Chat in Claude Desktop on 3P changedthird-party/claude-desktop/chat
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55> [!NOTE]
66>
7> When [Unified Claude](https://claude.com/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. From November 10, 2026, Unified Claude is [on by default](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude.md#enabling-unified-claude). Cowork is then on too, even where you turned Cowork off.
7> [Unified Claude](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude.md) is [on by default](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude.md#enabling-unified-claude) in current versions of Claude Desktop, and Cowork is on with it, even where `coworkTabEnabled` is `false`. With Unified Claude on, a message sent from the home screen starts a Cowork session on a device that can run Cowork. On a device that can't run Cowork's virtual machine, the message starts a Chat conversation.
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9Chat in Claude Desktop on third-party (3P) is a conversational surface for quick questions and drafting. Unlike [Cowork](https://claude.com/docs/cowork/overview.md) and [Code](https://claude.com/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. While `desktopHome` is unset and Unified Claude is off, 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](https://claude.com/docs/cowork/overview.md) and [Code](https://claude.com/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.
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1111Chat conversations run against your configured inference provider, and their history is stored on the user's device. See [User identity and local data](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/data-storage.md#chat-conversations) for exactly what is written where and what can leave the device.
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2424| Remote MCP servers in plugins | In a conversation that loads the plugin, Claude can use a remote MCP server that a marketplace plugin or a user-added plugin bundles. If the server requires OAuth sign-in, the user signs in first. See [Remote MCP servers in plugins](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/extensions.md#remote-mcp-servers-in-plugins). |
2525| Clarifying questions | Claude can present multiple-choice questions to the user (the `AskUserQuestion` tool). |
2626| Plugin skills and hooks | Skills from the plugins you provision through [organization plugins](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/extensions.md#organization-plugins-admin) or [plugin marketplaces](https://claude.com/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](https://claude.com/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. |
27| 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). |
27| Code execution | When [advanced file analysis](#advanced-file-analysis) is on, 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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2929`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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4040Apart from reading [the folders added to a project](#project-folders-in-chat), in a Chat conversation Claude cannot:
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4242* **Read or write the filesystem** beyond the conversation's own uploads and scratch directories, its own transcript and saved tool results (read-only), and, inside a project, the project's memory. The tool for requesting folder access is removed, and the app refuses folder grants to a Chat conversation even when requested through internal interfaces.
43* **Run code on the host.** There is no shell access. With advanced file analysis off (the default), the sandbox VM is never started for Chat; with it on, code runs only inside the sandbox described under [Advanced file analysis](#advanced-file-analysis), never on the host itself.
43* **Run code on the host.** There is no shell access. With advanced file analysis off, the sandbox VM is never started for Chat; with it on, code runs only inside the sandbox described under [Advanced file analysis](#advanced-file-analysis), never on the host itself.
4444* **Run in auto mode.** Chat conversations always run in the default permission mode. Auto mode and other reduced-supervision modes are rejected for Chat regardless of `autoModeEnabled`.
4545* **Create or run scheduled tasks**, or list the ones that exist.
4646* **Escalate into an agentic session.** The tools that launch Code sessions or dispatch background agent tasks are removed. When a request needs capabilities Chat doesn't have, Claude says so and suggests starting the task in Cowork instead.
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5050
5151## Advanced file analysis
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53By default, Chat can read attached files only in the formats Claude understands natively. Setting `chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled` to `true` lets Claude also run code against attachments and, inside a project, against files in [the project's folders](#project-folders-in-chat). This is useful for spreadsheets, PowerPoint files, and other formats that need parsing, and for inline data analysis on attached data.
53Without advanced file analysis, Chat can read attached files only in the formats Claude understands natively. With it, Claude can also run code against attachments and, inside a project, against files in [the project's folders](#project-folders-in-chat). This is useful for spreadsheets, PowerPoint files, and other formats that need parsing, and for inline data analysis on attached data.
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55On a device that can run Cowork's virtual machine, [Unified Claude](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude.md) turns on advanced file analysis, even where [`chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`](#configuration) is `false`. Advanced file analysis uses the same shell tool as Cowork's sandbox, so adding `"Bash"` to `disabledBuiltinTools` disables it. Running it requires the sandbox VM bundle, which the app downloads from Anthropic unless you deployed the offline installer (see [required egress paths](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/telemetry.md#required-egress-paths)).
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5557The execution environment is intentionally narrower than the Cowork sandbox:
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5759* Code runs in the same isolated local VM that Cowork uses. For Chat, the VM starts only when analysis is coming: on the first analysis call, or at the start of a turn with files attached.
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6365The 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, in telemetry to your own collector if you have enabled [content capture](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/telemetry.md#content-capture), in the zip files that users export if you have [turned on export](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/data-storage.md#turn-on-export-and-import), or in any copy that you make.
6466
65> [!NOTE]
66>
67> 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](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/telemetry.md#required-egress-paths)).
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6967### Sandbox network access
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7169Commands that Claude runs in the advanced file analysis sandbox can reach the hosts in [`coworkEgressAllowedHosts`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#coworkegressallowedhosts). A command-line tool that a [plugin](https://claude.com/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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7876> 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](https://claude.com/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.
7977>
8078> * **To have Claude ask before each command**, set `"Bash"` to `"ask"` in [`builtinToolPolicy`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#builtintoolpolicy). That policy also applies to Cowork and Code sessions.
81> * **To keep web fetch but turn off sandbox commands**, set [`chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`](#configuration) to `false`. While Unified Claude is on, Claude Desktop ignores that key, so add `"Bash"` to [`disabledBuiltinTools`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#disabledbuiltintools) instead. With that entry, Claude also can't run commands with its shell tool in Cowork or Code sessions, including the Cowork sessions that users start from the [home screen](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude.md#what-users-see-with-unified-claude).
79> * **To keep web fetch but turn off sandbox commands**, add `"Bash"` to [`disabledBuiltinTools`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#disabledbuiltintools). With that entry, Claude also can't run commands with its shell tool in Cowork or Code sessions, including the Cowork sessions that users start from the [home screen](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude.md#what-users-see-with-unified-claude).
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8381> [!NOTE]
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8684
8785## Configuration
8886
89| Key | Default | Effect |
90| - | - | - |
91| [`chatTabEnabled`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#chattabenabled) | off | Makes Chat available. While `desktopHome` is unset and Unified Claude is off, Chat is opt-in: it appears in the app only when this key is explicitly `true`. |
92| [`chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`](https://claude.com/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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9487Claude Desktop ignores `chatTabEnabled`, `chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`, and `coworkTabEnabled` while the `desktopHome` key for [Unified Claude](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude.md#how-unified-claude-interacts-with-chat-and-cowork-settings) has a value, including `off`. It also ignores them while Unified Claude is [on by default](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/unified-claude.md#enabling-unified-claude). With the value `off`, Chat and Cowork are off.
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96While `desktopHome` is unset and Unified Claude is off, the layout follows `chatTabEnabled`. When the key 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`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#coworktabenabled) is `false` while Chat is enabled, the message box offers Chat only.
89Where `desktopHome` is unset and Unified Claude is off, for example in some earlier versions of Claude Desktop, these keys control Chat:
9790
98> [!NOTE]
99>
100> This layout applies to Claude Desktop 1.26832.0 and later. Earlier versions show **Chat** (when enabled), **Cowork**, and **Code** as separate tabs, controlled by the same keys.
91| Key | Default | Effect |
92| - | - | - |
93| [`chatTabEnabled`](https://claude.com/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`. |
94| [`chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled`](https://claude.com/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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10296While `desktopHome` is unset and Unified Claude is off, the app's main process enforces `chatTabEnabled`. When the key is unset or `false`, Chat doesn't appear in the app. The app also refuses to start or continue a Chat conversation, including conversations created before an admin turned the key off.
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