Desktop Power

In a nutshell: the desktop Client is not just "another chat window" — it is a full engineering operator interface built around bash attached mode, modified file management, Command Monitor, Fork, and slash commands.

What desktop can do that mobile cannot

• Have the Agent run GUI / headed browser / E2E tests.
• See which files the Agent changed and quickly download the current disk version.
• Track all in-progress sessions across Claws.

Enabling the advanced surfaces

1. Enable allowAttachedShell in the Agent configuration — bash can run desktop commands in attached mode.
2. Open Command Monitor on the right side of the conversation; stop the main bash at any time.
3. The Modified Files panel in the top-right lets you download files written/edited during this session.
4. Type / at the very start of the input to trigger slash command suggestions (first release: /compact).

Bash attached desktop session

• With allowAttachedShell enabled, the Agent can pass attached: true when calling the bash tool.
• Claw delivers the command to the host's interactive desktop session (including DISPLAY), suitable for GUI / headed browser / E2E.
• Platform strategies:
  • macOS: no-op (runs directly in the current process).
  • Linux: DISPLAY injected into the Claw process's desktop session.
  • Windows: attached to the desktop session via a scheduled task.
• Returns a descriptive error and gracefully degrades when no desktop session is available.

Command Monitor

• Sidebar component on the right side of the conversation.
• Shows in real time whether the main bash is running, and displays stdout / stderr summaries.
• Supports a Stop button to kill the current command while preserving the session context.

Modified files panel

• Aggregates files written by write / edit / multi-edit during the current session.
• Each entry supports Download current disk content, making it easy to take over manually or preserve outputs.
• Note: this is the current disk content, not a historical snapshot.

Fork conversation

• Any persisted assistant text response supports a Fork button.
• Clicking it clones all messages from the start of the conversation through (and including) that response into a new independent conversation.
• The title gets a "(fork)" prefix and the new conversation opens automatically.
• Use this to try a different branch without affecting the original conversation.

Slash commands and /compact

• Type / at the very beginning of the input area to trigger the suggestion dropdown.
• First release supports /compact — immediately compacts the current session context.
• After selecting a command, it appears as a tag that can be removed as a whole unit.

Cross-Claw active session toggle

• Enable the Active toggle at the top of the conversation list to aggregate all in-progress sessions across all Claws.
• Sessions are grouped by Claw; click to jump directly to the target session.

Waiting-for-input breathing indicator

• When the main conversation or a subagent triggers ask_user_question, the running dot on the conversation list switches to a yellow "waiting for input" state.
• This is distinct from the green "running" state.

Limits and small gotchas

Related

• Claw Deploy
• Subagent Orchestration
• Cross-conversation Memory