Claude Desktop v4.16336.0 is dated November 3 and bundles Claude Code 2.1.317. I wrote about v4.4212.0 and skill scanning a week ago. This release mostly takes things away.
Two doors to the outside get closed
The built-in browser can no longer import claude.ai cookies from another browser. If you used that, you are signed out of claude.ai inside the built-in browser at the next launch. Not dramatic, but you will notice.
The tools that let Claude list and start saved shortcuts from the Claude in Chrome extension are gone too. Taken together it reads like a tidy-up along the border between the app and the browser.
Failed scheduled tasks finally speak up
This is the most useful line on the list for me. Claude now notifies you when a scheduled run could not use a connector that needs reconnecting, and when a run cannot start at all. Until now those runs failed silently and you found out when the output was missing.
A certificate chain change worth noting
Sessions now ignore cross-certificates between old and renewed private root CAs in the
certificate store. If a proxy’s or gateway’s issuing CA names one by serial number—the
Authority Key Identifier—requests can fail with UNABLE_TO_GET_ISSUER_CERT_LOCALLY. The
fix is to add that issuing CA to the store yourself.
The release notes also repeat what the platform notes already said: fast mode for Claude Opus 4.8 was deprecated on October 30 and will be removed on November 30. After that, fast mode requests return an error instead of falling back to standard Opus 4.8.
For the Code tab
Three changes touch worktrees and settings:
- Claude Desktop no longer runs git’s
post-checkouthook when it creates a worktree, and Claude Code’s own worktrees run none at all.pre-commitand other hooks still run for commits there. To copy ignored files like.envinto new worktrees, list them in.worktreeinclude. - The Windows fallback that read Claude Code’s
managed-settings.jsonfromC:\ProgramData\ClaudeCodeis gone. Keep the file inC:\Program Files\ClaudeCode. desktopSessionCleanupPeriodDayswas not deleting old transcripts of sessions still in the sidebar. Now it does, at the age its settings give, and they cannot be restored.
A release that cleans up instead of adding on
There are no new features here, and that is fine. The direction is the interesting part. The built-in browser and the Chrome extension are being separated properly, and unattended runs finally get a voice. If you run scheduled tasks, as I do, that single notification line will save you a debugging evening.