Unified Claude in Claude Desktop on 3P changedthird-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude
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Upstream edited this page at 29 Oct 2026 18:53 UTC, give or take a minute or two: the time comes from Anthropic’s own sitemap rather than from a commit. This site recorded the change at 29 Oct 2026 19:07 UTC.
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## Keep Cowork off
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55> [!NOTE]
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7> Unified Claude is in beta. It is opt-in until November 10, 2026. From that date, Unified Claude is [on by default](#enabling-unified-claude). Cowork is then on too, even where you turned Cowork off. To keep Cowork off, see [Keep Cowork off](#keep-cowork-off). New [Enterprise Admin Console](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/admin-console.md) organizations start with Unified Claude on.
7> Unified Claude is in beta. It is opt-in until November 10, 2026. From that date, Unified Claude is [on by default](#enabling-unified-claude). Cowork is then on too, even where you turned Cowork off. New [Enterprise Admin Console](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/admin-console.md) organizations start with Unified Claude on.
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99Unified Claude combines Chat and Cowork into one experience in Claude Desktop 3P. Users get a single Claude interface for both quick chats and longer agentic tasks. [Code](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/code.md) stays separate.
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2727> [!WARNING]
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29> The default applies even where [`chatTabEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#chattabenabled), [`chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#chatadvancedfileanalysisenabled), or [`coworkTabEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#coworktabenabled) is `false`. Cowork is on even where you turned it off. To keep Cowork off, see [Keep Cowork off](#keep-cowork-off).
29> The default applies even where [`chatTabEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#chattabenabled), [`chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#chatadvancedfileanalysisenabled), or [`coworkTabEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#coworktabenabled) is `false`. Cowork is on even where you turned it off.
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3131If you use [`chatSessionRetentionDays`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#chatsessionretentiondays), set [`coworkSessionRetentionDays`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#coworksessionretentiondays) as well, before November 10, 2026, or earlier if you turn on Unified Claude yourself. `coworkSessionRetentionDays` covers new conversations that are Cowork sessions, along with users' other Cowork tasks, as described under [Automatic deletion of idle sessions](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/data-storage.md#automatic-deletion-of-idle-sessions).
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3535* **Enterprise Admin Console**: Go to Capabilities and toggle on "Opt into the new Chat and Cowork unified view."
3636* **MDM or a bootstrap server**: For MDM and bootstrap deployments, the [`desktopHome`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#desktophome) key controls Unified Claude. Create and set `desktopHome` to `standard` in your [MDM profile](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/mdm.md) or [bootstrap response](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/bootstrap.md). Claude Desktop reads a value it doesn't recognize as `off`. Until November 10, 2026, removing the key turns Unified Claude off.
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38## Keep Cowork off
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40Where Unified Claude is [on by default](#enabling-unified-claude), Cowork is on even if you turned it off with [`coworkTabEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#coworktabenabled) or with the **Cowork** switch in the Enterprise Admin Console. To keep Cowork off, turn off Chat and Cowork where each device gets its settings:
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42* **From the Enterprise Admin Console**: follow the steps under [Keep Chat and Cowork off](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/admin-console.md#keep-chat-and-cowork-off) for your organization or for a group. Devices that [use an MDM profile's configuration](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/admin-console.md#devices-with-a-managed-profile) don't follow the console, so make the change for them in the profile, or on its bootstrap server if it has one.
43* **From a bootstrap server or a Claude apps gateway**: set [`desktopHome`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#desktophome) to `off` in your [bootstrap response](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/bootstrap.md), or in the `desktop` block of your gateway's `managed` policies, as described under [Claude Desktop overlay](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/claude-apps-gateway-config#claude-desktop-overlay). Once a device has fetched its settings, it [ignores `desktopHome` in its MDM profile](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration-format#which-configuration-source-applies-on-a-device).
44* **From an MDM profile alone**: set `desktopHome` to `off` in the [MDM profile](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/mdm.md)
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46Turning off the console's **Chat and Cowork unified view** switch or setting `desktopHome` to `off` turns Chat off too, even where `chatTabEnabled` is `true`. That leaves users with [Code](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/code.md) only. If Code is off, set [`isClaudeCodeForDesktopEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#isclaudecodefordesktopenabled) to `true` in the same change. With either setting and Code off, Claude Desktop has nothing to open, and it doesn't turn Cowork back on.
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48Users lose Chat as soon as their devices apply the change, even before November 10, 2026. Make the change before that date so that Cowork doesn't come on first.
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50To leave Cowork on and limit what Claude can do in it, use settings such as [`disabledBuiltinTools`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#disabledbuiltintools), [`builtinToolPolicy`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#builtintoolpolicy), [`allowedWorkspaceFolders`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#allowedworkspacefolders), and [`scheduledTasksEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#scheduledtasksenabled). For example, to stop Claude from running shell commands, add `"Bash"` to `disabledBuiltinTools`. That entry applies in Code sessions too, as described under [Sandbox network access](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/chat.md#sandbox-network-access).
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5238## How Unified Claude interacts with Chat and Cowork settings
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5440Claude Desktop ignores [`chatTabEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#chattabenabled), [`chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#chatadvancedfileanalysisenabled), and [`coworkTabEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#coworktabenabled) when your configuration sets `desktopHome`, whether to `standard` or to `off`. It also ignores them while Unified Claude is on by default. New conversations that are Cowork sessions follow the Cowork retention period. The Chat retention period still covers Chat conversations, such as earlier chats.
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5642Your other settings still apply, including [`isClaudeCodeForDesktopEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#isclaudecodefordesktopenabled), which controls Code.
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44To limit what Claude can do in Cowork, use settings such as [`disabledBuiltinTools`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#disabledbuiltintools), [`builtinToolPolicy`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#builtintoolpolicy), [`allowedWorkspaceFolders`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#allowedworkspacefolders), and [`scheduledTasksEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#scheduledtasksenabled). For example, to stop Claude from running shell commands, add `"Bash"` to `disabledBuiltinTools`. That entry applies in Code sessions too, as described under [Sandbox network access](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/chat.md#sandbox-network-access).
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