Desktop app: hard to turn on fast mode, and no sign of whether it's on

Status Open
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 0 comments · opened Sep 24, 2026

Fast mode is confusing in the Claude desktop app's Code tab, for two reasons.

1. No way to turn it on when starting a conversation.
The new-conversation screen has no fast mode toggle next to the model picker. The fast mode docs only cover:

  • /fast in the CLI
  • a "Toggle fast mode" command in VS Code
  • the fastMode setting in settings.json

None of these explain how to do it in the desktop app. I had to ask Claude inside a session to work it out, and the best answer was "edit settings.json".

2. No sign of whether fast mode is on in a session.
After starting a session, I can't tell whether fast mode is on. This makes it hard to know whether a setting worked, what speed to expect, or what I'm being billed at.

Expected:

  • A visible fast mode toggle when starting a conversation, next to the model and effort pickers.
  • A persistent label in an active session showing whether fast mode is on (e.g. in the header or next to the model name), which can also be clicked to switch it.
  • Docs that explain how fast mode works in the desktop app.

Environment: Claude desktop app (Code tab), macOS

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