Claude Code’s desktop app can show sessions next to each other now. Here’s the real setup, how many to run, and how to keep them from overwriting each other.
You could always run more than one agent. The problem was you couldn’t see any of them.
The Claude desktop app fixed the seeing part. Sessions live in a sidebar, two can sit side by side, and you can see at a glance which are done. No developer skills needed.
What You Need First
The Claude desktop app on a paid plan (Pro, Max, Ultra, Team or Enterprise), open to the Code tab. The pane layout needs version 1.2581.0 or newer (Claude or Help, then Check for Updates). To keep sessions apart (Part Three) you also need Git. Most Macs have it. On Windows, install Git for Windows.
01
Start a second session
Click + New in the sidebar. The shortcut is Cmd+N on a Mac, Ctrl+N on Windows.
02
Put two on the screen at once
Hold Option on a Mac, or Alt on Windows, and click a session in the sidebar. Or right-click it and choose Open in, then Split view. (Cmd or Ctrl and click opens a new window instead.)
In split view, a sidebar click changes the pane you clicked last, so click into the pane you want to swap first.
03
Arrange the panes
Drag a pane by its header to move it, side by side or stacked, and drag the edge between panes to resize.
04
Close what you’re done with
Cmd+\ on a Mac or Ctrl+\ on Windows closes the pane you’re in. To pull a session out of split view, press Cmd+Ctrl+W on a Mac or Ctrl+Alt+W on Windows.
05
Flip between sessions
Ctrl+Tab moves forward through your sessions and Ctrl+Shift+Tab moves back, on Mac and Windows.
06
Group and name your sessions
Hover over a heading in the session list and click the Group and sort icon (on older versions it’s a Filter icon). Sessions group by project folder. Then rename each one by clicking its title in the title bar. Write "checkout bug," not "session 2."
Stop Babysitting Them
The app sends a notification when a session finishes and you’re not looking at it. Start the slow job and go do something else.
The internet loves posting ten agents at once. Nobody is reading ten sets of output. My ceiling is four, because every agent you add is another set of changes to read and another decision waiting on you.
The Rule
If you can’t say out loud, from memory, what every open session is doing right now, you have too many open. If you had to go read a pane to remember, close something.
Start with two for a week, then try three. Work one below the point where you have to re-read panes.
If two agents work in the same folder at once, they can save over each other’s changes. The fix is a worktree, a separate copy of your project on its own branch. Each session edits its own copy, and nothing comes back together until you merge it.
Important
Worktrees are off by default. In a project that uses Git, turn on the Worktree button in the row under the prompt box before you start the session. On older versions it’s a worktree checkbox beside the branch name.
.claude/worktrees/ in your project. Add that folder to your .gitignore. Change the location in Settings, then Code (or Claude Code)..env. List the ones to carry in, one per line, in a .worktreeinclude file in your project folder.In the terminal, you get the same thing with claude --worktree feature-auth. That makes a copy at .claude/worktrees/feature-auth on a branch called worktree-feature-auth. Run it again with a different name for a second session. (Worktree docs)
The Trade You’re Making
Each session finishes on its own branch, and you still have to merge it or open a pull request. Finish and merge one before you open another.
The Test
Could a second person do this task in another room, right now, without asking you a single question? If yes, it can run in parallel.
01
One writes the feature, one writes the tests
Give both the same short description. The test agent writes from that and never sees the code, so the tests check what you asked for.
02
One fixes a bug, one updates the docs
Different files and quick to check. The easiest first parallel run.
03
One researches, one drafts
For people who don’t code. One session reads competitor pages while the other drafts from your outline.
04
The real task plus the chores
My favorite. Your real task in one session, the small annoying jobs (cleanup, the missing readme) running beside it.
05
Two different projects
Your website in one pane, client work in the other. Zero overlap.
Not sure how to split your list? Paste it into Claude with this and it writes a brief for each session.
Three things not to run in parallel:
Your attention is the real limit, more than the app or your plan. Stagger your starts, longest job first, so they don’t all come back in the same minute.
If You Only Do One Thing
Open two, with one real task in each, on things that don’t touch. Let both finish, then decide whether you want a third. Almost nobody needs ten.