Next Term vs Claude Code Desktop
Claude Code Desktop is the Code tab of Anthropic’s Claude app, for macOS, Windows and Linux (beta). It is a graphical interface for Claude Code: parallel sessions in a sidebar, each optionally in its own git worktree, panes you arrange for the chat, diffs, a terminal, files, a browser preview and subagents, pull request monitoring, sessions in the cloud or over ssh, and sessions you start from your phone. Claude can check on and message your other sessions. It needs a paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise) and runs Claude only. Next Term is a free, open-source macOS terminal and editor where you run the Claude Code command-line tool, exactly as in any terminal, next to Codex, Gemini CLI and the other agents you use. It shows every agent’s status on its tab, connects Claude Code to its editor so your selection and Claude’s proposed edits show there, and is an MCP server through which one agent runs the others. Choose Claude Code Desktop for a graphical Claude Code with cloud sessions. Choose Next Term if you live in the Claude Code CLI or run agents from more than one vendor.
At a glance
Section titled “At a glance”| Feature | Next Term | Claude Code Desktop |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | macOS 13 or later | macOS, Windows, Linux (beta) |
| Price | Free, MIT | Included with paid Claude plans (Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise) |
| Agents | ✓ Claude Code and any other agent that runs in a terminal; 21 recognised by name | Claude only |
| How you work with Claude | The Claude Code CLI in a terminal tab, with its own commands and keys | A chat, with an integrated terminal pane |
| Several sessions at once | ✓ Tabs and split panes, across projects | ✓ A sidebar of sessions, each optionally in a worktree |
| Status of each session | ✓ On every tab: working, done, waiting on you (with the question, for Claude Code, Codex, Command Code and OpenCode), failed | ✓ In the sidebar; a notification when a session you are not viewing finishes |
| One agent runs the others | ✓ An MCP server: any agent starts, prompts, waits for and reads the others, Claude or not | Partly: Claude can check on, message or archive your other Claude sessions |
| Reviewing changes | ✓ Side-by-side diffs, stage, unstage or roll back per hunk; the Git Log and blame | ✓ A diff view with line comments, a code review, pull request monitoring |
| Editor | ✓ 112 grammars, Go to File (⌘P); Claude Code sees your selection and opens its edits as diffs | ✓ A file pane for edits |
| Agents on your servers | ✓ Remote tabs over your ssh configuration, kept running in tmux or herdr | ✓ ssh sessions to Linux or macOS; installs Claude Code on the server |
| Cloud | — | ✓ Cloud sessions that keep running when your computer is off |
| From your phone | — | ✓ Start and follow sessions from the Claude mobile app |
| Pick up earlier sessions | ✓ Claude Code’s sessions and seven other agents’, per project, to resume or fork | ✓ Its own sessions |
Choose Claude Code Desktop if…
Section titled “Choose Claude Code Desktop if…”- You want Claude Code without a terminal, with panes for the diff, the files, a browser preview and the terminal.
- You want cloud sessions that keep running when your Mac is closed, or to start work from your phone.
- You work on Windows or Linux as well as a Mac.
- You use Claude only, and want pull request monitoring, scheduled tasks and computer use in the same app.
Choose Next Term if…
Section titled “Choose Next Term if…”- You prefer the Claude Code CLI and its commands, keys and settings, in real terminal tabs and split panes.
- You run agents from more than one vendor. Codex, Gemini CLI, Qwen Code, OpenCode, Copilot CLI and the rest run next to Claude Code, each with a status mark on its tab and a notification when it finishes or needs you. Claude Code’s, Codex’s, Command Code’s and OpenCode’s notifications quote the question.
- You want any agent to orchestrate the others. Next Term’s MCP server registers itself in Claude Code, nine more agents and the Claude app itself, so Claude can start Codex in a new tab, wait for it and read its result, or the other way round.
- You want Claude Code connected to an editor. In a Next Term tab, Claude Code connects as it does to VS Code: your selection goes with the next prompt, and its proposed edits open as side-by-side diffs to accept (⌘↩) or reject.
- You want no paid plan for the app itself. Next Term is free; Claude Code still signs in the way it normally does, with a Claude plan or an API key.
Use both
Section titled “Use both”- The Claude app can drive Next Term. Next Term adds its MCP server to the Claude app’s
claude_desktop_config.jsonwhile Claude is closed, and the app’s chats and the local sessions in its Code tab read it, so Claude there can list Next Term’s tabs, start agents in them and read their screens. - Claude Code’s sessions are shared. A conversation you had in a Next Term tab is listed in Next Term’s Welcome window to resume, and Claude Code’s own
--resumereaches it from anywhere. - Keep the desktop app for cloud and phone sessions, and Next Term for the agents you watch and steer on your Mac.
Questions
Section titled “Questions”Is Claude Code Desktop the same as the Claude Code CLI?
Section titled “Is Claude Code Desktop the same as the Claude Code CLI?”They share settings files and Claude Code’s abilities, but the desktop app shows Claude as a chat with panes, while the CLI runs in a terminal. Next Term runs the CLI, so everything the CLI does works as usual, and Next Term adds tabs, status marks, the editor link and orchestration around it.
Can Claude Code Desktop see sessions running in Next Term?
Section titled “Can Claude Code Desktop see sessions running in Next Term?”Its cross-session view lists the sessions the desktop app runs itself, not ones started in a terminal. Claude Code’s cross-session messaging can reach terminal sessions. Next Term’s MCP server, which Next Term adds to the Claude app too, shows every tab with its agent’s state, whichever agent it is.
Do I need a paid plan to use Claude Code in Next Term?
Section titled “Do I need a paid plan to use Claude Code in Next Term?”Claude Code itself needs a Claude plan or an API key, whatever app it runs in. Next Term adds no cost of its own.
Read more
Section titled “Read more”- Agents and the IDE link
- Agent status in every tab
- Orchestrate agents (MCP)
- Remote tabs
- Next Term compared with other tools
Sources
Section titled “Sources”Checked October 2026 against Anthropic’s Claude Code documentation. Products change quickly; if something here is out of date, please open an issue.
- Claude Code docs: desktop application (platforms, sessions, worktrees, panes, notifications, cloud and ssh sessions, working across sessions)
- Claude Code docs: desktop quickstart (paid plan required)
- Claude Code docs: cross-session messaging