# Claude Desktop remote

> Point the Claude desktop app at your box over SSH. The connection rides Prized's tunnel and a restricted device key that Prized installs for you, so there is nothing to configure on the box.

URL: https://prized.dev/docs/claude-desktop

## Why this needs no setup [#why-this-needs-no-setup]

Claude Desktop can connect to your box and open interactive terminals using your Prized SSH configuration. For clients that do not present an SSH certificate, `prized login` registers this machine's SSH public key as a restricted fallback on boxes that allow device keys.

## Connect the box [#connect-the-box]

1. Log in once on this machine (`prized login`, part of the normal [quickstart](https://prized.dev/docs/quickstart)). Boxes pick up the device key within seconds.
2. In Claude Desktop, add the box as an SSH host by its hostname, for example `box-3fa9`. The stanza Prized installs supplies the tunnel and the key; if the app asks for an identity file, use `~/.config/prized/id_prized`.

```bash
ssh box-3fa9
# confirms the connection from a terminal first
```

## What the fallback key can do [#what-the-fallback-key-can-do]

The key the app authenticates with is deliberately narrower than a certificate:

|                                     | Fallback key (desktop apps) | Certificate (terminal `ssh`) |
| ----------------------------------- | --------------------------- | ---------------------------- |
| Run commands, transfer files (SFTP) | yes                         | yes                          |
| Interactive terminal (PTY)          | yes                         | yes                          |
| Port forwarding                     | no                          | yes                          |
| Works outside your Prized tunnel    | no                          | no                           |

The key is accepted only from inside your authenticated Prized tunnel, so a copy of the key file is useless on its own.

## Removing a device [#removing-a-device]

Delete the device's CLI token, or remove the member from the [workspace](https://prized.dev/docs/workspaces); every box drops the key within seconds. A device silent for 45 days ages out on its own and re-registers when it next connects.

## Caveats [#caveats]

* **Wake the box first.** The app's plain `ssh` does not wake a suspended box. Resume it from the dashboard or run `prized ssh` once, then connect.
* **The app stops when your machine sleeps.** For an agent that keeps working with the laptop closed, run Claude Code on the box in a [session](https://prized.dev/docs/sessions) instead.
* **Password prompt?** The box has not synced the key yet: make sure `prized login` ran here, give it a minute, retry; `prized doctor` checks the rest.