How to use in Claude Desktop app?

[doitdigital0495]

Goal

Use Headroom's compression in the Claude Desktop app (the GUI with Cowork / Claude Code built in), not just the terminal CLI.

What works

headroom wrap claude in a terminal works perfectly — traffic routes through the proxy, compression kicks in.

What I can't get working

Routing the desktop app through the proxy. I tried the standard proxy approach:

1. headroom proxy --port 8787 (running, /health reports healthy, v0.22.4)
2. Set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8787 in ~/.claude/settings.json env block
3. Also set it as a persistent OS user env var (setx)
4. Fully quit the desktop app (tray → Quit) and reopened

Result: the desktop app still talks directly to api.anthropic.com.

• Reading the app process env back shows ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.anthropic.com
• Proxy /stats shows 0 requests from the app
• The CLI honors the setting; the desktop app does not

Environment

• Windows 11
• headroom-ai 0.22.4, Python 3.10
• Claude Desktop app (Cowork, OAuth login)

Questions

1. Is there a supported way to route the desktop app through the proxy?
2. Is wrap / proxy routing CLI-only by design?
3. Any plan for desktop-app support (e.g. honoring settings.json env or a custom base URL)?

[playsolitaire51-ctrl]

Nice approach. I've found that even city-level differences within the same country can be dramatic—especially for queries with local intent. Do you also test for currency and measurement unit formatting in your localized SERPs?
https://serpspur.com/tool/local-search-spoofing-tool/

[highoncomputers]

Using Headroom with Claude Desktop App

The Claude Desktop app doesn't directly support ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL environment variable injection the way the CLI does. Here are two approaches that work:

Option 1: MCP Server (Recommended)

Headroom exposes an MCP server that Claude Desktop can connect to directly:

Add this to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json). This gives Claude Desktop access to headroom_compress, headroom_retrieve, and headroom_stats tools without needing proxy routing.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "headroom": {
      "command": "headroom",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Option 2: System-Level Proxy

Set a system-wide HTTPS_PROXY that captures all Claude Desktop traffic:

# Start headroom proxy
headroom proxy --port 8787

# Then launch Claude Desktop with environment variable
HTTPS_PROXY=http://localhost:8787 /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/MacOS/Claude

Option 3: Headroom Wrap (for Claude Code within Desktop)

If you are using Claude Code (available via the terminal inside Claude Desktop), headroom wrap claude works the same way as in a regular terminal:

headroom wrap claude
headroom doctor  # verify

The proxy approach is the most complete since it captures all API traffic including file uploads and tool calls.