Ubuntu Claude Desktop

A lightweight, native Claude AI desktop client for Ubuntu/Linux built with Tauri v2 and Svelte 5.

Screenshots

Clean welcome screen with quick-start instructions

Streaming chat with syntax-highlighted code blocks

Conversation history with search and management

Multi-provider settings — Anthropic, OpenAI, or Ollama

Custom CSS themes with built-in presets

Why?

Anthropic's official Claude Desktop app is available for macOS and Windows, but not Linux. Ubuntu Claude Desktop fills that gap with a native, lightweight alternative that uses the Anthropic API directly.

• ~10MB binary (vs ~150MB for Electron-based alternatives)
• Native WebKitGTK rendering (no bundled Chromium)
• Low memory footprint thanks to Tauri's Rust backend
• Your API key, your data — everything stays local on your machine

Features

• Streaming chat responses in real-time
• Conversation management (create, rename, delete)
• Persistent conversation history (SQLite)
• Multi-provider: Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI, Ollama (local models)
• Model selection per provider
• Markdown rendering with syntax-highlighted code blocks
• Copy button on code blocks
• AI-generated conversation titles
• Search/filter conversations
• Custom system prompts
• Image upload with Claude Vision API
• Edit messages and regenerate responses
• Light and dark theme
• System tray integration (minimize to tray)
• LaTeX/math rendering (KaTeX)
• Keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+N, Ctrl+K, Ctrl+,, Ctrl+L)
• Stop generation mid-stream
• Local API key storage
• Custom CSS themes with presets (Nord, Solarized, Monokai, Dracula)
• Prompt library for reusable templates
• Custom slash commands (run shell scripts from chat)
• Artifacts (sandboxed HTML/SVG preview)
• MCP (Model Context Protocol) tool use
• Project folders with persistent context
• Export conversations (Markdown/JSON)
• Auto-update notifications

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18
• Rust (install via rustup)
• System libraries:

sudo apt install -y libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libgtk-3-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev libssl-dev

Getting Started

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/ponack/ubuntu-claude-desktop.git
cd ubuntu-claude-desktop

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode (first build takes a few minutes)
source "$HOME/.cargo/env"  # if Rust was just installed
npm run tauri dev

On first launch:

1. Click Settings in the sidebar
2. Choose your Provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, or Ollama)
3. Enter your API key (or set Ollama URL for local models)
4. Choose your preferred model
5. Save, and start chatting

Install (Pre-built)

Download the latest .deb from Releases and install:

sudo dpkg -i ubuntu-claude-desktop_*.deb

Building from Source

npm run tauri build

This generates a .deb package in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/deb/ that you can install with dpkg -i.

Project Structure

ubuntu-claude-desktop/
├── src/                          # Svelte 5 frontend
│   ├── App.svelte                # Layout: sidebar + main area
│   ├── lib/
│   │   ├── Sidebar.svelte        # Conversation list
│   │   ├── Chat.svelte           # Message list + input + streaming
│   │   ├── MessageBubble.svelte  # Markdown rendering per message
│   │   ├── ArtifactPreview.svelte # Sandboxed HTML/SVG preview
│   │   └── Settings.svelte       # Provider, model, themes, plugins config
│   └── styles/global.css         # Light/dark theme CSS variables
├── src-tauri/                    # Rust backend (Tauri v2)
│   └── src/
│       ├── lib.rs                # App state + command registration
│       ├── api.rs                # Multi-provider API streaming (SSE)
│       ├── providers.rs          # Provider types + Ollama model discovery
│       ├── mcp.rs                # Model Context Protocol client
│       └── db.rs                 # SQLite: conversations, messages, settings
└── assets/                       # Logo and branding

Roadmap

Phase 1 — Polish ✅

• Copy button on code blocks
• Syntax highlighting for code
• AI-generated conversation titles
• Search conversations
• Custom system prompts
• Keyboard shortcuts

Phase 2 — Feature Parity ✅

• File and image upload (vision API)
• Edit and regenerate messages
• Light/dark theme toggle
• System tray integration
• LaTeX/math rendering

Phase 3 — Power Features ✅

• Artifacts (sandboxed HTML/SVG preview)
• MCP (Model Context Protocol) support
• Project folders with persistent context
• Export conversations (Markdown/JSON)
• Auto-update mechanism

Phase 4 — Beyond Official ✅

• Local model support (Ollama)
• Multi-provider support (OpenAI, any OpenAI-compatible API)
• Custom commands / plugin system (slash commands run shell scripts)
• Custom CSS themes with presets (Nord, Solarized, Monokai, Dracula)
• Prompt library/templates

Phase 4.5 — Polish Pass ✅

• Accessibility (aria-labels, aria-live regions, focus management)
• Active model indicator in chat header
• Settings validation (API keys, URLs)
• Error handling improvements (retry failed sends, surface command errors)
• Preserve partial content on streaming errors
• Professional auto-update system (configurable intervals, download progress, pkexec install, restart)
• About section (version, OS distro, architecture, repo link)

Phase 5 — Desktop Integration ✅

• Global hotkey to summon app (Super+Shift+C)
• Screenshot-to-Claude (capture region, send via vision API)
• Drag-and-drop file attachments
• Clipboard-aware paste (images)
• Desktop notifications for completed responses
• URI protocol handler (claude://ask?q=...)
• Quick-ask floating overlay window (Super+Shift+Q)
• DBus interface for scripting/automation

Phase 6 — Workflows & Productivity ✅

• Conversation branching (fork at any message)
• Prompt library/templates with variable placeholders
• Command palette (Ctrl+P)
• Agent mode (multi-step autonomous task execution)
• Scheduled/recurring prompts
• Workspace profiles (per-project API keys, models, prompts)
• Conversation analytics and token usage tracking
• Multi-window support

Phase 7 — Scale & Reliability ✅

• Conversation pagination / virtual scroll
• Database backup and restore
• Performance profiling and optimization
• Offline mode (queue messages when disconnected)

Phase 8 — Co-Work (Artifacts)

• Persistent artifacts panel (side panel alongside chat)
• Artifact types (Code, Markdown, Mermaid diagrams, HTML/SVG, React components)
• Live editing with syntax highlighting
• Iterate with Claude (send artifact state back for modification)
• Multiple artifacts per conversation (tab-based management)
• Artifact versioning (diff between versions, revert)
• Artifact persistence (save to DB, restore on reopen)
• Export artifacts (save to file, clipboard, open in external editor)

Tech Stack

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests.

License

MIT

Disclaimer

This is an unofficial, community-built client. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic. "Claude" is a trademark of Anthropic.