Desktop app
The app
A window onto the same engine, router, and registry your terminal already drives.
The desktop app is a client. It ships the CLI inside it and talks to the same local door, reads the same model registry and endpoints file, and signs with the same keychain entry. If a door is already running when you open the app, it joins that one. It never starts a second server, and it never holds state the CLI cannot see.
That is the whole design rule, and it is why nothing in this section contradicts the CLI docs: they are two faces of one system.
What it gives you over the terminal
| Surface | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Chat | A conversation window over any model on the gateway or on your machine, without composing a request by hand. |
| Models | Browse the catalog, pull local weights, and see what is installed, with sizes and context windows. |
| Endpoints | The registry in a list: which endpoints exist, which are enabled, and what each one serves. |
| Marketplace | Installable tools and agents that run against your configured models. |
Using it with your editor
The app does not replace your editor integration, and pointing an editor at Conifer does not require the app at all. Each editor has its own recipe, and each one is exact about which door it speaks to:
- Claude Code — two environment variables, cloud or a local door.
- Codex — the Responses wire, straight at the gateway.
- Cursor — the base-URL override, or MCP for the agent.
- VS Code — Conifer models in the Copilot Chat picker through BYOK.
- The agent catalog — every terminal agent the CLI knows how to wire, including OpenClaw, Hermes and droid.
Next
Install & update covers getting the app and how updates are signed and delivered. For the wire every surface shares, see the API reference; for the full list of surfaces and how they relate, see the surfaces.