Claude Code with a GUI

How we chose

Each app here runs Claude Code itself, or Anthropic's Claude Agent, with your own Claude subscription or API key, and gives it a graphical window. We make Macaron; the others are in no particular order after Anthropic's own. Facts come from each app's site and docs, read on October 1 and 2, 2026, and are linked under Sources.

At a glance

Prices as published on October 1 and 2, 2026. Your Claude usage is billed by Anthropic in every case.

Anthropic's own desktop app and IDE extensions

Claude Code isn't only a terminal tool. Anthropic lists a desktop app and extensions for VS Code and JetBrains, as well as the web and mobile apps. If all you want is Claude Code with a window, start here: it's the official way and gets new features first.

• Pick it if you use only Claude Code and want it in the editor you already have.
• Worth knowing: /rewind restores edits made by Claude Code's file tools, but not changes made by shell commands.

Macaron

Macaron runs the Claude Code CLI, with your own account, and draws the conversation in its own chat window. Each turn ends in a card with the files changed and a git-backed undo that also covers what shell commands changed. Your test, lint and typecheck scripts run before and after, Codex can review Claude's work read-only, and the agent can run on an isolated Linux computer instead of on your files.

• Pick it if you want Claude Code and Codex in one app, or don't want the agent touching your Mac.
• Trade-off: single user, and it's a workspace beside your editor rather than an editor.

Conductor

A Mac app that runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode, each task in its own git worktree and branch. You review each workspace's diff, open a pull request and merge from the app.

• Pick it if you want many Claude Code sessions at once on a Mac.
• Trade-off: Mac only, and the agent runs on your Mac as you.

Zed

Zed's Agent Panel installs Claude Agent from its ACP registry, and you sign in with an API key or with Claude Code. Zed doesn't charge for external agents. You get a full, fast editor around it, on macOS, Linux and Windows.

• Pick it if you want Claude in the same window as your code, free.
• Trade-off: checkpoints for external agents depend on the integration, and Zed's sandbox covers only its own agent.

Cline

Cline's Claude Code mode uses your Claude Pro or Max subscription through the Claude CLI, inside VS Code, VS Code-based editors or JetBrains. You choose which kinds of action run without asking, and it saves a checkpoint after every step.

• Pick it if you want Claude inside VS Code with fine control over approvals.
• Trade-off: you work in Cline's interface, with its approvals and checkpoints, rather than Claude Code's own.

Devin Desktop

Formerly Windsurf. On its Pro, Max and Teams plans it runs Claude Agent over ACP, billed through Anthropic, next to Cognition's own agents and models.

• Pick it if you want one AI editor with several agents and tab completion.
• Trade-off: Claude needs a paid Devin plan on top of your Claude account.

What to look for

• Undo: can you take back a whole turn, including what shell commands changed?
• Where it runs: on your files as you, or somewhere the agent can't reach them?
• Parallel sessions: one chat at a time, or a worktree per task?
• Review: a diff per turn, per task, or per hunk?
• Cost: is the app free with your own Claude account, or does it need its own plan?