Claude Console

Claude Console is a desktop window for Claude Code on Windows. It runs your Claude Code sessions and shells side by side in tiled terminal panes, lists the git projects on your drive with their branch and changes, and shows each project's hand-off and progress files at a glance. Everything runs on your own computer: the server listens on 127.0.0.1 only and every request needs a token made at start.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11.
• The Claude Code CLI, for Claude panes. Not installed yet? In PowerShell: irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex. Shell panes work without it.
• Node.js 24 or newer and Git: the installer installs both for you when they are missing (winget, or the official installers as a fallback).
• Microsoft Edge (part of Windows) for the app window; without it the console opens in a normal browser tab.
• Python 3, only if you turn on setup-profile modules whose hooks are Python scripts. The setup names them before it writes anything.

Install

Open Windows PowerShell and run:

irm https://github.com/Remus3/Claude-Console/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex

That one command installs Node.js and Git when needed, downloads the latest release, checks it against the release's SHA256SUMS.txt, installs it to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\claude-console, adds Claude Console to the Start menu, the Desktop and Apps & features, puts the claude-console command on your user PATH, and starts the console. It takes about a minute plus the Node.js / Git downloads. Running it again upgrades or repairs the install. If Node.js or Git is missing and winget is unavailable, Windows will ask for permission once to install it.

Install without running a remote script

1. From the latest release download install.ps1, claude-console-<version>.zip and SHA256SUMS.txt into one folder.

2. Read install.ps1. Then, in that folder:

   powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1 -Zip .\claude-console-<version>.zip

   It verifies the zip and installs exactly as above.

Fully by hand (Node.js 24+ already installed): compare Get-FileHash .\claude-console-<version>.zip -Algorithm SHA256 with SHA256SUMS.txt, extract the zip, and run in the extracted claude-console-<version> folder:

node bin\claude-console.js install --repo Remus3/Claude-Console

First run

The console opens in its own window. Later, start it from the Start menu or Desktop (Claude Console), or with claude-console start --open in a new terminal.

The left side lists the git projects it finds directly under C:\. Click a project to open a Claude pane there; right-click for a shell pane. To show projects that live elsewhere, add their parent folders as scanRoots, or single folders as extraProjects, in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\claude-console\data\console.local.json (same shape as config/console.json; your edits there survive every update). If Claude Code sits in an unusual place, set "claudePath" to the full path of claude.exe in that file. Every feature is described in docs/capabilities.md.

On the first start a thin strip at the top offers the optional setup profile. It is never a pop-up, and you can dismiss it for good. Open it later from the ... menu, Setup profile, or Settings > Setup profile > Run setup. The setup starts with one question, and you can switch between the two answers on any screen:

• Use Remus3's exact current settings is the quick path for experienced users. It shows the author's modules at a glance, asks only for the inputs that cannot be guessed (environment variables, keys, a second account, your git identity), asks one yes or no for all scheduled tasks, and previews the result. Skip any input and the modules that need it stay off, marked off - needs <input>.
• Custom setup lets you choose each module and each item and review every change. If you started on the quick path, your custom choices begin from the author's settings.

Each screen says Step x of y, has a Back button and explains what it does. Nothing is written until the last step, Apply and verify.

Daily use

• Each pane is a real terminal. Type in the box under a pane: Enter sends, Shift+Enter starts a new line, and the buttons send continue, /done, /clear and the keys Claude Code uses.
• Above a pane, the project's progress files show as rows ([>] running, [ ] to do) with percent and time left; the same rows sit on the project's card in the Status panel on the right.
• A project whose last session ended with a verified /done shows a green DONE mark on its card until new work starts.

Setup profile (optional, beta)

The setup profile can set Claude Code up the way this console's author works. It is a set of modules: a hand-off file per project and a /done ritual, quiet output, test-first agents, commit identity hooks, size budgets for Claude's instruction files, and more. Each module is a group of items, and each item says what it does, why the author turns it on, which items it needs and which it usually goes with.

You decide what is on. Turn a module on or off as a whole, or turn single items on and off inside it; dependencies are always shown and never switched silently. The safety floors are the one module that is always on, because they keep the rest reversible. Before you enable a module, read its description and the .md files it adds to your project, so you know which rules Claude will follow. The full list, with the reason each module exists and when you might turn it on later, is in docs/profile.md.

The same choices work from a terminal:

claude-console profile list                      # every module and item, on or off
claude-console profile view session              # what one module or item does and why
claude-console profile enable ci-gates           # change your selection only
claude-console profile apply --target repo:C:\code\my-app             # dry run: every change
claude-console profile apply --target repo:C:\code\my-app --apply --yes
claude-console profile revert --last --apply --yes   # undo the last apply, byte for byte

apply without --apply --yes is always a dry run. A real apply backs up everything it touches first, reads every write back, and rolls the whole change back if one write fails. The setup profile never commits, never pushes and never starts a background Claude run on its own; after an apply it prints a suggested commit message for you.

As-is, and the safeguards

The console and its setup profile are provided as-is under the Apache-2.0 licence, and the author is not liable for what they do on your machine. That is why the setup is built so you can look before anything changes and undo what you did:

• [+] Dry run: every change is shown before it is written.
• [+] Copy first: adopting a project works on a copy, never on the original.
• [+] Your choice: every module and every change has its own yes or no.
• [+] Backups: each apply keeps what it replaces, and revert restores it.
• [+] Recycle Bin: files the profile created are recycled when removed.
• [+] No telemetry: see Privacy below.
• [+] Stop everything: one switch halts what the console and the profile started.

Adopting an existing project

You can bring a project you already have in line with the profile without risking it. The console never changes the original while it works:

1. Copy. It makes a full copy of the project (a branch of its own when the git tree is clean) and shows the size first, so you can leave out folders such as node_modules.
2. Report. It scans the copy and lists, per rule, every file and line it would change, with the diff, the reason and a warning where a change might break something (for example a data file that must keep Windows line endings).
3. Yes or no. You accept or refuse each module and each change.
4. Function check. It applies your choices to the copy, then runs your project's own tests, build and start command on both the original and the copy and compares them. If the copy does worse, it names the change that caused it and offers to undo just that change. You confirm that the copy works by typing works.
5. Promote. Only then can the copy become your project, by a git merge or by swapping the folders. The old folder is kept aside.
6. Remove the original, later. A separate step, offered at the earliest a day after promoting, sends the kept original to the Recycle Bin or a zip archive.

Start it from the ... menu, Adopt a project..., or with claude-console profile adopt <project-folder> --report. The details are in docs/adopt.md.

Privacy

Nothing you do in the console is sent to its author or to anyone else: not your files, prompts, settings, secrets or usage. There is no telemetry and no crash upload. The console makes exactly two kinds of network call. One is the update check and download from this repo's GitHub releases. The other is an action you start yourself, such as an install step or opening an issue page or claude.ai in your browser. The server, the panes and an optional background-run proxy talk over 127.0.0.1 only, and tests in this repo fail the build if any other network call appears. The full statement, with every allowed host, is in docs/privacy.md.

Update

The console checks this repo's releases once a day (one anonymous request; turn it off with "updates": {"check": false} in console.local.json). When a new version is out, an Update available badge appears in the top bar; click it, or open Settings > Updates & repair. Your settings, layouts and local file changes are kept: a file you changed is merged with the new version, and a clash is kept aside for you to review. From a terminal: claude-console update --yes. Automatic updates inside a night window can be turned on in Settings > Updates & repair.

When the author's settings change in a new version, users of the quick path see Update to Remus3's latest settings with the list of changes; users of a custom setup get the changes merged into their own choices, with any clash listed for them to decide. Nothing is applied without the usual preview.

If something breaks

• Stop everything (the ... menu, or claude-console stop-all) ends the processes the console started (its panes and background runs, by recorded process id only), pauses the scheduled tasks the setup profile added and turns the profile's hooks off. claude-console resume turns them back on. It never touches anything the console did not start.

• The console itself will not start: run the standalone recovery script. It needs no Node.js, no server and no network, and -WhatIf only shows what it would do:

  $r = Get-ChildItem "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\claude-console\app\*\release\recover.ps1" | Select-Object -Last 1
  powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File $r.FullName -WhatIf -Stop -DisableHooks -PauseTasks

  -Stop, -DisableHooks and -PauseTasks do it, -Resume undoes it, -Revert last restores the files of the last profile change, and -Prompt writes a scrubbed help text for claude.ai. recover.ps1 is also attached to every release.

• Even the script cannot run: docs/recovery.md walks through the same steps by hand.

Getting help

Settings > Report a problem (also on any failed setup check), or claude-console crash-report, builds a short report: versions, the failing step and the console's own recent log lines. Names, paths, tokens and anything that looks like a secret are scrubbed, and pane output, prompts and your files are never included. You see the exact text first, then pick one of three ways:

• Open a GitHub issue on this repo, pre-filled with the report.
• Ask my Claude to fix it: a new Claude pane gets the report and is told to find the cause and change nothing until you agree.
• Save to file, to attach or read later.

If Claude itself is broken, the ... menu's Get help in the browser (or claude-console recover-prompt) copies a self-contained recovery text, with the exact undo steps, to the clipboard and opens claude.ai so you can paste it into a new chat.

Uninstall

Changes the setup profile made to your projects and Claude settings are separate from the program. Remove them first if you want them gone: claude-console profile uninstall --all shows what it would remove, and adding --apply --yes removes it (files you edited since are kept and flagged).

Then remove the console: Apps & features > Claude Console > Uninstall, or in a terminal:

claude-console uninstall

This removes the shortcuts, the Apps & features entry, the PATH entry and the program files. Your settings and layouts in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\claude-console\data stay; claude-console uninstall --purge moves them to the Recycle Bin too. Node.js, Git and Claude Code stay installed.

Troubleshooting

What you see	What to do
Claude Code CLI not found	Install it: irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex, then open a new pane. Installed elsewhere: set "claudePath" in console.local.json to the full path of claude.exe.
Git not found during install	The console still works; projects show without git status. Install Git (winget install Git.Git) and run the install command again.
The install stopped with a self-test failure	The output names the failing test and the error, plus the path of the full test log and the report under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\claude-console\reports. Run the install command again after fixing the cause.
claude-console is not recognized	Open a new terminal (PATH changes reach new windows only), or use the full path %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\claude-console\claude-console.cmd.
The window does not open	claude-console status says whether the server runs; claude-console stop, then claude-console start --open.
stop failed: the console server (pid N) is still running or uninstall incomplete: ...	A program still holds the console open. claude-console stop --force ends the server; then run the uninstall again. The line names what is left.
Port 7800 is taken	Set "port" in console.local.json to a free port.
A setup check failed after Apply	The whole change was rolled back; the failed row names the item and the reason. Fix it or turn that item off, then apply again.
off - needs <input> in the setup	You skipped an input that module needs. Go Back to the inputs step, or leave the module off.
Claude behaves oddly after a profile change	claude-console profile revert --last --apply --yes undoes the last apply; claude-console profile status shows what is applied.
Something else is broken	claude-console reinstall shows a read-only report and the exact command for a repair or a fresh reinstall; your data is kept.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/Remus3/Claude-Console
cd Claude-Console
npm ci
npm test
launch.cmd

launch.cmd runs the server in the foreground; launch.vbs starts it hidden. Both find Node.js on PATH, else in its standard install folder. claude-console release --out DIR builds the release assets (zip, install.ps1, SHA256SUMS.txt, notes).

License

Apache License 2.0, see LICENSE and NOTICE. Claude Console is an independent project and is not made by or affiliated with Anthropic. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic.