Claude surfaces

The places you can use Claude: Claude.ai, Claude Desktop, Claude Code (terminal, IDE, and web), Claude Cowork, and the Claude API.

What it is

Ways to talk to the same Anthropic models. Each surface has different strengths and different component support. Pick the surface that matches your work, then read its sub-page for install and feature detail.

Surface Best for Components supported
Claude.ai Chat, document upload, one-click Connectors Connectors, Projects
Claude Desktop The same chat plus local files via MCP Connectors, MCP servers
Claude Code Multi-step coding (CLI, IDE, web) Skills, MCP servers, Plugins, Hooks, Routines
Claude Cowork Non-coding desktop automation in a sandboxed VM Connectors, Plugins
Claude API Building your own product, agent, or backend SDKs, Managed Agents, MCP

Your account, Projects, and conversation history are shared across Claude.ai and Claude Desktop. Claude Code and Cowork are billed through your Pro/Max/Team/Enterprise subscription or via API.

Cross-cutting features

Some features span more than one surface — you start them in one place and view or extend them in another. Read the linked page for detail.

  • Routines — scheduled remote Claude Code agents. Created via the /schedule skill in Claude Code, viewed and edited at claude.ai/code/routines (a Claude.ai surface), execute on Anthropic cloud infrastructure with MCP connectors attached.
  • Background sessions — claude --bg starts a long-running Claude Code task; reattach later via /resume or claude agents. Spans CLI and claude.ai/code.
  • MCP tunnels (Research Preview) — outbound-only cloudflared tunnels that expose private MCP servers to Claude.ai. Bridges Claude.ai / Claude Desktop and MCP servers running inside private networks. See MCP servers.
  • Channels (Research Preview) — inverts MCP from pull to push: an allowlisted MCP server can inject events into a running Claude Code session so Claude reacts to outside happenings (CI failures, monitoring alerts, an iMessage). Start a session with claude --channels discord,telegram,imessage; bundled plugins are Telegram, Discord, iMessage, and fakechat. Requires a claude.ai login (no API-key auth); Team / Enterprise admins must set channelsEnabled: true and curate allowedChannelPlugins. Custom channels need --dangerously-load-development-channels. Bridges Claude Code and MCP servers. Shipped 2026-03-20 in v2.1.80.
  • Claude Security (Enterprise public beta) — vulnerability scanning at claude.ai/security (sidebar icon in Claude.ai). Launched 2026-05-04 on Opus 4.7. Each finding has a remediation button that opens a Claude Code on the web session, drafts a patch, and opens a PR. Enterprise plans only; Team / Max coming.
  • Dynamic Workflows (Research Preview) — spans CLI, Desktop, and the VS Code extension of Claude Code. Claude writes an orchestration script on the fly and runs up to 1,000 parallel subagents (16 concurrent) to tackle migrations, audits, and other large jobs. Trigger one task by including the keyword ultracode in a prompt (renamed from workflow in v2.1.160 — the bare word workflow no longer fires), or set /effort ultracode to auto-orchestrate every substantive task in the session. Launched 2026-05-28 alongside Opus 4.8; requires Claude Code v2.1.154+. On by default on Max and Team; admin-gated on Enterprise; off by default on Pro (toggle in /config). Burns substantially more tokens than a normal session.
  • Sandboxing differs by surface — useful to know when reasoning about what Claude can touch on your machine. Per How we contain Claude across products (Anthropic engineering, late May 2026): Claude.ai runs tools inside gVisor; Claude Code running locally uses macOS Seatbelt or Linux Bubblewrap (reads allowed, writes inside the workspace, network denied by default); Claude Cowork runs a full VM (Apple Virtualization on macOS, HCS on Windows). Local MCP servers you wire into Claude Desktop run with your user’s permissions, not inside a sandbox — review folders and scripts before exposing them.

Common pitfalls

  • Confusing Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and Claude Cowork — three different apps that all live near claude.ai.
  • Components don’t all install everywhere. Skills, MCP servers, and Plugins work in Claude Code and Cowork; Connectors work in Claude.ai / Desktop / Cowork. A few tools (e.g., PubMed) ship in multiple places.
  • API usage is metered separately from a Pro subscription.

See also

Sources

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