#Paseo vs Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop is Anthropic's desktop app for Claude. It includes Chat, Cowork, and Claude Code in one app. Claude Code runs in the desktop app on macOS and Windows.

Paseo is an app for orchestrating coding agents, with native clients on desktop, mobile, web, and the CLI. Open source (AGPL-3.0).

#When to pick what

Pick Claude Desktop if you want Anthropic's first-party app for Claude, Claude Cowork, and Claude Code, with Anthropic-managed cloud sessions and the tightest Claude account integration.

Pick Paseo if you want:

• Linux alongside macOS and Windows
• A native iOS and Android app for the same agent workflow
• Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Copilot, Pi, and 30+ more agents in one interface
• A self-hosted daemon you can run on a laptop, VM, or dev server
• A CLI and MCP server for scripting and multi-agent workflows
• Open source you can audit and fork

#Architecture

Paseo runs a daemon on your machine. Desktop, web, mobile, and CLI clients connect to it over a websocket. The daemon launches Claude Code and other providers as local processes, using your installed CLIs, credentials, MCP servers, skills, and project config.

Claude Desktop is the host app. The Code tab can run Claude Code locally, connect over SSH, or run remote sessions on Anthropic infrastructure.

#Providers

Claude Desktop runs Claude Code.

Paseo runs Claude Code too, plus Codex, OpenCode, and Pi natively, plus 30+ more agents through the in-app catalog including GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, and Amp. Paseo speaks the Agent Client Protocol, so any ACP agent works. Custom providers run any CLI agent. See Supported providers.

#Desktop platforms

Claude Desktop is available on macOS and Windows. Anthropic lists Linux as not available.

Paseo ships on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

#Mobile

Paseo ships native iOS and Android apps with the same agent workflow as the desktop app.

Claude has iOS and Android apps. Claude Code can be controlled from mobile through Remote Control, and Claude Desktop can pair with mobile for some workflows.

#Panes

Both tools support visual coding workflows around Claude Code.

Paseo's app has split panes and tabs (⌘D for vertical, ⌘⇧D for horizontal). Panes include agents, terminals, a diff viewer, and a browser for testing running services.

Claude Desktop has a graphical Code tab with sessions, integrated terminal, file editor, visual diff review, live app preview, PR monitoring, and scheduled tasks.

#GitHub

Paseo's app handles commit, push, opening PRs, watching checks and reviews, and merging.

Claude Desktop can monitor pull request status and can fix failures or merge when checks pass, depending on the workflow and permissions.

#CLI and automation

Claude Code has its own CLI, IDE integrations, web surface, scheduled tasks, and cloud sessions.

Paseo's CLI controls the same daemon as the app:

paseo run --provider claude "implement OAuth"
paseo run --provider codex --worktree refactor-auth "refactor auth"
paseo run --host devbox:6767 "run the test suite"
paseo ls
paseo send <agent-id> "add tests"
paseo schedule create --cron "0 9 * * 1" "audit the codebase"

paseo run --host connects to a remote daemon. paseo schedule runs an agent on a cron. paseo loop retries an agent until a verification command passes. The MCP server lets other agents create worktrees, launch agents, open terminals, and send prompts.

#Worktrees and services

Both tools support parallel coding sessions, including Git worktrees.

Paseo also gives each worktree its own dev server URL. Two agents running their dev servers at the same time get web.fix-auth.my-app.localhost and web.add-search.my-app.localhost instead of port collisions.

#Voice

Paseo supports dictation and realtime voice mode. Speech-to-text and text-to-speech can run locally on your device.

Claude supports voice in Claude's own mobile and app surfaces. Claude Code itself is available in Claude Desktop, terminal, IDE, web, and mobile Remote Control workflows.

#Comparison

See also: Paseo vs Codex App, Paseo vs OpenCode Desktop, Paseo vs Conductor.