The Chat Place User Guide

The Chat Place is a keyboard and screen reader friendly home for your Claude Code chats. It lists the sessions the Claude desktop app has, shows each one as a conversation you can arrow through, tells you when a session answers, and can run sessions of its own that you read and reply to entirely from here.

This guide starts with the everyday things and goes deeper as it goes on. Each part has its own heading, so your screen reader's heading keys move between them. For every key in one list, use Help, Keyboard Shortcuts (F1).

The Chat Place is an independent project by Kelly Ford. It works with Claude Code and the Claude desktop app, but it isn't made, sponsored or endorsed by Anthropic, and isn't affiliated with it.

Before you start

You need:

• Windows 10 or 11, or a Mac with Apple silicon.
• Claude Code, installed with its native installer and signed in to your Claude subscription. This is the claude command, using the same sign-in as the Claude desktop app. The npm version of Claude Code isn't used.

The Chat Place never uses an API key. Reading sessions costs nothing, because everything it reads is on your own computer. Messages you send in its own sessions are Claude Code turns, which count against your plan's monthly Agent SDK credit; past that credit, turns stop unless you've turned on extra usage, which is billed. View, Usage and Context (Ctrl+Shift+U) says where you stand.

Installing

Windows: download TheChatPlace-windows-Setup.exe from the newest release on the releases page and run it. It installs for you only, needs no administrator rights, adds The Chat Place to the Start menu, and starts it. The portable zip from the same release runs without installing, but doesn't update itself.

Mac: download TheChatPlace-macos-arm64.dmg, open it, and drag The Chat Place onto Applications. The first time it speaks through VoiceOver, macOS asks whether The Chat Place may control VoiceOver: allow it, and turn on "Allow VoiceOver to be controlled with AppleScript" in VoiceOver Utility, General.

If Claude Code isn't signed in, your sessions are still listed; only sending a message needs a sign-in. Help, Claude Code Sign-in says whether it is signed in, and offers to sign you in if not.

The window

The window has three parts, in Tab order:

1. The session list: every session, one per line.
2. The messages of the session you've loaded.
3. The reply box, with Send and Stop. For a Claude desktop app session, the same place holds a short note saying why you reply in Claude, with Open in Claude and Continue Here buttons.

Tab and Shift+Tab move between them, and Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2 and Ctrl+3 go straight to each one. F6 and Shift+F6 move between the parts and the status bar, which holds whatever was said last; Ctrl+9 goes straight to the status bar. Escape in the messages or the reply box takes you back to the session list, on the same session.

On a Mac

This guide gives the Windows keys. On a Mac:

• Ctrl is the Command key: Command+N for a new session, Command+Enter to send, and so on.
• Menus are in the menu bar, which VoiceOver reaches with VO+M, rather than with Alt. Where this guide says View, Show Sessions, that's the View menu's Show Sessions. Settings is in the app menu, The Chat Place.
• A context menu, the Applications key on Windows, is VO+Shift+M.

Reading a session

Finding it in the list

Each line in the session list reads the session's title, its folder, its state (needs you, working or idle) and when it was last active, for example: "Fix the release build, QuickMail, needs you: Choose a version number, active 1 minute ago".

By default, sessions that need you come first, then the ones that are working, then the rest, newest first. The list refreshes itself every few seconds. While you're in it, rows stay where they are, so nothing moves under you; F5 puts the list back in order.

To find one session among many, press Ctrl+F in the list and type part of its title, its folder or what it needs. The list shows only the matches, and its name says so ("Session list, matching "build", 3 of 139"). Escape shows them all again.

Loading it

Arrowing through the list doesn't load anything. Press Enter on a session to load it: you move to its messages and hear, for example, "Loaded Fix the build, 12 messages." Pressing Enter on the session that's already loaded takes you back to where you were in it.

Reading the messages

The newest message is last, and you start on it. Each line shows "You:" or "Claude:" and the message's first line, but your screen reader reads the whole message as you arrow onto it. Headings and list items are read as sentences, and a code block is read as what it is, such as "Code block, Python, 14 lines". If you'd rather hear just the first line, turn that off in Settings, Reading messages.

Press Enter on a message to read it as a formatted page. There, your screen reader's browse mode moves by heading (H), table (T), list (L) and code block (each code block is a region: R in JAWS, D in NVDA). Links open in your browser. Read as Plain Text (Alt+P) shows the message in a plain text box instead, to read by line, word and character. Escape closes either one and puts you back on the same message. The formatted page needs Microsoft's Edge WebView2 runtime, which comes with Windows 11. On a Mac, and on Windows without it, Enter opens the plain text box.

Other things you can do with a message:

• Ctrl+C copies the whole message.
• Ctrl+Shift+B lists the message's code blocks, by language and size, with each one's code to read and a Copy button for just that block. Ctrl+Shift+C copies the last code block at once.
• Ctrl+F finds a message containing some text, searching each message's whole text. F3 and Shift+F3 find the next and previous match.
• The Applications key (or Shift+F10) opens the message's menu.

Claude's questions to you appear as "Claude asked: …" followed by "You answered: …". Tools Claude was refused appear as "Permission denied: …".

Seeing what Claude is doing

Claude's tool calls and their results are hidden until you turn on Show Tool Activity (Ctrl+T). With it on, the open session's tool calls are also spoken as they happen, so a long turn isn't silent: "Using Bash: git status; Read: main.py." A run of calls is gathered up and said together ("Using Read 4 times, then Bash."), and it never cuts off your screen reader.

Desktop app sessions and The Chat Place's own

There are two kinds of session in the list, and what you can do differs.

Claude desktop app sessions are read-only here. You can read them, find in them, export them and see what they changed, but you reply in the desktop app. That's deliberate: if two programs both worked in one session at the same time, its conversation would get tangled. Open in Claude (Ctrl+O) switches the desktop app to the session, to answer it, approve a permission or answer a question card.

The Chat Place's own sessions are ones you start here. You read and reply to them entirely in The Chat Place, and they don't appear in the desktop app.

If you'd like to carry on a desktop app session here, use Continue Here (Ctrl+Shift+N, or the button beside Open in Claude). It makes a new Chat Place session in the same folder, with the whole conversation so far, and you type its first message. Its title starts as the original's, followed by "(continued)". The desktop app session isn't changed, and what you do in the copy doesn't appear in it.

Starting a session and replying

A new session

Press Ctrl+N (File, New Session) and fill in:

• Folder: the project folder Claude works in. It starts in your GitHub folder if you have one, otherwise your home folder.
• Title: optional; without one, it's made from the first words of your message.
• Model: Default (your Claude Code setting), Opus, Sonnet or Haiku, each the latest of its kind. File, Change Model changes it later, from the next turn. Fable isn't offered, because on some plans it bills to usage credits without asking; if a turn would run on Fable anyway, The Chat Place stops it before anything is sent, and says why.
• Permission mode: how much Claude may do without asking. Auto, the default, lets Claude decide what's safe to run. Accept edits lets it change files without asking. Manual asks before anything that needs approval. Plan has Claude make a plan, without changing anything, for you to approve.
• First message: what you'd like Claude to do.

If the first message never reaches Claude (Claude Code isn't signed in, for example), it goes back into the reply box, and Send starts the session again.

Replying

In one of The Chat Place's own sessions, type in the reply box and press Ctrl+Enter (or Send). You stay in the reply box, and you hear what was sent and where, such as "Sent to Fix the build: Run the tests." When Claude finishes, its answer is announced.

While Claude is working, you can still send. Your message is queued ("Queued for Fix the build: …"), shown at the end of the messages as "Queued: …", and sent once the current turn finishes. On a queued message, Ctrl+Enter sends it now (Claude answers it straight away, in the same turn), and its menu can also edit or remove it. Stop (Ctrl+Period) ends the turn, and anything it started, such as a build; a queued message then goes back into the reply box.

Ctrl+Shift+T (Turn Status) says how long Claude has been working on this turn and what it last did. There's no time limit on a turn.

Commands, skills and attachments

These are for The Chat Place's own sessions:

• Ctrl+/ (or the Commands button) lists your skills and slash commands, then Claude Code's own, such as /compact and /context, each with its description. Type to filter, Down to the list, Enter to choose: it goes at the start of the reply box, ready to finish and send.
• Ctrl+Shift+F (or Attach Files) adds files and pictures to your next message, and Ctrl+V in the reply box attaches a picture on the clipboard, such as a screenshot. The attachments are listed under the reply box, and Delete there removes one. Claude sees pictures as pictures, and reads other files from where they are.

When Claude needs you

In one of The Chat Place's own sessions, when Claude needs a permission, asks you a question, or has a plan for you to approve, the turn waits for you. You hear it ("Fix the build needs you. Claude wants to run git push. Ctrl+Shift+A answers."), and the session shows as "needs you" in the list. Press Ctrl+Shift+A to answer:

• A permission: read the whole request (the command, or the file and what would change), then choose Allow, Deny, or, when Claude Code suggests a rule, Allow for this session, named in full ("don't ask again this session for Bash(git push:*)"). Deny is the default button, so pressing Enter by mistake never allows anything, and you can give a reason Claude reads.
• A question: each question is a group of choices, with Other and a box for your own answer. Send Answers, or Don't Answer.
• A plan: read it (on Windows, Read Formatted shows it as a page, by heading), then Approve, choosing how Claude carries on, or Keep Planning, the default, with what to change.

Escape answers later. Nothing is allowed or refused by waiting: the turn keeps waiting, and Ctrl+Shift+A brings the same request back. "Allow for this session" lasts for the rest of that session, not just the turn. The Chat Place never changes Claude Code's own settings files.

For a desktop app session, a "needs you" means the desktop app's summary of its latest turn says it's waiting on you. Answer it in the desktop app (Ctrl+O). The desktop app doesn't write that summary after every turn, so a desktop session can be waiting on you and still show as idle.

Organizing your sessions

With many sessions, these keep the list manageable.

Choosing which sessions are listed

View, Show Sessions (Alt+V, H) chooses what the list shows: all sessions; the ones that need you or are working; just the ones that need you; desktop app sessions; The Chat Place's own; Remote Control sessions; ungrouped sessions; archived ones; hidden ones; or one of your groups. View, Sort Sessions (Alt+V, O) chooses the order: by status, newest first, oldest first, by title, or by folder. Both choices are remembered.

Groups

A group collects related sessions, such as everything for one project or everything you're waiting to hear back on, so you can show just those.

• Ctrl+G (File, Add to Group) puts the selected session in a group, or in a new one.
• File, Remove from Group takes it out.
• File, Manage Groups lists your groups, with how many sessions each has, to make, rename or delete them. Deleting a group never deletes its sessions.

A session can be in several groups, and its line in the list says which ("group Work"). To see one group, choose it in View, Show Sessions. Ungrouped, in the same menu, lists the sessions that aren't in any group yet.

The desktop app's own groups show here too: in View, Show Sessions, in each session's line, and in Add to Group. They can only be changed in the desktop app. Choosing one of them in Add to Group makes a Chat Place group of the same name, which is shown together with the desktop app's.

Renaming, hiding and deleting

• F2 renames the selected session. One of The Chat Place's own sessions is renamed outright. A desktop app session's new name shows only here, since the desktop app's files are never changed; clear the name to go back to the desktop app's.
• Delete hides a session without changing it. View, Show Sessions, Hidden lists hidden sessions, and File, Bring Back Session returns one.
• Shift+Delete deletes one of The Chat Place's own sessions permanently, conversation and all, after you confirm (No is the default). Desktop app sessions can only be hidden here; delete those in the desktop app.

On a Mac laptop, Delete and Shift+Delete are Fn+Delete and Fn+Shift+Delete.

The session's menu (the Applications key or Shift+F10 in the session list) has all of these, and the other commands for the selected session.

Announcements and notifications

When the open session gets a reply, when one of The Chat Place's sessions finishes a turn, or when any listed session stops working, it's announced through your screen reader (or a system voice) and put on the status bar. Ctrl+Shift+R repeats the last announcement.

Settings (Ctrl+Comma) chooses how much is said:

• Full reads the whole reply.
• Summary reads the session's name and the reply's first sentence.
• Silent puts it on the status bar only.

Settings also chooses whether every listed session is announced or just the open one, which speech engine and rate to use, and whether your own messages are read back when they're sent.

When you're in another window, The Chat Place can show a notification: when one of its sessions finishes a turn, fails or needs you, when the session you have loaded finishes, or when a desktop app session starts needing you. Choosing the notification brings The Chat Place forward with that session loaded. Settings, Windows notifications (on a Mac, Notifications) chooses every finished turn (the default), only when a session needs you, or off. While you're in The Chat Place, the announcement is enough and no notification is shown.

More things you can do

• Changed Files (Ctrl+Shift+D) lists the files Claude changed since your latest message, or in the whole session, with how many lines were added and removed. Enter on a file reads its changes line by line. It works for desktop app sessions too.
• Usage and Context (Ctrl+Shift+U) says how full the session's context is ("Context 62% full: 124,000 of 200,000 tokens") and how much of your plan's limits are used. It's also said once, unasked, when the context passes 80%, or a limit passes 90%.
• Export (Ctrl+E) saves a session's conversation as Markdown, a web page or plain text.
• What Claude Knows About You (Ctrl+Shift+K) lists what Claude Code keeps about you: your instructions (CLAUDE.md files), the memories it saved, your skills, subagents, commands and settings. Enter reads one, and Edit in Your Editor opens it in your own editor.

Remote Control

Remote Control lets you keep an eye on one of The Chat Place's own sessions when you're away from your computer, on claude.ai or in the Claude app on your phone. Turn it on with File, Remote Control, or from the session's menu. Its line in the session list then says "Remote Control", and File, Remote Control copies the session's claude.ai address.

What you can do today:

• While Claude is working on a message you sent from The Chat Place, open the session on claude.ai or your phone to follow what it's doing.
• Answer Claude there. If it asks a question or wants permission, you can answer on your phone instead of at your computer, and it can ask again later in the same answer, as often as it needs. Whichever place you answer first counts, and the other one stops waiting.
• Type to Claude there while it's working.

What you can't do yet:

• Start a new message from your phone. Once Claude finishes answering, the session shows as offline on claude.ai until you send your next message from The Chat Place.
• See the session from another computer's copy of The Chat Place. The session lives on the computer that started it; claude.ai is how you reach it from elsewhere.
• Read a session on another computer from here. You can send it a message and hear its reply (see "Your sessions on other computers", next), but its own conversation is only on claude.ai and in the Claude app.

Good to know: turning Remote Control on copies the conversation to claude.ai, and it stays there even if you turn Remote Control off or delete the session here (you can archive it on claude.ai). While Claude is working, anyone signed in to your Claude account can type into it. Settings can turn Remote Control on for all of The Chat Place's sessions; then a session's line says so once it has connected.

For a Claude desktop app session, File, Remote Control offers to open it in the desktop app, where you turn Remote Control on, or to continue it here as a copy with Remote Control on.

Your sessions on other computers

If you use Claude Code on more than one computer, say a laptop, a desktop and a Mac, The Chat Place can send a message to a session on another of them and let you hear the answer, without going to that computer. It goes through Claude: Claude in one of The Chat Place's own sessions here passes your message on, and the other session's reply comes back to that session.

What you need:

• One of The Chat Place's own sessions, loaded, with Remote Control on (File, Remote Control). Any of your sessions will do. One kept for the purpose, called "Hub" say, keeps these messages out of your other work.
• On the other computer, a Claude Code session with Remote Control on: in the Claude desktop app, in a terminal, or in The Chat Place there. That computer has to be awake.

Sending a message:

1. Load your session and press Ctrl+Shift+M (File, Other Machines).
2. The first time, the list only offers Refresh the list (asks Claude). Choose it. Claude looks up your sessions on other computers, as a turn in this session, and says what it found.
3. When it has answered, press Ctrl+Shift+M again. Now the list has each session on your other computers and how it is: "idle", "working", "needs you" or "offline".
4. Choose one, type your message, and press Enter. Claude sends it word for word.
5. The answer arrives in the same session as a message from that session, "From Mac Hub" for example, and it's announced. Enter reads it in full, like any message.

The list is Claude's latest look, so after a while choose Refresh again. Other Machines works between turns. While Claude is working, wait for it to finish.

Messages from other sessions. Any message another Claude Code session sends to one of your sessions shows as "From" and that session's name, not as something you typed, and it's announced. It doesn't matter whether you asked for it with Other Machines, or in your own words ("ask the Mac session what it's working on"). A message that arrives while Claude is working shows up when it does.

Good to know:

• "Offline" doesn't always mean off. A session in The Chat Place is offline between turns, because each turn is its own Claude Code process. A message to it waits, and it gets the message on its next turn, when someone sends it something there. A session in the Claude desktop app or a terminal keeps running between turns instead.
• Other sessions find yours by its name. A session of The Chat Place's keeps the same name every turn, so rename it (F2) to something easy to ask for.
• You hear only what comes back. The other computer's conversation can't be read from here; open it on claude.ai or in the Claude app for that.
• A message from another session isn't you. Claude treats it as information, not as your say-so, so it still asks you before anything that needs your permission.

Updates

The installed app checks for a new version shortly after it starts, and says so only if there is one. Help, Check for Updates asks right away and offers to install it (No is the default). It won't install while Claude is working in one of its sessions, and it warns you about a reply you haven't sent. Updating never touches your sessions or settings.

When something isn't right

I don't see a session I expected. Check View, Show Sessions: you may be showing only some sessions, and archived and hidden sessions aren't in All. A Find (Ctrl+F) also narrows the list; Escape in the list clears it. F5 refreshes the list at once. Only Claude Code sessions are listed, not the desktop app's ordinary chats.

I can't reply to a session. It's a desktop app session. Press Ctrl+O to answer it in the desktop app, or Ctrl+Shift+N to continue it here as a copy.

Claude is waiting and nothing is happening. It may need you: press Ctrl+Shift+A. Ctrl+Shift+T says what the turn is doing.

A turn stopped with a usage limit. The announcement says when the limit resets. Ctrl+Shift+U shows which limits are used, and how much of each.

An old session's messages are gone. Claude Code deletes old conversations after a while (its cleanupPeriodDays setting). The session can still be listed, and the messages list says its conversation is no longer there.

A reply is spoken twice. If you've installed ClaudeSpeak, its hook also speaks The Chat Place's turns.

Something else. Help, Report a Bug asks what happened and shows exactly what the report includes before it goes anywhere: version numbers and settings, never your sessions' titles, folders or messages. Open on GitHub files it; Copy Report copies it, to email to support@theideaplace.net.

Good to know

• The Chat Place never writes to the desktop app's files or to any conversation. The only files it writes are its own: on Windows in %APPDATA%\TheChatPlace, on a Mac in ~/Library/Application Support/TheChatPlace. The conversations themselves are Claude Code's.
• With VoiceOver, each line of the messages list reads as it's shown, "You:" or "Claude:" and the first line, not the whole message, because reading the whole message on each line uses a Windows feature. Enter opens the whole message.
• Conversations Claude hands to a subagent aren't shown.
• The desktop app's file formats aren't documented, so a desktop app update could change what The Chat Place can read.

For every keyboard shortcut, see Help, Keyboard Shortcuts (F1), or the keyboard shortcuts page. The README has the full details of everything here.