No path to Claude code executable

[es-noel-antonio]

Category

Documentation

What problem does this solve?

This will solve the issue that might be encountered on the Code tab when trying to create a session but the Claude Code CLI is not detected.

Replicable on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS after installation.

Proposed solution

Setting the CLAUDE_CODE_LOCAL_BINARY environment variable ensures it is checked before getHostPlatform() is called, effectively bypassing the broken Linux platform check.

This can be added to the Troubleshooting section if others are able to replicate the issue.

Alternatives considered

Setting CLAUDE_CODE_LOCAL_BINARY env var, which is checked before getHostPlatform() is ever called — completely bypassing the broken Linux platform check

Contribution

• I am willing to submit a PR for this

[crowderb]

Confirming this workaround on Debian 13 VM. CLAUDE_CODE_LOCAL_BINARY=$HOME/.local/bin/claude resolves the error.
Environment:

• claude-cowork-linux v4.0.0 (master, clean install)
• Claude Desktop 1.1.4498 (auto-downloaded by installer)
• Claude Code 2.1.114 at ~/.local/bin/claude
• Debian 13, running in a Proxmox VM
• install.sh --doctor reports 17 passed, 0 warnings, 0 failed

Stack trace for searchability:

Error: No path to Claude code executable
    at aC.resolveBinaryPathFresh (.../app.asar/.vite/build/index.js:1404:7462)
    at async Promise.all (index 2)
    at async aC.startSession (.../app.asar/.vite/build/index.js:1401:6853)

What didn't work

Things that did not help before finding this workaround:

• claude on system PATH (resolves cleanly, claude --version works)
• Symlinking /usr/local/bin/claude → ~/.local/bin/claude
• Creating ~/.config/Claude/claude-code-vm/{2.1.5,2.1.87,2.1.114}/claude symlinks (no .verified marker is ever written, so these are rejected)

This is consistent with CLAUDE_CODE_LOCAL_BINARY being checked before resolveBinaryPathFresh runs at all.

The persistence question

One gotcha: the installer-generated ~/.local/bin/claude-desktop launcher doesn't export this variable, so launching via desktop entry / application menu will fail even if the env is in ~/.profile (which doesn't always get sourced for GUI-launched processes). A one-line patch to the launcher after each install.sh run makes it persistent:
sed -i '/^# Generated by install.sh/a export CLAUDE_CODE_LOCAL_BINARY="$HOME/.local/bin/claude"' ~/.local/bin/claude-desktop

If this workaround is going into README troubleshooting as the OP suggested, it'd be worth calling out that ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc aren't sufficient for users who launch via the desktop entry.

[johnzfitch]

Fixed in #102.

Two changes resolve this:

1. enable-cowork.py patches getHostPlatform() so it no longer throws on Linux
2. installSdk() downloads the correct Linux binary from the CDN instead of returning a no-op stub

The CLAUDE_CODE_LOCAL_BINARY workaround you documented is no longer needed but still works as a fallback.

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