Sessions in their own window

Open a session in a window of its own to keep an eye on it next to the main window, or on another screen. The window is the whole session: the conversation, the message box, the permission prompts and questions Claude asks, and all the panels (Changes, Ask, Agents, Commands and the terminal), as in a pane of the main window. Only the sidebar stays in the main window.

Open a session in its own window

With the session open:

• Press Command, Option, O⌘⌥OControl, Alt, OCtrlAltO.
• Click Open in new window in the session’s header.
• Choose Open in new window in the command palette.

Or right-click a session in the sidebar and choose Open in new window.

The window opens beside the main window when there is room on that screen, and over it when there isn’t. It is wide enough for a panel next to the conversation. Move it and resize it like any other window.

One window per session

A session is open in one place at a time. When it moves to its own window, its pane in the main window closes. Its row in the sidebar shows a small window icon.

• Clicking that row brings the session’s window to the front, and so does clicking a notification about it.
• Opening the session again in any other way also brings its window to the front.

Work in the window

The message box, permission prompts and questions work as they do in the main window. A message you started typing goes with the session, so it is there in either window.

The header’s panel buttons open the panels in the window. The panels that are open go with the session: a session that pops out opens with the panels it had open in the main window, on the same agent, command or Ask thread, and when it comes back, the main window shows the panels as you left them in its window. After that, each window keeps its own: opening Changes or the terminal here doesn’t open it in the main window. Each window also keeps the size of its own panels. In a narrow window (under about 640 pixels), a panel takes the whole window. Close the panel, or make the window wider, to see the conversation again.

Shortcuts for the session work in its window, such as Command, F⌘FControl, FCtrlF, Command, Shift, D⌘⇧DControl, Shift, DCtrlShiftD, Command, J or Control, Backtick⌘Jor⌃`Control, J or Control, BacktickCtrlJorCtrl` for the terminal and Command, O⌘OControl, OCtrlO to open the folder in your editor.

The command palette in the window

Command, K or Command, Shift, P⌘Kor⌘⇧PControl, K or Control, Shift, PCtrlKorCtrlShiftP opens the command palette in the window, with the commands for its session: Toggle agents, Toggle changes, Rename session…, Fork session…, Change model…, the git commands, the project’s actions and the terminal’s. They act on the session in this window, not on the one selected in the main window. Command, Slash⌘/Control, SlashCtrl/ opens the keyboard shortcuts sheet here too, and so does Keyboard Shortcuts in the Help menu when the window is in front.

The commands for what only the main window has, such as the sidebar, split view and Home, are left out. Anything that starts or finds another session goes to the main window, which comes to the front:

• Command, P⌘PControl, PCtrlP (Go to), Command, Shift, F⌘⇧FControl, Shift, FCtrlShiftF, Command, N⌘NControl, NCtrlN and Command, Shift, N⌘⇧NControl, Shift, NCtrlShiftN.
• The palette’s Go to session…, Search conversations, New session…, Quick question…, Next session and Previous session.

Things that have no page in this window open in the main window too, which comes to the front: Settings, the Usage view, a project’s page and New session in a new worktree.

While the session’s window is in front, Switchboard sends no notification about that session, as for a session on screen in the main window.

Move it back or close the window

• Move back to main window in the window’s header shows the session in a pane of the main window again, with its panels as they were in its window, and closes its window.
• The × in the header, or the window’s own close button, closes the window. The session stays in the sidebar, and a session that is working keeps running. Its panels are as you left them when you open it again.

Closing the main window closes these windows too. They don’t come back after Switchboard restarts.

Tip

To see two sessions at once in the main window, use split view.

Related

• Split viewTile sessions next to each other and above each other, drag them into place and resize them.
• Permissions and questionsApprove or deny what Claude wants to do, answer its questions and review its plans, right in the conversation.
• Notifications and soundsTurn notifications and sounds on or off, each on its own, and pick a sound for each moment.
• The sidebarThe list of all your sessions, grouped by what needs attention first.