C
Claude Desktop for Linux
Repo
v0.1.0 · build 00000

Claude Desktop
for Linux.

An unofficial Linux port of Anthropic's Claude Desktop, built by repackaging the official Windows release and swapping the native module with a Linux-compatible stub.

↓ Download for Linux Install Instructions

Tracks upstream Claude Desktop v1.1617.0

Built: —

How it works

①

Fetch & verify

Download the official Windows .exe from Anthropic's CDN and verify its SHA256.

②

Stub the native module

Replace the Windows-only claude-native-binding.node with a no-op Rust NAPI stub.

③

Repack & run

Patch the Electron app.asar, repack, and run with a Linux Electron runtime.

Background

Anthropic's Claude Desktop ships natively for macOS and Windows but not Linux. The Windows build is an Electron app that depends on a Windows-only native module (claude-native-binding.node) for hardware-level input and global shortcuts.

This project doesn't build Claude Desktop from source — we don't have it. Instead, we repackage the Windows release: extract the Electron app.asar, swap the native binding with a Linux no-op stub written in Rust using napi-rs, patch some i18n resources, repack, and run under a Linux Electron runtime.

The Makefile exposes every step as a discrete, inspectable target so you can see exactly what is happening between the official Anthropic installer and the installable Linux tree in dist/.

Lineage: k3d3/claude-desktop-linux-flake (Nix) → rebots-online/claude-desktop-linux-bash (bash, Dan VerWeire) → this repo (Makefile + Rust NAPI stub rewrite).

Downloads

Install

Option A: Debian / Ubuntu (.deb)

sudo dpkg -i claude-desktop_*_amd64.deb
sudo apt-get install -f   # resolve any missing deps

The .deb installs to /opt/claude-desktop and registers the desktop entry automatically.

Option B: AppImage (any distro — zero deps)

One-liner (downloads, sets it executable, runs it):

wget -O Claude.AppImage URL && chmod +x Claude.AppImage && ./Claude.AppImage

Or manually after download:

chmod +x ClaudeDesktop-Linux-*.AppImage
./ClaudeDesktop-Linux-*.AppImage

The AppImage bundles its own Electron runtime — no dependencies required. Browser downloads arrive without the executable bit; the chmod +x step is a one-time Linux security default.

Option C: Tarball (manual)

tar xzf ClaudeDesktop-Linux-v*.tar.gz -C ~/.local/

Ensure ~/.local/bin is on PATH. Most modern distros do this automatically.

Post-install (all methods)

Register the protocol handler (for Google login)

xdg-mime default claude-desktop.desktop x-scheme-handler/claude

Launch

claude-desktop

Or find "Claude" in your application menu.

Build from source

Clone the repo, install dependencies, and run make. Every step is inspectable.

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install p7zip-full imagemagick icoutils wget
# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install p7zip p7zip-plugins ImageMagick icoutils wget

# Both also need: node, pnpm, cargo/rustc, electron (pnpm install -g electron)

git clone https://git.robin.mba/rcheung/Claude-Desktop-for-Linux.git
cd Claude-Desktop-for-Linux
make            # full build
make install    # install to ~/.local/

Changelog