Chat in Claude Desktop on 3P changedthird-party/claude-desktop/chat
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55> [!NOTE]
66>
7> When [Unified Claude](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude) is on, a message sent from the home screen starts a Cowork session on a device that can run Cowork.
7> When [Unified Claude](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude.md) is on, a message sent from the home screen starts a Cowork session on a device that can run Cowork.
88
9Chat in Claude Desktop on third-party (3P) is a conversational surface for quick questions and drafting. Unlike [Cowork](/docs/cowork/overview) and [Code](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/code), which run agentic sessions with access to folders you grant and a code-execution environment, a Chat conversation runs with a deliberately small tool surface: it can search and fetch the web under your admin configuration, read files attached to the conversation, read and update the project's memory and read the files in the project's folders when the conversation is inside a project, write files into a scratch space of its own, and use skills from the plugins you provision, and nothing else on the machine. Chat is off by default and is enabled with a single configuration key.
9Chat in Claude Desktop on third-party (3P) is a conversational surface for quick questions and drafting. Unlike [Cowork](/docs/cowork/overview.md) and [Code](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/code.md), which run agentic sessions with access to folders you grant and a code-execution environment, a Chat conversation runs with a deliberately small tool surface: it can search and fetch the web under your admin configuration, read files attached to the conversation, read and update the project's memory and read the files in the project's folders when the conversation is inside a project, write files into a scratch space of its own, and use skills from the plugins you provision, and nothing else on the machine. Chat is off by default and is enabled with a single configuration key.
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11Chat conversations run against your configured inference provider, and their history is stored on the user's device. See [User identity and local data](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/data-storage#chat-conversations) for exactly what is written where and what can leave the device.
11Chat conversations run against your configured inference provider, and their history is stored on the user's device. See [User identity and local data](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/data-storage.md#chat-conversations) for exactly what is written where and what can leave the device.
1212
1313## What a Chat conversation can reach
1414
1515| Capability | Scope |
1616| - | - |
17| Web search | Same options and rules as Cowork and Code sessions; depends on your provider or a configured search server. See [Web search](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/web-tools#web-search). |
18| Web fetch | Runs in the app on the device, never inside a sandbox. Every fetch is checked against `coworkEgressAllowedHosts`; with no allowlist configured, fetch is disabled. See [Web fetch](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/web-tools#web-fetch). |
17| Web search | Same options and rules as Cowork and Code sessions; depends on your provider or a configured search server. See [Web search](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/web-tools.md#web-search). |
18| Web fetch | Runs in the app on the device, never inside a sandbox. Every fetch is checked against `coworkEgressAllowedHosts`; with no allowlist configured, fetch is disabled. See [Web fetch](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/web-tools.md#web-fetch). |
1919| Attached files | Read-only access to files the user attaches to the conversation. Each attachment is copied or hard-linked into the conversation's local uploads directory. |
20| Project memory | For a conversation inside a project, that project's [memory](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/data-storage#memory): Claude can read, add to, and update the notes that Chat conversations and Cowork sessions in that project share. Not used if memory was paused when the conversation started, or for conversations outside a project. |
20| Project memory | For a conversation inside a project, that project's [memory](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/data-storage.md#memory): Claude can read, add to, and update the notes that Chat conversations and Cowork sessions in that project share. Not used if memory was paused when the conversation started, or for conversations outside a project. |
2121| Project folders | For a conversation inside a project, read-only access to folders added to the project in Claude Desktop. Claude can list and read files in them. See [Project folders in Chat](#project-folders-in-chat). |
2222| Scratch directory | A per-conversation working directory where Claude can create and edit files (documents, data files, HTML artifacts) and offer them to the user for download or preview. |
2323| Managed MCP servers | The servers you provision via [`managedMcpServers`](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#managedmcpservers) are available in Chat with the same approval model as Cowork sessions: a tool's `toolPolicy` of `"allow"` pre-approves it, `"blocked"` blocks it, and `"ask"` requires user approval on every call. A tool with no policy asks the user, who can allow it once or grant standing approval, as in Cowork. |
2424| Clarifying questions | Claude can present multiple-choice questions to the user (the `AskUserQuestion` tool). |
25| Plugin skills and hooks | Skills from the plugins you provision through [organization plugins](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/extensions#organization-plugins-admin) or [plugin marketplaces](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/extensions#plugin-marketplaces-admin) are available in Chat, including as slash commands. Hooks from those plugins also run in Chat conversations as they do in Cowork sessions, as described under [Plugin hooks](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/extensions#plugin-hooks). Plugin sub-agents do not run in Chat, and a skill that runs scripts needs [advanced file analysis](#advanced-file-analysis). Plugin skills require Claude Desktop 1.44121.4 or later, and plugin hooks run in Chat on Claude Desktop 1.52386.0 or later. |
25| Plugin skills and hooks | Skills from the plugins you provision through [organization plugins](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/extensions.md#organization-plugins-admin) or [plugin marketplaces](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/extensions.md#plugin-marketplaces-admin) are available in Chat, including as slash commands. Hooks from those plugins also run in Chat conversations as they do in Cowork sessions, as described under [Plugin hooks](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/extensions.md#plugin-hooks). Plugin sub-agents do not run in Chat, and a skill that runs scripts needs [advanced file analysis](#advanced-file-analysis). Plugin skills require Claude Desktop 1.44121.4 or later, and plugin hooks run in Chat on Claude Desktop 1.52386.0 or later. |
2626| Code execution | Off by default. When you enable [advanced file analysis](#advanced-file-analysis), Claude can additionally run code in a local sandbox against attached files and, inside a project, files in the project's folders. See [Sandbox network access](#sandbox-network-access). |
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2828`disabledBuiltinTools` and `builtinToolPolicy` apply in Chat the same way they do in Cowork and Code sessions. For example, adding `"WebFetch"` removes web fetch from Chat conversations too.
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3232For a conversation inside a project, Claude can list and read files in folders added to the project in Claude Desktop, and can't change them.
3333
34* **Folders the user adds.** To have Claude read a folder, the user adds it to the project in Claude Desktop and starts a new conversation. For a folder that an [import](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/import) put on the project, or that was on the project before Chat could read folders, the user adds it to the project again. For the steps, see [Make an imported project folder readable in Chat](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/import#make-an-imported-project-folder-readable-in-chat).
34* **Folders the user adds.** To have Claude read a folder, the user adds it to the project in Claude Desktop and starts a new conversation. For a folder that an [import](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/import.md) put on the project, or that was on the project before Chat could read folders, the user adds it to the project again. For the steps, see [Make an imported project folder readable in Chat](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/import.md#make-an-imported-project-folder-readable-in-chat).
3535* **Folders you allow.** If you set [`allowedWorkspaceFolders`](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#allowedworkspacefolders), the list also limits which of a project's folders Claude reads.
3636
3737## What a Chat conversation cannot do
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5959* The sandbox doesn't see project folders in a conversation that starts while a rule for `"Read"`, `"Grep"`, or `"Glob"` is set in `disabledBuiltinTools`, in `builtinToolPolicy` with a value other than `"allow"`, or as a deny or ask rule in Claude Code's own managed settings on the device. See [`chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#chatadvancedfileanalysisenabled) for more cases.
6060* Each command runs independently; results land in the scratch directory, where Claude can offer them to the user as downloads or artifacts.
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62The data flow end to end: an attached file is copied into the conversation's local uploads directory, mounted read-only into the sandbox when analysis runs, and any outputs are written to the conversation's scratch directory on local disk. File content leaves the device only as conversation context sent to your configured inference provider, in web search queries to your configured search backend, through web fetches your egress allowlist permits, through [sandbox network access](#sandbox-network-access), in a connector tool call permitted by your `toolPolicy` configuration and the user's approvals, or, if you have enabled [content capture](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/telemetry#content-capture), in telemetry to your own collector.
62The data flow end to end: an attached file is copied into the conversation's local uploads directory, mounted read-only into the sandbox when analysis runs, and any outputs are written to the conversation's scratch directory on local disk. File content leaves the device only as conversation context sent to your configured inference provider, in web search queries to your configured search backend, through web fetches your egress allowlist permits, through [sandbox network access](#sandbox-network-access), in a connector tool call permitted by your `toolPolicy` configuration and the user's approvals, or, if you have enabled [content capture](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/telemetry.md#content-capture), in telemetry to your own collector.
6363
6464> [!NOTE]
6565>
66> Advanced file analysis uses the same shell tool as Cowork's sandbox, so adding `"Bash"` to `disabledBuiltinTools` disables it even when `chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled` is `true`. Running it requires the sandbox VM bundle, which the app downloads from Anthropic unless you deployed the offline installer (see [required egress paths](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/telemetry#required-egress-paths)).
66> Advanced file analysis uses the same shell tool as Cowork's sandbox, so adding `"Bash"` to `disabledBuiltinTools` disables it even when `chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled` is `true`. Running it requires the sandbox VM bundle, which the app downloads from Anthropic unless you deployed the offline installer (see [required egress paths](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/telemetry.md#required-egress-paths)).
6767
6868### Sandbox network access
6969
70Commands that Claude runs in the advanced file analysis sandbox can reach the hosts in [`coworkEgressAllowedHosts`](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#coworkegressallowedhosts). A command-line tool that a [plugin](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/extensions#controlling-user-extensions) adds to the sandbox can also reach the hosts that its plugin declares. Those hosts don't need to be in the list. If the list is unset or empty, no host is allowed for other commands.
70Commands that Claude runs in the advanced file analysis sandbox can reach the hosts in [`coworkEgressAllowedHosts`](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#coworkegressallowedhosts). A command-line tool that a [plugin](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/extensions.md#controlling-user-extensions) adds to the sandbox can also reach the hosts that its plugin declares. Those hosts don't need to be in the list. If the list is unset or empty, no host is allowed for other commands.
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7272* **Other hosts.** A web request to any other host gets a `403 Forbidden` response with the header `X-Proxy-Error: blocked-by-allowlist`. `pip install` reports this as `Tunnel connection failed: 403 Forbidden`.
7373* **Package installs.** Package managers contact their default index, so list its hosts. For pip, list `pypi.org` and `files.pythonhosted.org`. To install from a private mirror, list its host. The command must name the mirror, for example with pip's `--index-url`.
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7474
7575> [!WARNING]
7676>
77> By default, commands in the sandbox run without an approval prompt. A command can upload anything the sandbox can read to a listed host, and can run what it downloads from one. [Web fetch](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/web-tools#web-fetch) in Chat uses the same list, so a host you list for web fetch is also open to sandbox commands. With `"*"` in the list, network filtering in the sandbox is off, so commands can reach any host.
77> By default, commands in the sandbox run without an approval prompt. A command can upload anything the sandbox can read to a listed host, and can run what it downloads from one. [Web fetch](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/web-tools.md#web-fetch) in Chat uses the same list, so a host you list for web fetch is also open to sandbox commands. With `"*"` in the list, network filtering in the sandbox is off, so commands can reach any host.
7878>
7979> * **To have Claude ask before each command**, set `"Bash"` to `"ask"` in [`builtinToolPolicy`](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#builtintoolpolicy). That policy also applies to Cowork and Code sessions.
8080> * **To keep web fetch but turn off sandbox commands**, set [`chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`](#configuration) to `false`.
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9090| [`chatTabEnabled`](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#chattabenabled) | off | Makes Chat available. Chat is opt-in: it appears in the app only when this key is explicitly `true`. |
9191| [`chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#chatadvancedfileanalysisenabled) | off | Allows code execution in the sandbox described under [Advanced file analysis](#advanced-file-analysis), on attached files and, inside a project, on files in the project's folders. Has no effect unless Chat is enabled. |
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93While the `desktopHome` key for [Unified Claude](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude#how-unified-claude-interacts-with-chat-and-cowork-settings) has a value, Claude Desktop ignores `chatTabEnabled`, `chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`, and `coworkTabEnabled`.
93While the `desktopHome` key for [Unified Claude](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude.md#how-unified-claude-interacts-with-chat-and-cowork-settings) has a value, Claude Desktop ignores `chatTabEnabled`, `chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`, and `coworkTabEnabled`.
9494
9595When `chatTabEnabled` is `true`, Claude Desktop presents Chat and Cowork together as **Home** in its sidebar, next to **Code**. From Home, the user chooses **Chat** or **Cowork** in the message box, and the sidebar lists chats and tasks together. When the key is unset or `false`, the sidebar shows **Cowork** in place of Home and the message box offers no choice. If [`coworkTabEnabled`](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#coworktabenabled) is `false` while Chat is enabled, the message box offers Chat only.
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104104
105105## Where Chat data lives
106106
107Chat conversations are stored on the local device, in the same per-session layout as Cowork sessions: conversation history, attachment copies, scratch outputs, and a tamper-evident audit log, all under the application-data directory. Nothing is synced to a server, and there is no server-side index of past conversations. See [Chat conversations](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/data-storage#chat-conversations) on the data-storage page for the breakdown.
107Chat conversations are stored on the local device, in the same per-session layout as Cowork sessions: conversation history, attachment copies, scratch outputs, and a tamper-evident audit log, all under the application-data directory. Nothing is synced to a server, and there is no server-side index of past conversations. See [Chat conversations](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/data-storage.md#chat-conversations) on the data-storage page for the breakdown.
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