Arrange your workspace
The Code tab is built around panes you can arrange in any layout: chat, diff, browser, terminal, file, plan, tasks, and subagent, along with the iOS Simulator on macOS. Drag a pane by its header to reposition it, or drag a pane edge to resize it. Press Cmd+\ on macOS or Ctrl+\ on Windows to close the focused pane. Open additional panes from the Views menu in the session toolbar.
The pane layout, terminal, file editor, and view modes in this section require Claude Desktop v1.2581.0 or later. Open Claude → Check for Updates on macOS or Help → Check for Updates on Windows to update.
Run commands in the terminal
The integrated terminal lets you run commands alongside your session without switching to another app. Open it from the Views menu or press Ctrl+` on macOS or Windows. The terminal opens in your session's working directory and shares the same environment as Claude, so commands like npm test or git status see the same files Claude is editing. To open a second terminal tab, click + in the terminal pane header or right-click a folder in the chat to choose Open in terminal. The terminal is available in local sessions only.
Open and edit files
Click a file path in the chat or diff viewer to open it in the file pane. HTML, PDF, image, and video paths open in the Browser pane instead. Make spot edits and click Save to write them back. If the file changed on disk since you opened it, the pane warns you and lets you override or discard. Click Discard to revert your edits, or click the path in the pane header to copy the absolute path.
The file pane is available in local and SSH sessions. For cloud sessions, ask Claude to make the change.
Open files in other apps
Right-click any file path in the chat, diff viewer, or file pane to open a context menu:
- Attach as context: add the file to your next prompt
- Open in: open the file in an installed editor such as VS Code, Cursor, or Zed
- Show in Finder on macOS, Show in Explorer on Windows: open the containing folder
- Copy path: copy the absolute path to your clipboard
Switch view modes
View modes control how much detail appears in the chat transcript. Switch modes from the Transcript view dropdown next to the send button, or press Ctrl+O on macOS or Windows to cycle through them.
| Mode | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Normal | Tool calls collapsed into summaries, with full text responses |
| Verbose | Every tool call, file read, and intermediate step Claude takes |
| Summary | Only Claude's final responses and the changes it made |
Use Verbose when debugging why Claude took a particular action. Use Summary when you're running multiple sessions and want to scan results quickly.
Keyboard shortcuts
Press Cmd+/ on macOS or Ctrl+/ on Windows to see all shortcuts available in the Code tab. On Windows, use Ctrl in place of Cmd for the shortcuts below. Session cycling, the terminal toggle, and the view-mode toggle use Ctrl on every platform.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Cmd / | Show keyboard shortcuts |
Cmd N | New session |
Cmd W | Close session |
Ctrl Tab / Ctrl Shift Tab | Next or previous session |
Cmd Shift ] / Cmd Shift [ | Next or previous session |
Esc | Stop Claude's response |
Cmd Shift D | Toggle diff pane |
Cmd Shift B | Toggle Browser pane |
Cmd Shift S | Select an element in the Browser |
Ctrl ` | Toggle terminal pane |
Cmd \ | Close focused pane |
Cmd ; | Open side chat |
Ctrl O | Cycle view modes |
Cmd Shift M | Open permission mode menu |
Cmd Shift I | Open model menu |
Cmd Shift E | Open effort menu |
1–9 | Select item in an open menu |
These shortcuts apply only to the Code tab. The terminal-based interactive mode shortcuts, such as Shift+Tab to cycle permission modes, do not apply in Desktop.
Check usage
Click the usage ring next to the model picker to see your current context window usage and your plan usage for the period. Context usage is per session; plan usage is shared across all your Claude Code surfaces.