Claude Desktop

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What can you set up in Claude Desktop?

In Claude Desktop you can tell Claude how to answer you, save the steps for tasks you repeat, connect Claude to the apps you use, and choose what Claude may do without asking. Most of these settings belong to your Claude account and also apply on claude.ai.

You’ll find them in Settings and in Customize, in the left sidebar. An Accidental Guide to: Agents, Harnesses, Skills, and Tools explains the basics.

Term	Meaning
Instructions	What you want Claude to know in every chat, or in one project.
Skills	Saved steps Claude follows for one kind of task.
Connectors	An MCP server you add so Claude can reach another app or service.
Plugins	A package of skills, connectors and sub-agents.
Settings and permissions	Your preferences, and how much Claude may do before it asks.

01 Instructions

Field	Text
Identify by	Settings > General, or a project’s page.
What	Instructions are text you write for Claude to follow, in all your chats or in one project. An Accidental Guide to: Agents, Harnesses, Skills, and Tools explains instructions.
So what	Put a preference you always want in Settings, and one for a single piece of work in that project.

Field marks

Field	Short answer
Works in	Web, desktop, mobile

Confused with: Memory

Memory is what Claude picks up from your chats, in Settings > Memory. Instructions are what you write yourself.

02 Skills

Field	Text
Identify by	Customize > Skills.
What	A skill is a saved set of steps for one kind of task, which Claude follows when that task comes up. An Accidental Guide to: Agent Skills explains skills.
So what	You explain a task once instead of in every chat. Skills need Code execution, in Settings > Capabilities.

Field marks

Field	Short answer
Works in	Web, desktop and Claude Code

Confused with: Instructions

Instructions apply to every chat. A skill’s steps apply only to its kind of task.

03 Connectors

Field	Text
Identify by	Customize > Connectors, or the + button in the message box.
What	A connector is an MCP server on the internet, usually for a service you sign in to. An Accidental Guide to: Model Context Protocol explains MCP servers.
So what	For each of a connector’s tools you choose Always allow, Needs approval or Blocked.

Field marks

Field	Short answer
Works in	Web, desktop, mobile

Confused with: Desktop extension

A desktop extension is a local MCP server in a .mcpb file, installed in Settings > Extensions. Extensions work only on this computer.

04 Plugins

Field	Text
Identify by	Customize > Plugins, on the Discover tab.
What	A plugin is a package of skills, connectors and sub-agents, saved to your account. An Accidental Guide to: Plugins, Connectors, and Marketplaces explains plugins.
So what	One install sets up what you need for a role. Plugins need a paid plan, and your organization may install some for you.

Field marks

Field	Short answer
Works in	Chat, Cowork and Claude Code

Confused with: Skills

A skill is one set of steps. A plugin can hold several skills, plus connectors and sub-agents.

05 Settings and permissions

Field	Text
Identify by	Settings, under your initials, and the permission setting in the message box.
What	Settings holds your account’s preferences, such as General, Capabilities and Memory. Extensions and Developer apply to this computer only.
So what	The permission setting decides how much Claude does without asking. The default is Manual.

Field marks

Field	Short answer
Works in	Account and computer

Confused with: Customize

Customize is where you add skills, connectors and plugins. Settings is where you set preferences and permissions.

Where things live

Most things live in your Claude account and show up wherever you sign in. A few live on this computer only.

What	Lives in	Where to find it
Instructions	Account	Settings > General, and each project’s page
Memory	Account	Settings > Memory
Skills	Account	Customize > Skills
Connectors	Account	Customize > Connectors, then a connector for its tool permissions
Plugins	Account	Customize > Plugins
Code execution	Account	Settings > Capabilities
Folder access	Computer	Settings, under Trusted folders
Desktop extensions	Computer	Settings > Extensions
Local MCP servers	Computer	Settings > Developer > Edit Config<br/>macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json<br/>Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Code tab	Computer	~/.claude/settings.json and ~/.claude/skills, the same files Claude Code uses

Chats and Cowork use what’s in Customize. The Code tab reads ~/.claude, as Claude Code does. See An Accidental Guide to: Claude Code.

Tip

After you edit claude_desktop_config.json, quit Claude Desktop completely and open it again.

Your account or your organization?

On Free, Pro and Max plans you set everything yourself. On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner sets limits in Organization settings.

Setting	You	An owner, in Organization settings
Skills	Turn on or upload	Plugins & skills: turn skills on, add skills for everyone, stop people creating skills
Connectors	Add and sign in	Connectors: add for the team, set limits nobody can override
Plugins	Add from Discover	Add marketplaces, require plugins
Desktop extensions	Install allowed ones	Connectors, Desktop tab: the allowlist
Memory	Turn on or off	Capabilities: allow memory

On computers your company manages, IT can set the desktop app’s options in com.anthropic.claudefordesktop on macOS or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Claude on Windows.

Same thing elsewhere

Coding tools keep the same kinds of things in their own files.

In Claude Desktop	Elsewhere
Instructions	CLAUDE.md in Claude Code. AGENTS.md in Codex, Copilot CLI and VS Code.
Skills	A folder with a SKILL.md file, under ~/.claude/skills in Claude Code. Codex, Copilot CLI and VS Code have skills too.
Connectors	MCP servers: .mcp.json in Claude Code, ~/.codex/config.toml in Codex, the User or Workspace group in VS Code
Plugins	Plugins in all four
Settings and permissions	~/.claude/settings.json in Claude Code, approval_policy and sandbox_mode in ~/.codex/config.toml

See An Accidental Guide to: Claude Code, An Accidental Guide to: GitHub Copilot CLI, An Accidental Guide to: OpenAI Codex and An Accidental Guide to: VS Code and Visual Studio.

Sources

These public sources were checked on 22 October 2026. The Anthropic Help Center articles, listed first, are at support.claude.com/en/articles/ and their number.

Source	Address
Use connectors	11176164
Desktop and web connectors	11725091
Local MCP servers on Claude Desktop	10949351
Desktop extension allowlist	12592343
Enterprise configuration for Claude Desktop	12622667
Use skills in Claude	12512180
Use plugins in Claude	13837440
Personalization features	10185728
Cowork and chat are one Claude	16761823
Create and manage projects	9519177
Chat search and memory	11817273
Anthropic, Claude Code on desktop	code.claude.com/docs/en/desktop
Model Context Protocol, Connect to local MCP servers	modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/develop/connect-local-servers
OpenAI, Codex config basics	learn.chatgpt.com/docs/config-file/config-basic
OpenAI, Codex AGENTS.md	learn.chatgpt.com/docs/agent-configuration/agents-md
GitHub, Copilot customization cheat sheet	docs.github.com/en/copilot/reference/customization-cheat-sheet
Visual Studio Code, Agent customization overview	code.visualstudio.com/docs/agent-customization/overview