Claude Code GUI: the official apps, open-source GUIs like opcode, and a free desktop app for every agent

Claude Code is a terminal program, but you can use it through a graphical interface. Anthropic's own are the Code tab of Claude Desktop, the VS Code extension and claude.ai/code in the browser; its JetBrains plugin runs the CLI inside the IDE's terminal. Open-source GUIs wrap the CLI on your machine — opcode (once called Claudia), CloudCLI and Nimbalyst — and Caprock is a free desktop app that records every agent on the machine and runs them side by side.

Claude Code GUIs side by side

Vibe Kanban, a board in the browser whose company shut down on 10 April 2026, and Claude Squad, a terminal app with no commits since 20 August 2026, are noted with the other agent apps.

What is a good GUI for Claude Code and Codex?

The makers' own apps each run one: Claude Desktop's Code tab runs Claude Code, and the ChatGPT desktop app runs Codex; opcode is a GUI for Claude Code. These run both:

• VS Code with both extensions — Anthropic's Claude Code extension and OpenAI's Codex extension, each in its own panel of one editor, each on its own plan.
• Caprock — free, Apache-2.0, on macOS, Windows and Linux: Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Grok Build and Hermes Agent in terminal tabs per project, over a record of every session on the machine with what each cost and the Claude and Codex plan limits.
• Nimbalyst — MIT, on macOS, Windows and Linux: Claude Code and Codex side by side, OpenCode and GitHub Copilot in alpha, beside editors for documents and diagrams.
• CloudCLI — a web UI for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor CLI, opened from any browser on your network.
• Conductor — Claude Code, Codex and Cursor in parallel, on macOS only.

Orca and Warp run both as well; they are compared with Caprock, Conductor and Nimbalyst in agent apps.

Anthropic's own GUIs

• Claude Desktop, Code tab — parallel sessions, a diff view with comments, a preview pane, on macOS and Windows with a Linux beta. It needs a Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plan. The details, and how it compares with the CLI: Claude Code desktop app.
• The VS Code extension — a panel in VS Code or Cursor, with plan review and @-mentions.
• claude.ai/code — sessions in Anthropic's cloud, on a GitHub repository, that keep running with your laptop closed.

Anthropic's surfaces run Claude Code only, not Codex or OpenCode.

opcode, the GUI once called Claudia

Search results still send people to Claudia. The project is now opcode: github.com/getAsterisk/claudia redirects to github.com/winfunc/opcode. It is a desktop app built with Tauri 2 for macOS, Windows and Linux, under AGPL-3.0, with session management and history, custom agents that run in the background, usage analytics by model, MCP server management, checkpoints in a session's timeline, and a CLAUDE.md editor.

Its GitHub releases have builds for macOS (a universal .dmg) and Linux (AppImage and .deb); the latest, v0.2.0, is from 31 August 2025. On Windows you build it from source.

A Claude Code web UI: CloudCLI

CloudCLI (the claudecodeui repository) is a web interface for Claude Code, Cursor CLI, Codex and OpenCode: chat, a file explorer, git, a shell, under AGPL-3.0-or-later. Start it with Node.js 22 or later:

It works on a phone's browser on your network. CloudCLI Cloud is a hosted version, from €7 a month on top of your own AI subscription. For Anthropic's web version, see claude.ai/code above.

Nimbalyst: a visual workspace

Nimbalyst runs Claude Code and Codex in parallel, with OpenCode and GitHub Copilot in alpha, next to editors for Markdown, mockups and diagrams, on macOS, Windows and Linux, under MIT, with an iOS companion app. It is free for individuals.

Caprock: a free desktop app for every agent

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Anthropic's app is a window for one agent, free with a plan. Caprock is a free, open-source desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux whose difference is the record across agents: the sessions it did not start, limits across subscriptions, each pull request's CI state and what it cost. It keeps Claude Code's own terminal interface — the one you know — in a tab, and puts that record around it:

• Tabs and split panes per project. New agent starts Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Grok Build or Hermes Agent, whichever is installed, in a terminal tab of its project; ⌘E splits it.
• A chat view. An agent tab switches between its terminal and its chat: your prompts, what the agent wrote, each tool call on one line.
• What is waiting on you. Sessions stopped on a prompt come first, ⌘J jumps to the next, the Dock badge counts them, and on macOS a notification for a Claude Code session Caprock started carries Approve and Deny.
• Changes and pull requests. Review a worktree's diff, commit and push, and open a pull request with GitHub connected.
• Cost and limits. Every session priced per repository at API list prices, with the Claude and Codex plan windows, including the claude sessions you start in your own terminal.
• Your phone, paired by QR code and opened in its browser from anywhere, through an end-to-end encrypted relay, with no account and no app to install.

It starts the claude you have installed, on your plan or API key, and types only into sessions it started. Install Caprock, or see how it compares with other agent apps.

Which Claude Code GUI to use

• Claude Desktop's Code tab — Anthropic's own app, on a paid plan.
• The VS Code extension — you live in the editor.
• claude.ai/code — the work should run while your laptop is closed.
• opcode — an open-source desktop GUI on macOS or Linux; check how recent its last release is first.
• CloudCLI — a web UI you open from any browser on your network.
• Nimbalyst — documents, mockups and diagrams beside the agents.
• Caprock — several agents across projects, with one record of who is waiting on you, how close each limit is and what each pull request cost.
• Claude Code and Codex together — VS Code with both extensions, or Caprock, Nimbalyst or CloudCLI.