Claude for Linux

Unofficial Community Desktop Client for Claude on Linux

⚠️ DISCLAIMER: This is NOT an official Anthropic product. This is an open-source community project. Claude and Anthropic are trademarks of Anthropic, PBC.

A native, secure, and feature-rich desktop client for Claude AI on Linux, built with Tauri 2.0.

Features

• 🚀 Native Performance: Built with Tauri 2.0 + Rust backend (~100MB RAM)
• 🔒 Secure API Key Storage: Uses system keyring (GNOME Keyring/KWallet)
• 💬 Streaming Responses: Real-time message streaming with SSE
• 🌙 Dark/Light/System Themes: Automatic theme detection
• 🌐 Multi-language: English and Traditional Chinese (繁體中文)
• 📝 Markdown Rendering: Code syntax highlighting with copy button
• 🔐 Privacy Mode: Optional mode that doesn't save conversations
• ⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts: Efficient workflow with hotkeys

Quick Start

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/edward-playground/claude-desktop-linux/main/install.sh | bash

Done! The script automatically:

1. Detects your distro (Ubuntu/Fedora/Arch/openSUSE)
2. Installs system dependencies
3. Installs Rust, Node.js 20, pnpm
4. Clones, builds, and installs the app

After installation, run claude-for-linux or find it in your application menu.

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Manual Installation

Ubuntu/Debian

# 1. Install dependencies
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y \
  build-essential curl wget file libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libssl-dev \
  libgtk-3-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev libsecret-1-dev patchelf

# 2. Install Rust
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh -s -- -y
source "$HOME/.cargo/env"

# 3. Install Node.js 20+
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.0/install.sh | bash
source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh && nvm install 20

# 4. Install pnpm
npm install -g pnpm@9

# 5. Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/edward-playground/claude-desktop-linux.git
cd claude-desktop-linux
pnpm install
pnpm tauri build

# 6. Install the .deb package
sudo dpkg -i src-tauri/target/release/bundle/deb/*.deb

Fedora/RHEL

# 1. Install dependencies
sudo dnf install -y gcc gcc-c++ curl wget file webkit2gtk4.1-devel \
  openssl-devel gtk3-devel libappindicator-gtk3-devel librsvg2-devel libsecret-devel patchelf

# 2. Install Rust, Node.js, pnpm (same as above)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh -s -- -y && source "$HOME/.cargo/env"
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.0/install.sh | bash
source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh && nvm install 20 && npm install -g pnpm@9

# 3. Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/edward-playground/claude-desktop-linux.git
cd claude-desktop-linux && pnpm install && pnpm tauri build

# 4. Install the .rpm package
sudo rpm -i src-tauri/target/release/bundle/rpm/*.rpm

Arch Linux

# 1. Install dependencies
sudo pacman -S --needed --noconfirm base-devel curl wget file webkit2gtk openssl gtk3 \
  libappindicator-gtk3 librsvg libsecret patchelf

# 2-4. Same as above (Rust, Node.js, clone, build)

Uninstall

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt remove claude-for-linux

# Fedora/RHEL
sudo rpm -e claude-for-linux

# Arch (if installed via pacman)
sudo pacman -R claude-for-linux

Requirements

• Anthropic API key (Get one here)

Compatibility Matrix

Tested Distributions

Distribution	Version	Status
Ubuntu	22.04+	✅ Supported
Fedora	38+	✅ Supported
Arch Linux	Rolling	✅ Supported
Debian	12+	✅ Supported
openSUSE	Tumbleweed	✅ Supported

Desktop Environments

Environment	X11	Wayland
GNOME	✅	✅
KDE Plasma	✅	✅
XFCE	✅	N/A

Note: Nvidia users on Wayland may need to set GDK_BACKEND=x11 for best compatibility.

Input Methods

• ✅ IBus
• ✅ Fcitx/Fcitx5
• ⚠️ XIM (basic support)

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+N	New conversation
Ctrl+Enter	Send message
Ctrl+,	Open settings
Ctrl+B	Toggle sidebar

Development

# After installation, run in dev mode with hot reload
cd claude-desktop-linux
pnpm tauri dev

# Commands
pnpm lint          # Run linting
pnpm test          # Run tests
pnpm format        # Format code
pnpm type-check    # Type check
pnpm tauri build   # Production build

Troubleshooting

WebKitGTK not found

# Ubuntu/Debian - ensure you have the correct version
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev

# If using older distro, you may need WebKitGTK 4.0 instead

Keyring issues

If you get keyring errors, ensure your system keyring is unlocked:

# GNOME
seahorse  # Open and unlock the keyring

# KDE
kwalletmanager

Wayland display issues (Nvidia)

# Run with X11 backend
GDK_BACKEND=x11 ./claude-for-linux_x86_64.AppImage

Build fails with Rust errors

# Update Rust to the latest stable version
rustup update stable

Configuration

Configuration files are stored following the XDG Base Directory specification:

• Config: ~/.config/claude-for-linux/
• Data: ~/.local/share/claude-for-linux/
• Cache/Logs: ~/.cache/claude-for-linux/

Security

• API keys are stored in the system keyring (GNOME Keyring or KWallet)
• Local database uses SQLite (optional SQLCipher encryption in future releases)
• All network traffic uses HTTPS
• No telemetry or analytics (opt-in only)

See SECURITY.md for the full security model.

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Anthropic for creating Claude
• Tauri for the amazing framework
• shadcn/ui for the beautiful UI components

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Note: This is an unofficial community project. For the official Claude experience, please visit claude.ai.