Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop is different from Claude Code. You can’t point the regular chat window at a relay with environment variables or claude_desktop_config.json. That file is for configuring MCP tools. The officially supported way is a Gateway (third-party inference) in Developer Mode.

Use a key from the CC-Max group.

1. Install Claude Desktop from claude.com/download. After it opens, don’t sign in yet. Stay on the sign-in page.

2. Turn on Developer Mode. On macOS, use the top menu bar. On Windows, use the ☰ menu at the top left of the sign-in page. Go to Help → Troubleshooting → Enable Developer Mode.

3. Then go to Developer → Configure third-party inference. Under Connection, set Inference provider to Gateway.

4. Fill in the following:

   Item	Value
   Gateway base URL	https://2api.dev (do not add /v1)
   Gateway API key	sk-your-key
   Credential kind	Static API key (do not choose Interactive sign-in / SSO)
   Gateway auth scheme	Bearer

5. Click Test connection. If there is a Test model discovery button, click that too. When both pass, click Apply locally and wait for the app to restart on its own.

Common issues

• You can’t find the third-party inference entry: Check that Developer Mode is on. If it’s still missing, your version or account environment doesn’t support it. Use Claude Code for now.
• There is no ☰ menu at the top left on Windows: Check that you opened the desktop client, not the web version. If you’re already signed in to an official account, sign out first to get back to the sign-in page.
• You can’t find Static API key: In different versions this item may be called Credential kind or Authentication type. Choose the option for a static API key.
• Model discovery fails but the connection works: Enter the model ID by hand. Look up names with /v1/models.
• Where the config and logs are (Windows): The config is in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude-3p\configLibrary\ and the log is at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude-3p\Logs\main.log.