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Claude Desktop Just Became Your Full Dev Environment

· 4 min read
AI claude developer-tools productivity

Claude Desktop has quietly evolved from a chat interface into something much more ambitious: a full-featured development environment that previews your app, reviews your code, monitors your CI, and merges your PRs — all without leaving the window. Here’s what shipped and why it matters.

Live App Previews: No More Alt-Tabbing

The most visceral new feature is live application previews. Claude can now start your dev server and render the running app directly inside the desktop interface.

But it goes further than just showing a preview. After every edit, Claude automatically:

  • Takes a screenshot of the running app
  • Inspects the DOM
  • Clicks elements and fills forms
  • Identifies visual or runtime issues
  • Fixes what it finds

This is controlled via a new .claude/launch.json config:

{
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "autoVerify": true,
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "web",
      "runtimeExecutable": "npm",
      "runtimeArgs": ["run", "dev"],
      "port": 3000
    }
  ]
}

You can also click on visual elements in the preview and pass feedback directly to Claude. The inner loop of “edit, save, switch to browser, check, switch back, fix” collapses into a single surface.

Inline Code Review That Actually Helps

Hit “Review code” and Claude examines your local diffs, leaving inline comments directly in the diff view. The key design decision: it only flags high-signal issues — compile errors, logic bugs, security vulnerabilities, and obvious mistakes.

It deliberately ignores:

  • Style and formatting
  • Pre-existing issues
  • Anything a linter would catch

This is the kind of review you actually want before pushing. Not nitpicky. Not noisy. Just the stuff that would embarrass you in a real code review.

Background CI Monitoring + Auto-Merge

After you open a PR, a CI status bar appears in your session. Two automation toggles make this powerful:

  • Auto-fix: Claude reads CI failure output and iterates on fixes until tests pass
  • Auto-merge: once all checks are green, Claude squash-merges the PR automatically

This means you can open a PR, start working on your next feature, and Claude handles the “wait for CI, fix the flaky test, re-push, wait again” cycle in the background. It requires the gh CLI and GitHub auto-merge enabled on the repo.

Session Continuity Across Devices

Sessions are now portable. You can:

  • Run /desktop in the CLI to push your full session context into the Desktop app
  • Move a Desktop session to the web via “Continue with Claude Code on the web”
  • Pick it up on your phone

This is one of those features that sounds minor until you use it. Start a complex debugging session on your laptop, push it to the cloud, continue on your phone from the couch. The context travels with you.

Parallel Sessions with Worktree Isolation

Click + New session and each session gets its own git worktree. Changes in one session don’t affect others until committed.

Boris Cherny (Claude Code’s creator) called parallel worktrees “the single biggest productivity unlock” from the team. His workflow: run 3-5 worktrees at once, number tabs 1-5, rely on system notifications.

For the CLI, the same feature is available via --worktree:

claude --worktree feature-auth        # named worktree
claude --worktree feature-auth --tmux # background session

Agent definitions can also declare isolation: worktree to automatically spin up isolated copies for subagents — particularly powerful for code migrations and large batched changes.

Cowork: Agentic Power for Non-Developers

While the Code tab targets developers, Cowork extends Claude’s agentic capabilities to knowledge work. It runs locally in an isolated VM with direct access to your local files.

Use cases:

  • Reorganize a messy downloads folder by sorting and renaming files
  • Create spreadsheets from scattered screenshots
  • Draft reports from unstructured notes
  • Queue multiple tasks for parallel processing
  • Schedule recurring tasks that run automatically

Cowork is available on macOS and Windows for Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans.

Connectors: Plug Into Everything

Built-in connectors provide GUI setup for GitHub, Slack, Linear, Notion, Google Calendar, and more. Under the hood, these are MCP servers — so for anything not listed, you can add custom MCP servers via config files.

What’s Still CLI-Only

A few things haven’t made it to Desktop yet:

  • Third-party providers (Bedrock, Vertex, Foundry)
  • Agent teams (CLI and Agent SDK only)
  • Scripting and automation (--print, --output-format)
  • Linux support (Desktop is macOS/Windows only)

The Bigger Picture

What’s interesting isn’t any single feature — it’s the convergence. Preview, review, CI, and merge in one window means Claude can close the entire loop from code change to production. The auto-verify cycle (edit, screenshot, inspect, fix) is particularly notable because it turns Claude into something closer to a QA engineer than a code completion tool.

Combined with worktree isolation for parallel work and cross-device session continuity, the Desktop app is positioning itself as the surface where all your development actually happens — not just where you talk to an AI about it.

Sources: Anthropic Blog — Preview, Review, and Merge | Cowork Research Preview | Claude Code Desktop Docs | Claude Release Notes | Boris Cherny’s Worktree Tips