/desktop fails to detect Claude Desktop installed in ~/Applications/

Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Apr 1, 2026 by LikiosSedo Closed May 26, 2026

Bug

/desktop command says "The desktop app is required for /desktop" even though Claude Desktop is installed and running.

Root Cause

Claude Desktop is installed at ~/Applications/Claude.app (user-level Applications folder), but the detection logic appears to only check /Applications/Claude.app (system-level).

On macOS, apps installed via drag-and-drop or certain installers can end up in ~/Applications/ instead of /Applications/. This is a valid install location.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Install Claude Desktop to ~/Applications/ (e.g., via the DMG installer when choosing user-level install)
  2. Run /desktop in Claude Code CLI
  3. CLI reports "The desktop app is required for /desktop"

Expected Behavior

/desktop should detect Claude Desktop in both /Applications/ and ~/Applications/.

Environment

  • macOS 15.6 (24G84)
  • Claude Code 2.1.89
  • Claude Desktop installed at ~/Applications/Claude.app

Suggested Fix

Check both paths:

const possiblePaths = [
  '/Applications/Claude.app',
  path.join(os.homedir(), 'Applications', 'Claude.app'),
];
const installed = possiblePaths.some(p => fs.existsSync(p));

Or use mdfind for a more robust detection:

mdfind "kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier == 'com.anthropic.claude'" 2>/dev/null

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