The whole hunk
from line 2, old and new numbered
/
lines
from line 2
22
33> What Chat can and cannot do in Claude Desktop on 3P, and how to configure it
44
5Chat 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 the project's memory when the conversation is inside a project, and write files into a scratch space of its own, and nothing else on the machine. Chat is off by default and is enabled with a single configuration key.
5Chat 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 the project's memory 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.
66
77Like everything else in 3P mode, Chat conversations run against your configured inference provider, and conversation history lives 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.
88
99## What a Chat conversation can reach
1010
11| Capability | Scope |
12| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
13| 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). |
14| 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). |
15| 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. |
16| Project memory | For a conversation inside a project, read-only access to that project's [memory](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/data-storage#memory): the notes written during Cowork sessions in that project. Not used if memory was paused when the conversation started, or for conversations outside a project. |
17| 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. |
18| 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. |
19| Clarifying questions | Claude can present multiple-choice questions to the user (the `AskUserQuestion` tool). |
20| Code execution | Off by default. When you enable [advanced file analysis](#advanced-file-analysis), Claude can additionally run code in an offline local sandbox against attached files. |
11| Capability | Scope |
12| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
13| 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). |
14| 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). |
15| 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. |
16| Project memory | For a conversation inside a project, read-only access to that project's [memory](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/data-storage#memory): the notes written during Cowork sessions in that project. Not used if memory was paused when the conversation started, or for conversations outside a project. |
17| 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. |
18| 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. |
19| Clarifying questions | Claude can present multiple-choice questions to the user (the `AskUserQuestion` tool). |
20| Plugin skills | 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. Plugin sub-agents and hooks do not run in Chat, and a skill that runs scripts needs [advanced file analysis](#advanced-file-analysis). Requires Claude Desktop 1.44121.4 or later. |
21| Code execution | Off by default. When you enable [advanced file analysis](#advanced-file-analysis), Claude can additionally run code in an offline local sandbox against attached files. |
2122
2223`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.
2324