[FEATURE] Preview pane (PDF/image/HTML) in remote-control sessions

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

Problem Statement

The preview pane in Claude Code Desktop can render PDFs, images, and static HTML files in local and SSH sessions. However, in remote-control sessions (claude remote-control), clicking a file path in the chat does not open the preview pane — the file simply isn't displayed. This is because remote-control only streams chat messages and tool results through the Anthropic API bridge, with no channel for binary file content.

Why this matters

Remote-control is the only session type that offers persistence — the session survives disconnects and can be reconnected from any device. SSH sessions from the desktop app support file preview but die when the connection drops. This forces users to choose between persistence and visual feedback, which is a painful tradeoff for workflows that involve iterating on visual outputs (plots, figures, generated documents) on remote machines.

Reproduction

1. On a remote machine: claude remote-control --name my-session
2. Connect from Claude Desktop or claude.ai/code
3. Ask Claude to create or read a PDF/image file
4. Click the file path in the chat → nothing happens (no preview pane)
5. Compare: the same file path in an SSH session opens in the preview pane

Environment

• Claude Code CLI: latest
• Platform: Linux (Ubuntu 24.04, remote) → macOS (Desktop app, client)
• Session type: remote-control

Proposed Solution

Expected behavior

File paths for supported types (PDF, PNG, HTML, etc.) should open in the preview pane in remote-control sessions, just as they do in SSH sessions.

Possible approach

SSH sessions already stream file content for the file pane and preview pane. A similar mechanism could be added to the remote-control protocol — when the client requests a file for preview, the local CLI process reads it and sends it back through the existing encrypted bridge. This could be limited to supported preview types and capped in size to keep things lightweight.

Alternative Solutions

_No response_

Priority

High - Significant impact on productivity

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

_No response_

Additional Context

_No response_