Claude on Linux: Desktop Beta, the CLI, and WSL

There is now an official Claude desktop app for Linux. It's in beta, it's Debian-based distributions only, and a few features from the Mac and Windows builds aren't there yet.

If you're on Fedora, Arch, or anything outside the Debian family, the answer is different and better than it sounds: the Claude Code CLI supports a much wider range of distributions and isn't beta.

Claude Desktop for Linux

Requirements: Ubuntu 22.04 or later, or Debian 12 or later, on x86_64 or arm64. Other Debian-based distributions meeting those requirements may work but aren't officially tested.

Install through Anthropic's apt repository so updates arrive with your normal system upgrades. Anthropic's Linux install guide has the exact commands, including downloading and verifying the signing key — worth doing properly rather than skipping, since a missing key surfaces later as a confusing NO_PUBKEY failure during apt update.

Once installed, launch Claude from your application launcher or run claude-desktop. You sign in with a claude.ai subscription or your organisation's SSO. A Console API key won't work here — that's for the CLI.

One difference from Mac and Windows worth planning around: the Linux app doesn't update itself. Updates come through sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade like any other package.

What's missing from the Linux beta

Four gaps, and one of them is a genuine blocker for some workflows:

• Computer use — app and screen control isn't available on Linux.
• Dictation — voice input isn't in the Linux desktop app. Use voice dictation in the CLI instead. (Spoken conversation is a separate feature; see Claude voice mode for what it does and doesn't cover.)
• Quick Entry global hotkey — works on X11; on native Wayland it needs your desktop environment's GlobalShortcuts portal.
• Fedora and RHEL — not supported today, though Anthropic says more distributions are coming.

Cowork needs virtualisation

If you want the Cowork tab, Linux asks for more than the other platforms do. Cowork runs its tasks in a virtual machine that the app hosts with QEMU and KVM, so you need:

• Hardware virtualisation enabled in firmware
• QEMU and UEFI firmware packages — installed as recommended packages by default, so a --no-install-recommends install or a minimal image will miss them
• Access to /dev/kvm, which means joining the kvm group with sudo usermod -aG kvm $USER, then logging out and back in

Join the group even if /dev/kvm already works for you — Cowork also needs /dev/vhost-vsock, and only kvm group members can open it. The app checks these once at launch, so restart after installing packages.

Chat and Code don't need any of this.

The CLI covers far more ground

For everything outside Ubuntu and Debian, the Claude Code CLI is the real answer, and it's not a downgrade — it runs the same engine as the desktop app's Code tab.

Supported: Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 10+, and Alpine Linux 3.19+, on x64 or ARM64, with 4 GB or more of RAM. Note that's a lower Ubuntu floor than the desktop app's.

There are signed apt, dnf, and apk repositories, so Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, RHEL, and Alpine all have a native package path. The general-purpose installer is a single command, covered in our install guide alongside the Mac and Windows equivalents.

Two Linux-specific details:

Alpine and musl-based distributions need bash, curl, libgcc, libstdc++, and ripgrep — Alpine ships with neither bash nor curl, so the documented install command fails until you add them. You also need to set USE_BUILTIN_RIPGREP to 0 in settings.

Linux binaries aren't individually code-signed, unlike the notarised macOS build and the Authenticode-signed Windows one. If that matters to you, verify integrity through the signed release manifest, or install from apt/dnf/apk and let the package manager verify repository signatures for you.

WSL

Running Claude Code on Windows gives you three options, and sandboxing is what separates them:

Under WSL, treat the distribution as the machine: open its shell, run the ordinary Linux installer there, and start claude from that same prompt. PowerShell and CMD are the wrong place to launch it from.

If you want the desktop app alongside WSL, install the Windows desktop app and run your sessions inside your distribution — don't install the Linux desktop app into WSL.

The practical rule: put Claude Code on the same side of the boundary as your code. Not because crossing it is impossible — WSL interop is bidirectional, and a WSL shell can invoke Windows executables by their full .exe name while Windows reaches Linux files over \\wsl$\ — but because crossing it costs you: path formats diverge, environment variables and PATH don't carry over, and filesystem I/O across the boundary is slow enough to notice on a large repository. Most confusing failures trace back to a project living on one side and the agent on the other. The same reasoning governs stdio MCP servers, which launch local processes and are far less trouble when their runtime sits on the same side.

The one place this becomes a hard block rather than a nuisance is Claude Code's Bash sandbox. Under WSL 2 a Windows binary launch travels over a Unix socket to the Windows host, so the sandbox's Unix-socket settings decide whether it's allowed — allowAllUnixSockets permits it, and excludedCommands lifts a specific command out of the sandbox.

And Taku on Linux?

Worth stating plainly, since this article is for Linux users: Taku has no Linux build. The Mac app is available now and there's an experimental Windows preview, but nothing for Linux, and we'd rather say so than imply otherwise.

FAQ

Is there a Claude desktop app for Linux?

Yes, in beta, for Ubuntu 22.04+ and Debian 12+ on x86_64 or arm64. Install it from Anthropic's apt repository. Other distributions aren't supported.

Does Claude Code work on Linux?

Yes, and more broadly than the desktop app — Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 10+, and Alpine 3.19+, with signed apt, dnf, and apk repositories covering Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, RHEL, and Alpine.

Can I run Claude on Fedora or Arch?

The desktop app, no — it's Debian-based distributions only for now. The Claude Code CLI, yes, including a dnf repository for Fedora and RHEL.

Does Claude Code work in WSL?

Yes. WSL 2 is the recommended option and the only one that supports sandboxed command execution. Install and run claude inside the WSL terminal, not from PowerShell.

Should I install the Linux desktop app inside WSL?

No. Install the Windows desktop app and run your sessions inside your WSL distribution.

Does the Linux app update automatically?

No. Updates arrive through sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade, unlike the self-updating Mac and Windows builds.

The short version

Ubuntu or Debian, and you want a GUI: install the desktop beta, and accept that computer use and dictation aren't there yet. Anything else: use the CLI, which supports more distributions and isn't beta. On Windows, WSL 2 is the option worth having, and the golden rule is to keep the agent on the same side of the boundary as your files.

For the broader question of what a desktop AI workspace is for, our guide to Claude Desktop covers the Mac and Windows builds — and Taku approaches the same idea from a different angle, as a workspace where you mirror AI apps, agents, and workflows other people already got working and run them locally. Taku is in Beta, and the Mac app is available now.