Claude Desktop for Linux

Run Claude Desktop on Linux by extracting the official Windows app and running it under a native Linux Electron runtime. No Wine, no VM — just the real Claude Desktop.

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/alejandrok5/claude-desktop-linux.git
cd claude-desktop-linux
./setup.sh

That's it. The script downloads the latest Claude Desktop directly from Anthropic's servers, installs Electron, extracts the app, and creates a .desktop entry so Claude appears in your application launcher.

No Windows installer needed. No Wine. No manual downloads.

To launch:

npm start
# or click "Claude" in your app launcher

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 22
• curl and unzip (standard on most distros)

Install on Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt install nodejs npm curl unzip

Install on Fedora

sudo dnf install nodejs npm curl unzip

Install on Arch

sudo pacman -S nodejs npm curl unzip

Updating

When a new version of Claude Desktop is released, just re-run the setup:

./setup.sh

The script downloads the latest MSIX package from Anthropic's servers, re-extracts resources, and verifies the Electron version still matches. If the upstream app requires a new Electron version, it installs it automatically.

How it works

Extraction (scripts/extract.mjs)

Downloads the latest MSIX package directly from Anthropic's API (https://claude.ai/api/desktop/win32/x64/msix/latest/redirect), which is a ZIP containing the Electron app. Extracts app.asar and supporting files (locales, fonts, icons, migrations, Linux SSH binaries) into resources/.

Also supports the legacy Squirrel.Windows installer format if you place a Claude Setup.exe in the project root.

Launcher (main.js)

A thin Electron entry point that patches the runtime before loading the real app:

• process.resourcesPath → resources/ so locale files, fonts, and migrations resolve
• app.getAppPath() → resources/app.asar so preload scripts and HTML load from the asar
• app.isPackaged → true so the app uses production resource paths
• app.name → Claude so user data goes to ~/.config/Claude/

On Linux, it also applies runtime patches to the bundled code:

• Platform support — Adds linux-x64/linux-arm64 to getHostPlatform() so the Claude Code integration doesn't crash
• Claude Code CLI — Auto-detects a locally installed claude binary and sets CLAUDE_CODE_LOCAL_BINARY
• Shell PATH — Adds standard Linux paths (~/.nvm/versions/node/*/bin, /usr/local/bin, etc.) to the app's PATH builder
• Titlebar — Hides the outer-frame drag overlay that blocks tab clicks on Linux, and attempts to enable native window controls

What works

• Full Claude chat UI (loads claude.ai in a BrowserView)
• Claude Code integration (Chat/Directs/Code tabs — requires claude CLI installed)
• Authentication (OAuth flow)
• System tray icon
• MCP (Model Context Protocol) server support
• Claude Code SSH integration (Linux binaries are bundled)
• All 56 locales
• SQLite storage (built into Electron 40.x via node:sqlite)
• Window management, keyboard shortcuts, find-in-page

What doesn't work

These features depend on platform-specific native modules. The app handles their absence gracefully:

Feature	Reason	Behavior
Computer Use	Requires @ant/claude-native (Windows .node binary)	Shows "not available"
Quick Entry overlay	Requires @ant/claude-swift (macOS/Windows)	Silently skipped
Office integration	Windows registry / COM automation	Silently skipped
Auto-updates	Uses MSIX/Squirrel updaters	Run ./setup.sh to update
Cowork VM	Requires Windows Hyper-V	Silently skipped

Project structure

.
├── setup.sh                  # One-shot setup and update script
├── package.json              # Pins Electron version
├── main.js                   # Electron launcher with Linux patches
├── scripts/
│   └── extract.mjs           # Resource extraction (Squirrel + MSIX)
├── resources/                # Generated (not committed)
│   ├── app.asar              # Core Electron app (~18 MB)
│   ├── *.json                # Locale files
│   ├── icon.png              # App icon
│   ├── fonts/                # Anthropic fonts
│   ├── drizzle/              # SQLite migrations
│   ├── seed/                 # Seed data
│   └── claude-ssh/           # Linux SSH binaries
└── .gitignore

Configuration

Claude Desktop stores its configuration at ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. This is where MCP servers and other settings are configured.

Troubleshooting

App crashes on startup: Ensure you're running Electron 40.4.1 (or whatever version the extracted app.asar requires). Run ./setup.sh to auto-detect and install the correct version.

"Unsupported platform: linux-x64": The patches in main.js should handle this. If you see this error, the patched strings may have changed in a new version. Please open an issue.

Claude Code tab not working: Install the Claude Code CLI (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code) and ensure claude is in your PATH.

Can't click Chat/Code tabs: The outer-frame drag overlay fix should handle this. If tabs are unclickable, the CSS class name may have changed. Please open an issue.

License

This project is a wrapper/launcher only. Claude Desktop and all extracted assets are property of Anthropic PBC. This project does not redistribute any Anthropic code or assets.