Claude Code CLI vs desktop app: which to use when

Claude Code comes in three forms: the command line, which runs in any terminal, a desktop app with its own window and session tabs, and a web version that runs tasks on Anthropic’s servers. All three run the same engine and share the same account. What changes is which context fits the task in front of you.

What is Claude Code CLI?

Claude Code CLI is the original form: a binary you install once (via npm or the native installer) and start by typing claude inside a project folder. It doesn’t open its own window. It lives inside whatever terminal you already have open, iTerm, the integrated terminal in VS Code, a remote SSH session. It reads the project’s file tree, runs commands, runs tests and makes commits, all inside that same terminal session.

Working this way means the Claude Code terminal slots directly into a workflow that already exists: the same split screen where a dev server is running, the same session multiplexer (tmux, screen), the same keyboard shortcuts a developer already uses every day. There’s no context to switch and no new window to manage.

What does the desktop app add over the CLI?

The desktop app packages the same Claude Code engine inside a graphical interface: tabs for running several tasks in parallel, a side panel with the file tree, and a diff view that shows proposed changes before you accept them, without leaving the window. For someone who doesn’t live in a terminal all day, or who wants to see the state of three separate tasks at a glance, the app cuts the friction of switching windows.

What doesn’t change is the behavior underneath. The permissions it asks for before writing a file or running a command are the same, and the project’s CLAUDE.md conventions file loads the same way in both. The app is a different interface on top of the same engine, not a different set of capabilities.

What is Claude Code web, and how is it different?

Claude Code web, at claude.ai/code, is the third form, and it works differently from the other two: instead of running on your machine, it runs the task on Anthropic-managed cloud infrastructure. You assign a task, close the browser, and the session keeps working; you can check back on it later, including from the mobile app. It links to a GitHub repository, clones it into a sandbox, and proposes changes as a pull request instead of editing files on your disk directly.

That makes it a fit for a specific kind of work: a backlog of small, well-defined fixes you want to hand off and check later, not the kind of task where you’re watching the terminal output line by line. As of writing, it’s in research preview for Pro, Max and Team plans, and for Enterprise accounts with premium seats or Chat + Claude Code seats.

Claude Code CLI vs the desktop app: what changes in practice

At Galileo14 we use both, depending on the type of task, not personal preference. For a single, well-scoped piece of work (a targeted refactor, fixing a failing test, generating an endpoint), the terminal is faster: there’s no window to wait on and no menu to navigate. For long sessions juggling several tasks at once, or when someone on the team isn’t yet comfortable in a terminal, the desktop app lowers the barrier to entry without changing what Claude can do; that’s the gap our Claude Code training closes for technical teams.

Remote work over SSH is no longer the dividing line: the desktop app can use an SSH connection as its environment, installing Claude Code on the remote machine while the interface runs locally. Where the CLI remains the only option is inside a remote terminal session you already have open.

How do you download Claude Code?

The Claude Code download for the CLI form is a single command:

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npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

The npm route needs Node installed; the native installer doesn’t. Either way you need an account on the Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plan, or API access. After that, running claude from any folder starts the session.

The desktop app is the Code tab inside the Claude Desktop app (alongside Chat and Cowork), so installing Claude Desktop on macOS or Windows is all it takes; on Linux it’s in beta, installed via apt or a .deb package. It doesn’t need Node or npm installed separately. Claude Code web needs no download at all, since it runs in the browser at claude.ai/code. All three share the same account, and on the same machine the CLI and the desktop app also share configuration and CLAUDE.md; each keeps its own session history, though the /desktop command moves a terminal session into the app.

Which one should you use?

If day-to-day work already happens in a terminal (backend development, scripts, DevOps), starting with the CLI avoids adding one more window to the desktop. If the team includes less technical profiles who need to see the project and the proposed changes without memorizing commands, the desktop app solves that part without losing any capability. And if the task is a batch of fixes you’d rather hand off and check on later, Claude Code web is built for exactly that.

The account and the configuration files are the same across all three, so switching from one to another partway through a project doesn’t mean starting from scratch.