a new window, the new window lacks several features of the central desktop window.

The most significant of these is when working with subagents - the live transcript of the subagent conversations is unavailable. Instead, you are only able to view the prompt sent to the sub-agent.

This is no better information than the remote control display in a browser, in fact - it's almost identical. I therefore wonder if the way they implemented separate windows was to simply launch a webview running in remote control...! 😭💥

Adding a concrete case for why multi-window is currently a downgrade rather than an addition.

The background tasks pane (Views menu) is per-session and exists only in the main window. It's the single most useful pane in the app for me — I can watch subagents and background shell work while keeping the conversation in view.

Opening sessions in their own windows is the natural way to run several at once, but doing so costs that pane entirely. So split view inside one window is the only layout where I get both, which forces all my parallel work through a two-pane split.

Ask: make the background tasks pane available in any window, not just the main one.

for me, the primary problem is when reaching a session's context window it should be replaced with a new session, but the multi-window is locked only to that session. so creating a replacing session requires a lot of OS-level window management that prevents me from staying in the flow on multiple parallel tasks.

on compaction → this is useful mid-task for long token heavy runs that might each 50-70% of your context in one round but when moving to a new phase of a plan or task on the same project a fresh session will perform better less burdened by previous assumptions or lost/distracted details.

overall → the window is the shape of the work (projects) you want done but right now it's being conflated with context management decisions when it shouldn't.

the ask → add a new chat button on each window that defaults to the same directory and branch

bonus points ask → add another button that creates the new session with a handoff (maybe even a Q/A for you to select or steer what parts to include vs ignore)

for me, the primary problem is when reaching a session's context window it should be replaced with a new session, but the multi-window is locked only to that session. so creating a replacing session requires a lot of OS-level window management that prevents me from staying in the flow on multiple parallel tasks. on compaction → this is useful mid-task for long token heavy runs that might each 50-70% of your context in one round but when moving to a new phase of a plan or task on the same project a fresh session will perform better less burdened by previous assumptions or lost/distracted details. overall → the window is the shape of the work (projects) you want done but right now it's being conflated with context management decisions when it shouldn't. the ask → add a new chat button on each window that defaults to the same directory and branch bonus points ask → add another button that creates the new session with a handoff (maybe even a Q/A for you to select or steer what parts to include vs ignore)

Yeah, every time I think they've fixed it I find another limitation as you've described. Even so, it's good to see improvements arriving and we can now we background task transcripts properly/

+1 from Linux. Official Claude Desktop 2.9939.4 (Ubuntu 24.04, X11, apt package).

The .desktop entry ships with SingleMainWindow=true and a comment saying the second
instance just focuses mainWindow, so GNOME's "New Window" action is suppressed.
The only desktop actions are "New Chat" and "New Claude Code Session", both of which
open inside the existing window.

Launching a second instance with --user-data-dir works, but it starts logged out
and the claude:// handler still routes to the default profile, so it's not a usable
workaround.

Request: a real "New Window" (Ctrl+Shift+N / File > New Window) within the same app
instance, so a Code session can be moved to its own OS window / second monitor
without running a separate profile.

+1 from Windows (Claude Desktop, Windows 11). This need goes beyond the Code tab: I'd also like to open two conversations from the Chat tab in separate windows, side by side. Today my only workaround is opening claude.ai in a browser window next to the app. A "New window" option (Ctrl+N) for any tab (Chat, Cowork, Code) would solve it. Could the platform:macos label be broadened to include Windows?