Running from source

You can build and run Claudette from a checkout of its repository. It’s the way to run it on Linux, where there is no package, and the way to try changes. It works on Windows and macOS too. On Linux, Installing on Linux goes step by step, from installing .NET to a launcher in your app menu.

You need Claude Code installed (What you need) and the .NET SDK version the repository’s global.json names. If dotnet says it can’t find that SDK, install the one global.json asks for.

Running it

From the checkout’s root:

dotnet run --project src/Claudette.App

This uses your real account, so messages cost usage as they do in any tab. To open a tab in a folder at startup:

dotnet run --project src/Claudette.App -- --folder <path>

Running from a copy

A source build copies its build output to a builds folder in Claudette’s data folder and runs from there. That lets you rebuild while it runs: on Windows a running program’s files are locked, and elsewhere replacing them can crash it. dotnet run returns as soon as the copy has started.

To run in place instead, set CLAUDETTE_RUN_IN_PLACE=1, or attach a debugger. Claudette counts as a source build when its program is in a bin folder below a checkout that holds Claudette.slnx.

A source build doesn’t check for releases. It checks its checkout for new commits instead (below), and Settings → General says so.

When there are new commits

A checkout of main can keep up with main as an installed Claudette keeps up with releases. At launch and every hour, Claudette fetches the branch the checkout tracks, such as origin/main, with your own git and its credentials. It never asks for a password: a remote that needs one fails the check, and Settings → General says what git said. When there are new commits, a badge at the foot of the sidebar says 3 new commits on origin/main. Choose it to see them, newest first, with who made each and when, and these buttons:

Pull, build and restart pulls the commits, builds Claudette and restarts into the build, keeping every tab as below.
Update when idle, while a tab is working, pulls and builds now, and restarts once no tab is starting, working or waiting on you.
Pull and build leaves the build to be offered as New build ready, below.
Skip these commits hides the badge until more are pushed. It’s remembered on this machine.

The checkout may be where you’re working on Claudette, so Claudette only ever fast-forwards it. It doesn’t merge, rebase, stash or throw anything away. With uncommitted changes to tracked files, or commits of your own that the remote doesn’t have, the card still lists the new commits but says why it won’t pull, such as The checkout has uncommitted changes. Commit or stash them to pull. Untracked files don’t get in the way, unless the new commits add a file with the same name: then git refuses, and the card says so.

The build is dotnet build of the app, in the configuration you built it in, such as Debug, with the SDK global.json names. It uses the dotnet in DOTNET_ROOT if you’ve set one, else the one on your PATH. The card shows the build’s last lines as it runs. If the build fails, the checkout stays pulled, and the card shows the error and Build again. A build that runs in place (CLAUDETTE_RUN_IN_PLACE=1, or with a debugger) can’t be rebuilt while it runs, so it offers Pull alone; build it yourself after that.

Check for Claudette updates automatically in Settings → General turns the hourly check off, and Check now checks straight away. A checkout that isn’t on a branch, or whose branch doesn’t track a remote one, isn’t checked.

When a new build is ready

Claudette checks the build output every two seconds. Once a build’s files have stopped changing, New build ready appears at the foot of the sidebar. A failed build writes nothing, so it’s never offered. Choose the badge to see when the build was made:

Restart now restarts into it.
Restart when idle waits until no tab is starting, working or waiting on you. Don’t restart cancels the wait.
Restart into new builds by itself when no tab is working does that every time. It’s remembered on this machine.

The restart keeps every tab, in order, with its session, name, settings and the message you were typing, the selected tab, and the window’s size and place. A tab that was working carries on: Claude Code re-runs the turn by itself, once, and the conversation says Carrying on with the turn the restart cut off. Processes the tabs started are stopped, as when Claudette closes.

If the new build doesn’t start, the old one takes its tabs back and the badge’s window says why, with the last lines the new build wrote. The build stays offered, to try again once it’s fixed, but isn’t restarted into by itself again.

Stop Claudette by closing its window, not by killing the process. Closing interrupts running turns and stops each tab’s claude and what it started. A killed Claudette leaves them running.

Which build is this

The foot of the Settings sidebar shows the version and, for a source build, the commit it was built from, such as Claudette 0.6.0 · 842169b. Hover it to see which configuration it was built in. Click it to copy the versions for a bug report: see Reporting an issue.

Keeping it apart from your own Claudette

Two environment variables keep a development copy out of your real setup:

CLAUDETTE_HOME is a folder for Claudette’s settings, saved tabs and data. A copy with its own CLAUDETTE_HOME counts as a separate Claudette, so it runs beside your installed one.
CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR points Claude Code at another configuration folder.

See Command line and environment.

Try it without an account

tools/Claudette.Demo makes a demo: three game projects (Unreal in C++, Unity in C#, and Godot), seven tabs including a thread with two sub-threads, past sessions for History, and a usage history, with a stand-in for Claude Code. It needs no account and spends no tokens.

dotnet run --project tools/Claudette.Demo -- <empty folder>

Give it an empty folder, or one an earlier run made. It writes the demo there and prints the environment to start Claudette with:

CLAUDETTE_HOME=<the folder>/home
CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=<the folder>/claude-config
FAKE_CLAUDE_USAGE=<the folder>/usage.json
CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1

Set those, then run Claudette as above. In PowerShell, set each one like this:

$env:CLAUDETTE_HOME = "C:\demo\home"

In bash or zsh, on macOS and Linux, export each one:

export CLAUDETTE_HOME=~/demo/home

The conversations show the projects’ paths. --projects <folder> puts the projects somewhere else, so you can choose a path that says nothing about you.