[FEATURE] Feature Request: Isolated Windows GUI testing using RDP Child 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

When Claude Code uses Computer Use to test desktop applications, GUI interaction can interfere significantly with the developer's normal Windows desktop.

Testing an application may require launching windows, changing focus, moving the mouse, sending keyboard input, interacting with dialogs, taking screenshots, and restarting applications. When this happens in the user's interactive desktop session, it becomes difficult to continue working on the same machine while Claude is testing the application.

For coding agents in particular, this is unnecessary in many cases: the GUI being controlled is often the application currently being developed and could run in a separate interactive Windows session instead.

Proposed Solution

Add an optional isolated GUI testing mode on Windows using Windows RDP Child Sessions.

This is not conventional Remote Desktop to another computer or VM. Windows has supported local RDP Child Sessions since Windows 8 / Windows Server 2012. They allow a separate interactive Windows session associated with the existing user's session.

Microsoft exposes this functionality through APIs including:

• WTSEnableChildSessions
• WTSIsChildSessionsEnabled
• WTSGetChildSessionId
• Remote Desktop ActiveX Control
• IMsRdpExtendedSettings::Property("ConnectToChildSession")

Claude Code could launch the application under test inside such a Child Session and perform Computer Use there.

The developer could continue using the normal parent session while Claude independently performs screenshots, mouse/keyboard interaction, UI Automation, dialog handling, application restarts, and visual verification inside the Child Session.

Conceptually:

Developer session → IDE, browser, terminal, normal desktop usage

Claude Child Session → application under test, Computer Use, screenshots/vision, UI interaction

Both could operate simultaneously on the same Windows machine.

Alternative Solutions

Other possible approaches include:

• Window-scoped capture and background input targeted at a specific HWND
• A separate Win32 desktop
• Windows Sandbox
• A lightweight VM
• A dedicated remote machine

Window-scoped automation would likely be lighter weight, but it does not provide complete desktop semantics for applications involving multiple windows, modal dialogs, native file dialogs, popup menus, drag & drop, focus changes, or multiple processes.

A VM or Windows Sandbox provides stronger isolation but introduces substantially more overhead.

RDP Child Sessions appear particularly interesting because Windows already provides a separate interactive desktop environment locally without requiring a complete second operating system.

The specific implementation does not necessarily have to use RDP Child Sessions; the primary feature request is an isolated/background interactive desktop for GUI testing that does not interfere with the developer's desktop.

Priority

Medium - Would be very helpful

Feature Category

Interactive mode (TUI)

Use Case Example

A developer is working with Claude Code on a WPF, WinForms, WinUI, MAUI, or native Win32 application.

Claude modifies the application and then performs:

1. Build the application
2. Launch it in an isolated Windows Child Session
3. Inspect the UI using Computer Use
4. Click controls and enter input
5. Open dialogs and test application behavior
6. Detect a visual or behavioral problem
7. Modify the source code
8. Rebuild and restart the application
9. Verify the fix

This enables an autonomous:

edit → build → run → inspect → interact → fix → repeat

workflow.

Meanwhile, the developer continues using the parent Windows session normally without Claude taking over the mouse, keyboard, foreground window, or working desktop.

Additional Context

Windows RDP Child Sessions are an existing Windows feature rather than a proposal for a new virtualization mechanism.

Microsoft documentation:

• Child Sessions — Remote Desktop Services

https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/win32/termserv/child-sessions

• WTSEnableChildSessions

https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/win32/api/wtsapi32/nf-wtsapi32-wtsenablechildsessions

• WTSGetChildSessionId

https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/win32/api/wtsapi32/nf-wtsapi32-wtsgetchildsessionid

• IMsRdpExtendedSettings / ConnectToChildSession

https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/win32/termserv/imsrdpextendedsettings-property

The concept is historically similar to the Windows 8 / Visual Studio Windows Store App Simulator, which provided an interactive Windows environment inside a window without requiring a full VM.

There are also third-party experiments using Windows Child Sessions for AI/desktop automation, suggesting that this architecture is practical for agent-driven GUI interaction.

The goal is not specifically to require RDP as the implementation. The important capability is allowing Claude Code to perform real GUI testing in a separate interactive Windows environment without disrupting the developer's active desktop session.