CC Desktop Switch is a lightweight desktop app for the official Claude Desktop client. It lets you manage third-party Anthropic-compatible API providers such as DeepSeek, Kimi, Zhipu GLM, Alibaba Cloud Bailian, and Xiaomi MiMo, then apply the right Claude Desktop 3P configuration with one click. This project is focused on Claude Desktop on Windows and macOS. It is different from CLI-oriented tools such as farion1231/cc-switch: the goal here is to give regular desktop users a simple UI for provider setup, model mapping, health checks, and local gateway compatibility. Since v1.0.18, Claude Desktop is configured to call the local CC Desktop Switch gateway at 127.0.0.1. Keep CC Desktop Switch running in the background when using third-party providers. Closing the window keeps the app available in the tray on Windows or hidden in the Dock app lifecycle on macOS.
What It Does
Manages DeepSeek, Kimi, Zhipu GLM, Alibaba Cloud Bailian, Xiaomi MiMo, and custom third-party providers.
Applies Claude Desktop third-party inference settings on Windows and macOS.
Uses a local gateway to keep model mapping, protocol compatibility, extra headers, and upstream keys under local control.
Shows only explicitly mapped Claude-safe model routes in Claude Desktop.
Rejects unmapped Claude model routes instead of silently falling back to an internal default.
Imports Anthropic-compatible CC-Switch configurations while leaving OpenAI-format entries opt-in.
Provides provider connectivity checks, model availability checks, SSE streaming, and custom upstream HTTP/SOCKS proxy support.
Prevents duplicate Windows app instances: launching the shortcut again brings the existing window forward.
What's new in 1.0.26
This patch release hardens provider editing, upstream diagnostics, uninstall cleanup, and the cross-platform release gate. - Fixed provider model mappings with legacy aliases being restored after the user explicitly removed Opus, Sonnet, or Haiku slots. - Tightened DeepSeek Max compatibility detection. Authentication, URL, model, context-length, and unrelated parameter errors now keep their original upstream diagnosis instead of being mislabeled as “Max is unsupported.” - Fixed lowercase and canonical OpenAI-compatible preset metadata so presets are routed through the existing API-format normalizer. - On Windows, a normal uninstall now removes only Claude Desktop policy values marked with ccds_managed=true. Silent in-place upgrades preserve the active provider configuration through /UPGRADE. - Fixed a Windows in-place upgrade race by running the old NSIS uninstaller synchronously before the replacement installer writes files and uninstall metadata. - Added Ubuntu, Windows, and macOS test coverage, frontend JavaScript syntax checks, and NSIS installer compilation. - Updated GitHub Actions to the current Node 24 action generations and documented the boundaries for Claude account features and GitHub Copilot BYOK. Upgrade notes No provider migration is required. After upgrading, re-apply the active provider to Claude Desktop and fully restart Claude Desktop. Users uninstalling v1.0.25 or earlier should use Clear Desktop configuration before removing the old version.
This patch release focuses on issue-batch stability for the Python line.
Added a billing header rectifier for Claude Code through third-party gateways. It removes only the dynamic x-anthropic-billing-header system block before forwarding, which can improve prompt-cache stability on compatible relays.
Added an advanced setting to disable the billing header rectifier when troubleshooting unusual gateways.
Updated Xiaomi MiMo 1M presets so the checkbox maps Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku slots to mimo-v2.5-pro and marks the exposed Claude routes with supports1m.
Kept DeepSeek 1M Haiku mapping intact when applying the preset option.
Changed the missing Claude Code helper signal on macOS/Windows from a dashboard warning to an info-level diagnostics item. Normal third-party gateway chat is not treated as failed by this helper state.
Kept diagnostics export as UTF-8 JSON and preserved Chinese diagnostic text without exposing secrets.
Absorbed provider preset JSON extraction and CCDS_CONFIG_DIR support from community PRs after review.
1.0.24May 13, 2026
This patch release focuses on small issue fixes without changing the main local gateway flow.
Added packaged SOCKS proxy support so socks5:// upstream proxies no longer fail because socksio is missing.
Added a desktop health warning for Claude Desktop errors such as Host Claude Code binary not available.
Added a Xiaomi MiMo 1M context option that marks mapped mimo-v2.5-pro Claude routes with supports1m.
Improved the macOS menu bar icon so it adapts to light and dark menu bars without a white background.
Added a runtime Dock-hiding safeguard for the macOS app bundle.
Clarified that third-party providers use the local gateway and require CC Desktop Switch to keep running in the background.
Clarified that Claude Desktop Connectors/Skills are account or enterprise extension features and are not fully replaced by the local gateway.
Frequently asked questions
Is CC Desktop Switch free?
Yes. CC Desktop Switch is free and open-source software released under the MIT license.
What is the latest version of CC Desktop Switch?
The latest version is 1.0.26, released on Aug 18, 2026.
Is it safe to download CC Desktop Switch?
The download button links to the official installer published on github.com, the same file Windows Package Manager installs. You can verify the downloaded file by comparing its SHA-256 checksum with 30637a6f6c272e622307ae6b4996c5d2a040f3d6e484431ec97a6ffe55833c28.
Which Windows versions does CC Desktop Switch support?
CC Desktop Switch runs on Windows and is available for 64-bit (x64) systems.
How do I install CC Desktop Switch silently?
Run the offline installer with "CC-Desktop-Switch-v1.0.26-Windows-Setup.exe" /S, or install it with Windows Package Manager: winget install --id=lonr-6.CCDesktopSwitch -e --silent.
How do I uninstall CC Desktop Switch?
Open Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find CC Desktop Switch and select Uninstall. From the command line, run winget uninstall --id=lonr-6.CCDesktopSwitch -e.
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