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ccdesk

Platform notes

ccdesk runs on Linux, macOS and Windows with Node.js 22.19 or newer. Its tests run on all three on every change.

Linux

Section titled “Linux”
  • Managed settings and instructions are read from /etc/claude-code.
  • The browser is opened with xdg-open.
  • The open button tries graphical editors on your PATH before xdg-open, which often picks a terminal editor or nothing for JSON and Markdown. Set CCDESK_EDITOR to choose one.

macOS

Section titled “macOS”
  • Managed settings and instructions are read from /Library/Application Support/ClaudeCode. ccdesk reads the files there, not configuration profiles; when a com.anthropic.claudecode profile is in /Library/Managed Preferences, the page warns that it outranks those files.
  • The browser and files are opened with open.

Windows

Section titled “Windows”
  • Managed settings and instructions are read from C:\Program Files\ClaudeCode. ccdesk does not read policies from the registry. It runs reg.exe query to check whether the HKLM or HKCU key holds a Settings value: for HKLM the page warns that the policy outranks those files, and for HKCU that Claude Code applies it only when no admin source is present above it. /status in Claude Code names the source it uses.
  • Local settings (.claude/settings.local.json) are read from the directory you started in, not from the repository root.
  • In ~/.claude.json, Claude Code names each folder with forward slashes, such as C:/Users/you/app. ccdesk looks up trust answers, local MCP servers and MCP approvals under that name.
  • A JSON file saved with a byte order mark, as Windows PowerShell 5.1’s Set-Content -Encoding UTF8 writes it, is read as Claude Code reads it. Saving it from ccdesk writes it without the mark, and the review says ccdesk rewrites the whole file.
  • The browser is opened with start, and files with your editor or Explorer. An editor that is a .cmd or .bat file, such as VS Code’s code, is started through cmd.exe; a path containing " or % cannot be passed to it safely, so ccdesk asks you to open that file yourself.
  • Backups are not given special permissions. They keep the access rules of your user profile folder, which other users normally cannot read.
  • For user and local MCP servers, ccdesk runs claude.exe directly, or the claude.exe inside the npm package when only claude.cmd is on your PATH, so the server’s JSON never passes through cmd.exe. A claude.cmd or claude.ps1 from another installer, such as Scoop or Volta, cannot be started this way, and ccdesk says so. The commands shown in the review are quoted for a POSIX shell such as Git Bash.

WSL

Section titled “WSL”

ccdesk reads the home folder of the system it runs on. Started inside WSL, it shows the Claude Code setup in WSL; started from Windows, the one in your Windows profile. Links that point into \\wsl$ are followed.

CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR

Section titled “CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR”

When CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR is set, ccdesk uses it on every platform in place of ~/.claude: settings, agents, skills, memory, transcripts and backups all live there, and so does .claude.json.