Who this is for: IT administrators who install Claude Desktop on agency devices and connect it to Claude for Government.A fresh install of Claude Desktop connects to claude.ai. To connect it to Claude for Government instead, each device needs one managed setting that tells the app where to reach Claude for Government. Once that setting is in place, everything else that governs the app (which products and features are available, model access, connectors, usage limits, the desktop banner) is controlled through the tenant and organization configuration pages in this portal and delivered to each user when they sign in.
Choose how to deploy
There are two ways to get Claude Desktop installed and connected to Claude for Government. They differ in who runs the installer, what rights that requires, and how the setting reaches the app.
For a production rollout, use your device management system so end users never need administrator rights. The single-machine path is for testing first or for a small group you set up by hand, with an administrator doing each install. That path can also export a ready-made profile for your management system, so it is a useful starting point even when the fleet path is your destination.
Before you begin
Confirm each of the following before you start either path.- User accounts exist. Claude Desktop signs users in to the same accounts as this portal. For each user, including your own test account, check with your tenant administrators that the user can sign in (a routing rule covers them) and has a seat tier with at least one model enabled.
- Devices can reach Claude for Government. Claude Desktop on every device must reach the Claude for Government host over HTTPS on port 443. That one host carries the app’s configuration and chat traffic.
- Browsers can reach sign-in. Sign-in happens in the user’s default web browser, not in the app. Browsers on each device must reach the Claude for Government host, its sign-in service (a separate host that your Anthropic representative provides), and your agency’s identity provider.
- The device meets Claude Desktop’s requirements. See the Claude Desktop system requirements for macOS and Windows device requirements. For a Windows fleet, work through the Windows fleet checklist, which covers the Virtual Machine Platform feature that Cowork needs along with the installer, policy, and network prerequisites.
- Windows devices used for Code have Git for Windows. On Windows, only the Code part of Claude Desktop needs Git for Windows. Chat and Cowork work without it. Install Git on the devices whose users will work in Code, or turn Code in Claude Desktop off under Product availability so that users are not prompted to install Git.
- You can install the app. Installing by hand needs administrator rights on each device; see Configure a single machine for what that means on each platform. Installing through your device management system does not, because the management system installs with elevated rights. The macOS deployment guide and the Windows deployment guide cover where to download the installer and how to distribute it.
- The app is current. The configuration mechanism on this page requires Claude Desktop 1.10628.0 or later.
The managed setting
The setting is calledbootstrapUrl, and its value is the Claude for Government host followed by the fixed path /gateway-api/user/bootstrap.
How the app uses the bootstrap address
The address is the same for every device and user in your agency and carries no credentials or user information, so the same profile is safe to push to your whole fleet. A request to the address without a signed-in session is refused. When a user chooses Sign in with your organization, the app asks the Claude for Government host to start a sign-in, shows the pairing code it receives, and opens the host’s sign-in page in the user’s default browser. That page asks for the user’s agency email address, then sends the browser to the sign-in service and on to your agency’s identity provider. After signing in, the user acknowledges the system-use notification, confirms that the code shown in the browser matches the one in the app, and approves. Claude for Government then issues the app a session for that user, which the app stores encrypted on the device. The app presents that session, and nothing from the profile, when it downloads the user’s configuration from this address and when it sends chat traffic to the same host. It re-checks the configuration about every 30 minutes and at each launch. The configuration that the app downloads for a user includes the following settings, all of which you manage in this portal.Configure a single machine
Installing by hand needs administrator rights on the device. On Windows, the installer registers a Windows system service, so it must run as a local administrator. On macOS, installing to the shared Applications folder requires an administrator. On Linux, installing the package requires root.
1
Launch the app without signing in
Install Claude Desktop on the test machine and open it. On Windows, run the installer while signed in as a local administrator. The claude.ai sign-in screen appears; this is expected before the app is configured. Stay on this screen.
2
Enable developer mode
From the Help menu, choose Troubleshooting, then Enable Developer Mode, and confirm the prompt. On Windows the Help menu is under the application menu (☰) on the sign-in screen. The app relaunches with a Developer menu added.
3
Open the configuration window
From the Developer menu, choose Configure Third-Party Inference. This is the correct option for Claude for Government despite the name. The window opens on its Connection section.
4
Enter the bootstrap address
In the window’s left sidebar, click Source. On an unconfigured machine it appears last in the list and is dimmed, but is still clickable. Enter the full address from the section above in the Bootstrap config URL field. Leave every other field alone; Claude for Government supplies the provider, credentials, and model list after sign-in.
5
Apply and sign in
Click Apply Changes and let the app relaunch. The sign-in screen now offers Sign in with your organization alongside the claude.ai option. Choose it. The app shows a pairing code and opens the sign-in page in your browser. Sign in with your agency credentials, confirm that the code in the browser matches the one in the app, and approve. The app picks up the session and opens to Claude.
6
Run the verification checklist
Work through Confirm it worked below.
.mobileconfig profile for macOS, a .reg file for Windows, an ADMX template for Intune or Group Policy, and a Profile Manifest for Jamf. Before exporting, turn on Disable Claude.ai sign-in in the window’s Workspace restrictions section so the exported profile hides the claude.ai option on managed devices.
Deploy to your fleet
When your device management system deploys Claude Desktop, end users receive the app without running an installer themselves. The management system installs the package with the system or root account on each platform, so end users need no administrator rights and see no elevation prompt. Push both the app installer and the configuration profile below through the same system. The recommended profile contains two keys. In the macOS and Windows profiles below, write every value as a string exactly as shown, including booleans as the strings"true" or "false"; the Linux file uses native JSON types, as shown.
No other keys are needed; Claude for Government supplies everything else per user after sign-in. The profile contains no secrets, only a host. Keys documented for other Claude plans, such as
forceLoginOrgUUID or loginSsoOrgDomain, apply only to claude.ai workspaces and are not used here.
macOS
Claude Desktop reads managed preferences in thecom.anthropic.claudefordesktop domain. Deploy a configuration profile that sets the two keys in that domain as strings.
.mobileconfig ready to upload, use the Export menu described in the single-machine path.
For a device-management rollout on macOS, also set disableAutoUpdates to the string "true" in the profile and push updates through your management system, so the in-app updater never prompts users for administrator rights.
Windows
Claude Desktop reads string (REG_SZ) values by name under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Claude. Deliver them with Intune, Group Policy, or any tool that writes machine policy. The ADMX template from the Export menu makes both keys available in the policy editor. As a .reg file:
.reg file from the Export menu targets HKEY_CURRENT_USER, which is correct for single-machine testing. For fleet deployment, deliver the values under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE as shown here.
Cowork, the agentic workspace in Claude Desktop, requires the Virtual Machine Platform Windows optional feature. Enable that feature through your device management system before rollout. On a device where the feature is not enabled, Cowork is unavailable until someone turns the feature on, which requires administrator rights that a standard user does not have. Chat works regardless of this feature. The Windows fleet checklist lists the remaining Windows prerequisites.
Linux
Place a JSON file at/etc/claude-desktop/managed-settings.json containing the same keys at the top level.
main.log, and treats the device as managed but unreadable, so local settings are also disabled until the permissions are corrected and the app is relaunched.
Order of deployment
Deploy the configuration before the app wherever you can. A user whose device already has the profile opens Claude Desktop for the first time and lands directly on the Claude for Government sign-in screen, with no opportunity to sign in to claude.ai by mistake.Once
bootstrapUrl or any other connection key is present in the profile, the device is managed. The in-app configuration window becomes read-only, and locally authored settings, including a single-machine test configuration, are ignored in favor of the profile. Removing the profile returns the device to local control.Confirm it worked
Run through these checks on a configured machine from either path.1
Check the sign-in screen
Launch the app. The sign-in screen offers Sign in with your organization. On a managed device with
disableDeploymentModeChooser set, it is the only option. If only the claude.ai sign-in appears, the configuration did not reach the app.2
Check that the device is managed
On a device that received the profile through your management system, open the configuration window (the first three steps of the single-machine path). It should be read-only with a banner noting that your organization manages the configuration. If it is still editable, no recognized key reached the app, even if your management console reports the profile as delivered. The diagnostic report’s Configuration section (next step) shows exactly what the app read.
3
Generate a diagnostic report
From Help, choose Troubleshooting, then Generate Diagnostic Report. The report’s Configuration section lists which keys the app read, where each came from, and any values that failed to parse. Secret values are redacted, so the report is safe to attach to a help-desk ticket.
4
Sign in and send a message
Sign in as a provisioned test user. Chat works and the model picker lists the models you expect for that user’s seat tier.
5
Confirm per-user settings arrived
After sign-in, what the app offers matches that user’s product availability settings (with everything on, the sidebar shows Home and Code), and any organization-managed connectors appear in the app. One end-to-end test is to set a short message in the Desktop banner setting on the tenant Config page during rollout; if the message appears across the top of the app after sign-in, per-user delivery is working. If sign-in succeeds but none of these settings arrive, re-check the configured address.
Troubleshooting
For anything else, the app writes its log to
~/Library/Logs/Claude-3p/main.log on macOS, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude-3p\logs\main.log on Windows, and ~/.config/Claude-3p/logs/main.log on Linux. The log records which configuration keys were read or dropped and why. The diagnostic report from the verification checklist produces a bundle, without conversation content, that you can send to your Anthropic representative.
Things to know
- Configuration changes made in this portal do not need to be pushed to devices. The app re-checks Claude for Government for changes about every 30 minutes and at each launch, and prompts users to relaunch when something changed.
- New and retired models appear in the model picker without any profile change or app update; model access is controlled through seat tiers.
- Claude Desktop keeps itself updated by default. If your agency distributes software through its own pipeline, add
disableAutoUpdateswith the value"true"to the same profile and redistribute installers yourself. - The sign-in flow and what a user sees on the Sessions page after pairing a device are covered on that page.