Homeβ€ΊGuide

Everything Claude Desktop Manager can do - one page.

It really does one thing: it runs several Claude Desktop windows at once, each one kept completely separate. Everything else - switching, automation, notifications, the Claude Code tools - is there to make that comfortable. This page walks through each part and when you'd actually use it.

The core feature: run several Claude at once

Claude Desktop normally lets you use one account at a time. Give each profile its own data folder and that limit goes away: several Claude windows run side by side, with different accounts and different projects that never bleed into each other. The rest of this page builds on that.

πŸ‘₯Parallel instancesAll tiers

Each profile launches Claude in its own fully isolated environment, so the windows are real, independent instances - keep one fullscreen, another on a second monitor, a third on a different virtual desktop.

On the free tier you can keep one instance running indefinitely; running two or more at once is time-limited (see tiers). Standard and Pro remove that limit.

Profiles & isolation

πŸ—‚οΈWhat a profile isAll tiers

A profile is a named, fully isolated Claude environment with its own login, history, settings and MCP configuration. Log in once per profile and stay logged in - switching context never logs you out.

  • Custom profiles - fully isolated, one per account or project.
  • The default profile - launches Claude exactly as you normally would, with no isolation. It shares your usual Claude session, so the two are interchangeable.

Create one with a name (2–30 chars), an icon (8 choices) and a colour (6 palettes) so each window is identifiable at a glance.

🎨Icons, colours & renamingAll tiers

Change a profile's icon and colour any time from Options β‹― β†’ Appearance. Renaming a profile is safe: the underlying data folder keeps its original name on disk, so the link to your session is never broken.

Launch, restart, stop, focus

▢️Lifecycle controlsAll tiers
  • Launch starts the profile's Claude instance.
  • Restart closes it cleanly and relaunches - handy after a Claude update.
  • Stop closes the instance without touching its data.
  • Focus brings the window to the front, restoring it if minimised and working even in fullscreen.
Note: bringing a window to the front across different Windows virtual desktops is blocked by Windows itself. Switch to the right desktop first, then focus.

Window naming & memory

🏷️Automatic window titlesAll tiers

Each Claude window is retitled "Claude - ProfileName" so you can tell instances apart in Alt-Tab and the taskbar. The app waits for the main window to appear (up to 30 s) before renaming; on a slow start, just Restart to retry.

πŸ“Remember window positionAll tiers

From Options β‹― β†’ Remember position, the app stores the window's position, size and state (normal/maximised). Next launch, Claude opens exactly where you left it. If you change monitors and a window opens off-screen, move it back and save again.

Simultaneous sessions & tiers

⏱️How the limits work

Profiles are unlimited on every tier. The only thing that scales is how many can run at the same time:

  • Free - one instance any time; two or more together are capped at 15 minutes, then extras close. Free
  • Standard ($10) - up to 2 simultaneous instances, no time limit. Standard
  • Pro ($30) - unlimited simultaneous instances. Pro

Licences are one-time purchases. Activate in Settings β†’ License key (see below).

Switch & automate

Once a few Claude windows are open, you mostly need two things: to jump to the right one without hunting for it, and to keep them all running without watching over them.

⌨️Per-profile hotkeysAll tiers

Assign a global keyboard shortcut to any profile. Press it from anywhere - even with the app in the tray - to focus that profile if it's running, or launch it if it isn't.

  1. Open Options β‹― β†’ Shortcut on a profile.
  2. Click the field and press your combo (e.g. Ctrl+Alt+1). It's captured, not typed.
  3. The app rejects combos already used by another profile or known to clash, so pick something uncommon.
🎚️Global switcherAll tiersNew

A keyboard palette that floats above everything - like a command palette for your Claude profiles. Press the global shortcut (default Ctrl+`) from any app, start typing to filter, and jump to a profile without touching the mouse.

  1. Press Ctrl+` (configurable in Settings β†’ Profile palette).
  2. Type a few letters to filter the list.
  3. ↑ / ↓ to move, Enter to switch (focuses if running, launches if not), Esc to dismiss.
This is the fastest way to live in 5+ profiles. Available on every tier, including Free.
πŸ–₯️System trayAll tiers

The app lives in the Windows system tray. Closing the window minimises to tray instead of quitting, so hotkeys and notifications keep working. Right-click the tray icon to show the window or quit; its tooltip shows how many instances are active (and an at-a-glance summary of Claude Code sessions when you track them).

πŸš€Start with Windows & auto-restartAll tiers
  • Start with Windows (Settings) launches the app at logon.
  • Launch at startup (per profile) opens that instance automatically when the app starts.
  • Restart on crash (per profile) relaunches Claude a couple of seconds after an unexpected exit, with a tray notification.
If a profile crash-loops (usually a Claude update in progress or a corrupt data folder), turn off Restart on crash for it, let the update finish, then re-enable.

Pro productivity

Two Pro features you'll end up using every day.

⚑QuickPromptPro

Define a text that is automatically injected into Claude every time a profile launches. Perfect for a persistent persona or context - e.g. "You are a senior TypeScript developer; be concise."

  1. Set it from + New profile, or later via Options β‹― β†’ Launch prompt.
  2. On launch, once the window is ready, your prompt is entered into Claude for you - no copy-paste, and your own clipboard is left as you had it.
The prompt is stored for any tier, but injection only runs on Pro.
πŸͺŸQuickAsk + broadcastProUpdated

Press Ctrl+Shift+Space from any app and a small floating window appears. Type a question, pick one or more profiles, hit Enter - Claude answers without you leaving what you're doing.

  • Always-on-top, no taskbar entry; pre-fills from your clipboard on open.
  • Broadcast / fan-out: select several profiles at once and the same question is sent to each - running ones get it injected, stopped ones are launched with it.
  • The hotkey is fully customisable in Settings β†’ QuickAsk.

Claude Code & power users

A profile isn't only an isolated Claude Desktop - it's an isolated Claude Code setup as well. The tools below let you run and keep an eye on several coding agents at once, which is still hard to do on Windows.

🧩Isolated Claude Code configAll tiers

Each profile keeps its own separate Claude Code configuration - its own auth, settings and project list - instead of sharing your global one. Run Claude Code from a profile (see below) and it uses that profile's setup, so two profiles never share Claude Code state.

⌨️Open a terminal for a profileAll tiersNew

From Options β‹― β†’ Open a terminal, the app opens a terminal already set up for that profile, in the profile's own folder. Run claude there and it uses that profile's isolated configuration, not your global one.

This is also how you make the Sessions board and completion notifications light up: those signals come from Claude Code sessions you start from the profile (the terminal above is the easy way).
πŸ”ŒMCP servers per profileAll tiersNew

Give each profile its own set of MCP servers. Options β‹― β†’ MCP servers opens a built-in, validated editor for that profile's MCP servers - the rest of the profile's configuration is left untouched.

  1. Open Options β‹― β†’ MCP servers on a profile.
  2. Edit the list, or click Copy from default profile to reuse your main setup.
  3. Save - anything invalid is refused, so you can't break the configuration. The change loads next launch.
🌱Seed a new profileAll tiersNew

When creating a profile, pick "Copy configuration from" an existing one. It copies only your tooling setup (MCP servers and integrations) - never your login or session. The new profile starts with that tooling ready but logged out, so accounts never leak between profiles.

πŸ“‹The Sessions board (Command Center)All tiersNew

A dedicated Sessions tab shows a live board of the Claude Code sessions in your tracked profiles, so you always know which agent needs you. Each session shows its state, working directory, a short snippet and elapsed time, with one-click Focus and Open terminal actions.

States are: Working (blue), Needs you (amber, e.g. a permission prompt), Done (green), and Stalled (red - computed by the app when a working session goes quiet for several minutes).

  1. Turn on Track Claude Code on a profile (Options β‹―). That profile now appears on the board.
  2. Start a Claude Code session in that profile - e.g. via Open a terminal.
  3. Watch states change live; click β†— to focus or β–’ to open its terminal.
Limits: one Claude Code session per profile is tracked, and updates come only from sessions you start from the profile (e.g. via Open a terminal). "Stalled" is a timeout heuristic, not an error signal.
πŸ””Claude Code completion notificationsAll tiersNew

When you track a profile, the app knows the moment a Claude Code task in it finishes and gives you a tray notification and a sound naming the profile - no more checking back on a terminal.

Tracking is fully reversible: turn it off (or delete the profile) and everything it set up is removed cleanly, leaving your own settings untouched.

Notifications & focus

With a lot of windows open, the tricky part is just noticing which one needs you. These settings make that obvious without nagging.

❗Attention badgeAll tiersNew

When a background Claude window asks for attention, its card gets an orange ! badge plus a tray balloon. Bring that window to the front (focus it directly or via the manager) and the badge clears itself automatically. Toggle it in Settings β†’ Notify on attention.

πŸŒ™Do Not DisturbAll tiersNew

On the Sessions board, enable "Only notify when a session needs me". Balloons and sounds are suppressed for everything except the Needs you state - the one that actually requires your action when you're driving several agents at once.

Manage & maintain

Housekeeping for when you've built up a lot of profiles: keeping them tidy, recoverable and healthy.

πŸ”Orphans & adoptionAll tiers

If a Claude instance is running that the app didn't start (e.g. Claude was open before you launched the manager), it's listed as an unattached instance. Click Adopt to create a profile linked to it - it immediately shows as active. On startup, the app also reconnects existing Claude windows to the right profiles automatically.

♻️Session recoveryAll tiers

Deleting a profile only removes the list entry - the data folder on disk is kept. Data folders without a profile are listed under unlinked session folders; from + New profile you can create a profile pointing at one to recover its conversations, or delete it permanently (confirmation required).

πŸ’ΎDisk usageAll tiersNew

From Options β‹― β†’ Data folder, see a profile's path and its size (calculated in the background), with an Open folder button. Useful because each profile keeps its own copy of Claude's data - handy when you're deciding what to prune.

πŸ›‘οΈResource guardAll tiersNew

Each Claude window is a full application, so running many at once uses real memory. When you go past a threshold (default 4 non-default instances), the app shows a gentle, non-blocking tray warning. Nothing is ever forced closed - it's just a heads-up.

πŸ“€Import / exportAll tiers

Settings β†’ Export JSON saves your profile list (names, icons, colours, settings) to a file; Import JSON brings it back, skipping duplicates. The export does not contain conversations - to move those to another PC, copy your profile data folders across (the app can show you where each one lives).

πŸ›°οΈClaude detection & update resilienceAll tiers

The app finds Claude Desktop automatically (package manager, registry, execution aliases) and keeps watching the path so a Claude update doesn't break anything. Use Re-detect in Settings if you install Claude after the app. The detected Claude version is logged to a diagnostics file to help catch breakages early.

Setup & licensing

⬇️Install & SmartScreen
  1. Download the x64 (Intel/AMD) or ARM64 (Snapdragon) setup. No runtime needed - the app is self-contained.
  2. If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC" (SmartScreen), click More info β†’ Run anyway. This is normal for a new app and disappears as reputation builds.
  3. To update, uninstall the old version from Windows Settings β†’ Apps, then install the new one.
Some antivirus tools flag the app by heuristic because it uses advanced APIs (global hotkeys, window hooks, WMI). Add an exclusion for the install folder if needed.
πŸ”‘Activate a license
  1. Buy Standard or Pro - your key arrives by email instantly (format XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX).
  2. Open Settings β†’ License key, paste it (use copy-paste; it's case-sensitive) and click Activate.
  3. It verifies online once, then caches locally - no internet needed afterwards.
🌐LanguagesAll tiers

The interface ships in English, French, Spanish and German, auto-detected from your system on first launch. Switch any time from the dropdown in the app header.

Ready to run Claude in parallel?

Download the free version, create a couple of profiles, and try the global switcher. Upgrade only if you need more than one instance running at once.