The Chat Place 0.1.6

The Chat Place 0.1.6

An update to 0.1.5, still a pre-release. If you have 0.1.5 installed, it offers this update itself
(Help, Check for Updates asks at once), and your sessions and settings are kept.

Added

• Find in All Sessions. View, Find in All Sessions (Ctrl+Shift+S) searches the messages of
  every session in the list. Enter on a result opens that session at that message. (#109) (#199)
• Permission mode and effort. File, Change Permission Mode (Ctrl+Shift+O) and File, Change
  Effort change them for one of The Chat Place's own sessions, from its next turn. New Session
  has an Effort box too. (#189) (#196)
• Links. View, Links (Ctrl+L) lists the links in the loaded session, newest first. Enter
  opens one, and Ctrl+C copies it. (#190) (#198)
• Properties. View, Properties (Alt+Enter) lists the details of the selected session or
  message. (#214) (#218)
• Tidy the recent folders. In File, New Session (Ctrl+N), Delete removes a folder from the
  Folder list. Settings (Ctrl+Comma) sets how many are offered, and Clear Recent Folders (Alt+L)
  clears them. (#215) (#217)

Changed

• Last activity follows what Claude is doing. A session that's working reads "active just
  now", not the time its turn began. View, Session List Columns has a new Started column, for when
  each session began. (#209) (#210)

Fixed

• Sharp text at higher display scaling. At 125% or more, text is as sharp as in other
  apps, and tall dialogs such as New Session no longer run under the taskbar. (#185) (#186)
  (#219)
• New Session and Continue Here show their fields whole. New Session's Folder box is as
  wide as the others, and Continue Here shows the start of its title and all of its note. (#178)
  (#208)
• The session list keeps its width. It no longer narrows while Claude works or as you move
  between sessions. (#179) (#213)
• The status bar's buttons show their whole text. (#175) (#202)
• Long text no longer runs off the edge of the window. In Settings, Report a Bug, Session
  List Columns, Usage and Context, and the heading above the messages, long lines now wrap.
  (#176) (#205)
• A first run says how to start. With no sessions yet, the messages say how to start one.
  (#182) (#206)
• Show Tool Activity is set for each session. Ctrl+T now turns it on or off for the loaded
  session only, and each session remembers it. (#162) (#194)
• Code blocks keep their outline in High Contrast, in formatted messages, the user guide
  and exported web pages. (#155) (#188)
• Report a Bug opens even when Windows can't give its full version. (#211)

Reporting Issues

Found a problem or have a suggestion? Help, Report a Bug fills in a report and shows you
exactly what it includes before it goes anywhere: never your session titles, folders or messages.

1. Open on GitHub copies the report and opens a new GitHub issue with it filled in. This needs
   access to the repository.
2. Copy Report puts the report on the clipboard, to email to
   support@theideaplace.net.

Downloads

The same files as 0.1.5: TheChatPlace-windows-Setup.exe, TheChatPlace-windows-Portable.zip and
TheChatPlace-macos-arm64.dmg, with the update feeds. See the
user guide to get started, and
the README for everything The Chat Place does.

Requirements

The same as 0.1.0: Windows 10 or 11, or a Mac with Apple silicon, and Claude Code installed with
its native installer and signed in to a Claude subscription. See the 0.1.0 release notes for the
details.

---

The Chat Place is an independent project by Kelly Ford. It works with Claude Code and the Claude desktop app, but it isn't made, sponsored or endorsed by Anthropic, and isn't affiliated with it. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic.

The Chat Place 0.1.5

The Chat Place 0.1.5

An update to 0.1.4, still a pre-release. If you have 0.1.4 installed, it offers this update itself
(Help, Check for Updates asks at once), and your sessions and settings are kept.

Added

• New Session remembers your folders, clones from GitHub, and can work on a branch of its own.
  In File, New Session (Ctrl+N), the Folder box now starts at the folder you used most recently.
  On Windows, Up and Down Arrow move through the folders your sessions have used, newest first,
  and Alt+Down Arrow opens the list. From GitHub (Alt+G) lists your GitHub repositories: type
  to narrow the list, or type owner/name for any repository, and press Enter. If it isn't in your
  GitHub folder yet, it's cloned there first. Work in (Alt+I) can now be A new worktree:
  choose a branch, or type a new branch name, and the session works in its own copy of the
  repository on that branch, leaving your folder as it is. From GitHub needs the GitHub CLI (gh),
  signed in. (#154, #156)
• Sessions you start in a terminal are listed. If you run Claude Code by typing claude in a
  terminal, those sessions now appear in the session list alongside the desktop app's, each saying
  "terminal session" and naming its folder. Its title is the name you gave it with /rename, or
  else the one Claude Code gave it, or else the start of your first message. Enter reads the
  conversation. The list shows when one is working or waiting on you in the terminal, and
  announces it. They're read-only here: reply in the terminal, or carry one on in The Chat Place
  with Continue Here (Ctrl+Shift+N). View, Show Sessions, Terminal Sessions (Alt+V, H, T) lists
  only them. Claude often makes many tool calls in a terminal session; they're hidden unless you
  turn on View, Show Tool Activity (Ctrl+T), and Ctrl+T hides them again. Sessions that scripts
  run with claude -p aren't listed, and nor are the VS Code extension's. (#158, #159)

Changed

• The user guide explains the kinds of session. Help, User Guide (Alt+H, G) has a new
  section, Kinds of session, describing desktop app, Cowork, terminal and Chat Place sessions,
  where you reply to each, and how to follow one as it works, with a table comparing them. It also
  explains the short notes Claude writes as it works in a terminal session, such as "trying again
  with JSON". (#164, #166, #168)

Fixed

• Claude carries on after background commands. When Claude starts a command in the background,
  such as a build or a wait for GitHub checks, and then answers, the command used to be stopped as
  soon as the answer came, and Claude never picked it up again. Now the session keeps running: you
  hear the answer and what is still running, and when the work finishes Claude carries on by
  itself and its next answer is announced. While it waits, a message you send goes to Claude at
  once instead of being queued. Turn Status (Ctrl+Shift+T) names the work still running, and Stop
  ends it. After a helper agent finishes, Claude's answer to it is now said too, where before
  nothing was. (#161, #167)
• Claude Code's sign-in is read even when it adds a notice. Some installs of Claude Code, such
  as one installed with npm, print a notice along with their sign-in status. The Chat Place then
  said it "Couldn't tell whether Claude Code is signed in" and that Claude Code "said {". It now
  reads the status and ignores the notice. If an answer still can't be read, Help, Claude Code
  Sign-in says so and suggests running claude auth status in a terminal to see it. (#157)

---

Reporting Issues

Found a problem or have a suggestion? Help, Report a Bug fills in a report and shows you
exactly what it includes before it goes anywhere: never your session titles, folders or messages.

1. Open on GitHub copies the report and opens a new GitHub issue with it filled in. This needs
   access to the repository.
2. Copy Report puts the report on the clipboard, to email to
   support@theideaplace.net.

Downloads

The same files as 0.1.4: TheChatPlace-windows-Setup.exe, TheChatPlace-windows-Portable.zip and
TheChatPlace-macos-arm64.dmg, with the update feeds. See the
user guide to get started, and
the README for everything The Chat Place does.

Requirements

The same as 0.1.0: Windows 10 or 11, or a Mac with Apple silicon, and Claude Code installed with
its native installer and signed in to a Claude subscription. See the 0.1.0 release notes for the
details.

---

The Chat Place is an independent project by Kelly Ford. It works with Claude Code and the Claude desktop app, but it isn't made, sponsored or endorsed by Anthropic, and isn't affiliated with it. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic.

The Chat Place 0.1.4

The Chat Place 0.1.4

An update to 0.1.3, still a pre-release. If you have 0.1.3 installed, it offers this update itself
(Help, Check for Updates asks at once), and your sessions and settings are kept.

Changed

• Usage and Context is now a list you can read. View, Usage and Context (Ctrl+Shift+U) now
  opens a list: the loaded session's context first ("Context 62% full: 124,000 of 200,000
  tokens"), then each usage limit on a line of its own, such as the 5-hour limit and the weekly
  limit, with when each resets. Ctrl+C or Copy (Alt+C) copies the selected line, Copy All
  (Alt+A) copies every line, and Escape closes the list. (#130, #137)

Fixed

• On Windows, two spoken confirmations close together are both heard. When two came within a
  moment of each other, such as "Sent" and then the session's state, the second could replace the
  first, so you heard the second one twice, or the first not at all. Each is now spoken in turn.
  (#113, #135)

• Send Now no longer leaves a turn stuck, cuts an answer short, or hides an error. A queued
  message sent with Send Now (Ctrl+Enter) could leave the turn waiting for up to ten minutes and
  then report success when the answer had in fact failed. A long answer to it could be cut off
  after ten minutes, so Claude's permission requests after that couldn't be answered. If Claude
  finished what it was doing at the moment you pressed Send Now, the turn could end with that
  earlier answer instead of waiting for the reply to your message. And Send Now pressed in the
  first moments of a turn could reach Claude before the turn's own message. Now the turn waits for
  the answer to your Send Now message, shows its error if it fails, and sends your messages in the
  order you sent them. (#83, #136)

• Announcements are spoken through NVDA, in NVDA's own voice. NVDA users heard
  announcements in a Windows voice instead, because the part The Chat Place needs to talk to NVDA
  doesn't come with NVDA. The Chat Place now includes it, so with NVDA running, announcements use
  your NVDA voice and rate with nothing to install. JAWS is reached more directly too, so
  announcements start sooner. A system voice now speaks only when no screen reader is running: if
  your screen reader is running but can't be reached, you won't hear a second voice over it.
  Instead a Windows notification tells you announcements aren't being spoken, and the status bar
  and Settings (Ctrl+Comma) say why. Nothing is sent to your screen reader while
  Windows is locked. Help, Report a Bug now includes which screen reader spoke the last
  announcement. (#98)

Added

• Show only the sessions that are working, idle, or have a new reply. View, Show Sessions
  (Alt+V, H) now has Working, With a New Reply and Idle, alongside Needs You. You stay on the same
  session when it's still listed. (#134, #139)
• Choose what each session's line says, and in what order. View, Session List Columns
  (Alt+V, E) lets you put the status first, so you hear "needs you", "working" or "idle" before a
  session's title, and leave out parts you don't need, such as the folder or Remote Control. Add,
  Remove, Move Up, Move Down, Move to Top, Move to Bottom and Reset to Default each say what they
  did, and a preview reads the selected session's line as it will be. In the dialog, Enter adds a
  column, Delete removes one, and Alt+Up, Alt+Down, Alt+Home and Alt+End move one (Option on a
  Mac). OK changes the list at once, and your choice is remembered. (#134, #139)
• Hear where each conversation ended, from the session list. View, Session List Columns
  (Alt+V, E) has a new Last message column. Add it, and each session's line also says the last
  thing written in it, such as "Claude: The build passes now" or "You: Can you add a test?", so
  you can arrow through your sessions without loading them. Long messages are cut at about 150
  characters; press Enter to load the session and read all of it. Tool calls don't count, and
  a session with no conversation to read says nothing there. It's off until you add it, so your
  lines read as before, and the list stays quick with it on. (#146, #147)
• Saved prompts. Keep messages you send often and use them again. File, Prompts
  (Ctrl+Shift+P) lists your prompts by name with the selected one's text, and Enter puts one in
  the reply box, at the cursor, ready to send. The same dialog adds, edits, deletes and reorders
  them. To save a message as you send it, press Ctrl+Shift+Enter in the reply box instead of
  Ctrl+Enter: it asks for a name, then saves the prompt and sends the message. Escape at the name
  sends nothing, and your message stays where it was. (#131, #140)
• The Help menu says which version you're running, and when an update is ready. Its update
  item now reads, for example, "Check for Updates (running 0.1.4)". When a newer version has been
  found, at start or when you check, it changes to "Update to 0.1.5 Available", and choosing it
  offers the update. Alt+H, U reaches it either way. (#141, #142)
• After an update, The Chat Place tells you what you now have. The first time it starts after
  updating itself, a small dialog says "The Chat Place was updated to" the new version, with
  See what's new (Alt+W) to open that version's release notes in your browser, and Close
  (or Escape) to go back to the app. It waits until The Chat Place is in front with no other
  dialog open, and you won't see it on a first install or when running the portable copy. To
  turn it off, clear "Tell me when an update has been installed" in Settings (Ctrl+Comma). You'll
  first see it when updating from 0.1.4 to a later version. (#141, #142)
• Copy a link to a session, and go straight to it from the link. In the session list,
  Ctrl+Shift+L (File, Copy Session Link, or the session's menu) offers the session's links, best
  first: Enter copies a Markdown link that opens the session in The Chat Place, ready to paste into
  a note, an email or another session. The list also has the bare link, a desktop app session's Open
  in Claude link, and a Remote Control session's claude.ai address. Following a thechatplace://
  link, from anywhere on the computer or from a link in a message, brings The Chat Place forward
  (starting it if needed) with that session selected and its messages loaded. A link only finds a
  session; it never sends a message or changes a conversation. On Windows the installed copy sets up
  these links for you; the portable copy doesn't. (#144, #150)

---

Reporting Issues

Found a problem or have a suggestion? Help, Report a Bug fills in a report and shows you
exactly what it includes before it goes anywhere: never your session titles, folders or messages.

1. Open on GitHub copies the report and opens a new GitHub issue with it filled in. This needs
   access to the repository.
2. Copy Report puts the report on the clipboard, to email to
   support@theideaplace.net.

Downloads

The same files as 0.1.3: TheChatPlace-windows-Setup.exe, TheChatPlace-windows-Portable.zip and
TheChatPlace-macos-arm64.dmg, with the update feeds. See the
user guide to get started, and
the README for everything The Chat Place does.

Requirements

The same as 0.1.0: Windows 10 or 11, or a Mac with Apple silicon, and Claude Code installed with
its native installer and signed in to a Claude subscription. See the 0.1.0 release notes for the
details.

---

The Chat Place is an independent project by Kelly Ford. It works with Claude Code and the Claude desktop app, but it isn't made, sponsored or endorsed by Anthropic, and isn't affiliated with it. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic.

The Chat Place 0.1.3

The Chat Place 0.1.3

An update to 0.1.2, still a pre-release. If you have 0.1.2 installed, it offers this update itself
(Help, Check for Updates asks at once), and your sessions and settings are kept.

Fixed

• New Session describes the permission modes correctly. Accept edits and Manual said that
  anything needing approval was refused. In fact Claude asks you, and Ctrl+Shift+A answers. (#104)
• On a Mac, the arrow keys choose an answer when Claude asks a question. In the dialog that
  Cmd+Shift+A opens, Up and Down (or Left and Right) did nothing in a question's options, so only
  the first could be reached by keyboard. They now move through the options and choose each one,
  as on Windows, and wrap around at the ends. (#121)
• On a Mac, Return presses the focused button in the main window. Return on Send, Stop,
  Commands, Attach Files and the other buttons did nothing; only Space pressed them. Now either
  key does, as on Windows. (#125)
• On a Mac, VO+Shift+M opens the context menu in the session list and the messages list. It
  did nothing, so with VoiceOver the session's menu and a message's menu (Read Full Message, Code
  Blocks and the rest) couldn't be reached that way. It now opens the same menu as the
  Applications key on Windows, for the selected row. (#128)
• Right-clicking a message opens the menu for that message. The menu was for whichever
  message was highlighted, so Copy Message or Read Full Message could act on a different one. Now
  the message you right-click is selected first, as in the session list. (#129)
• Help, Claude Code Sign-in says what's wrong when it can't tell. It said only "Couldn't tell
  whether Claude Code is signed in". Now it says why: Claude Code isn't installed or can't be
  found, it's too old to ask (claude update fixes that), it didn't answer, or what it printed.
• Claude Code is found in more places. On a Mac, a Claude Code installed with Homebrew is
  now found; an app started from the Finder doesn't see your terminal's PATH, so it was missed.
  On Windows, a newer npm install of Claude Code is now used, since it runs the same native
  program as the installer's.
• On a Mac, signing in opens a Terminal window. Help, Claude Code Sign-in started the sign-in
  with no window to see or answer it. It now runs in Terminal, and The Chat Place says the result
  once you've signed in.

Added

• The desktop app's Cowork sessions are listed. They appear alongside its other sessions,
  read-only: each row says "Cowork session" and names the folder you gave Cowork to work on.
  Enter reads the conversation, and Open in Claude (Ctrl+O) switches the desktop app to it so you
  can answer there. View, Show Sessions, Cowork Sessions lists only them. A Cowork session can't
  be continued in The Chat Place, and whether its finished turns are announced depends on the
  version of Claude Code the desktop app runs it with. The user guide's new "Cowork sessions"
  section explains it. (#91, #95)
• Installing Claude Code from The Chat Place. If Claude Code isn't installed, The Chat Place
  says so at start-up, and Help, Claude Code Sign-in gives the install command for your computer
  and offers to run Claude Code's own installer in a window of its own. When it's finished, The
  Chat Place checks again and offers to sign you in. The user guide's "Before you start" has the
  install commands too.
• Your sessions on other computers. File, Other Machines (Ctrl+Shift+M) sends a message to a
  Claude Code session on another of your computers, and you hear its reply here, without going
  to that computer. It goes through Claude in one of your Chat Place sessions with Remote Control
  on: Refresh the list asks Claude which sessions there are, then you choose one, type, and press
  Enter. The other computer's own conversation can't be read from here, only what it sends back.
  The user guide's new section, "Your sessions on other computers", explains it. (#123)
• Messages from other sessions are shown and announced. A message another Claude Code
  session sends to one of yours now shows as "From" and that session's name, and it's announced.
  Before, one that arrived while Claude was working didn't show at all, and one that started a
  turn looked like something you'd typed. A Chat Place session also keeps the same name every
  turn now, so other sessions can keep reaching it. (#123)
• A user guide, under Help, User Guide (Alt+H, G). It starts with the everyday things, such as
  reading a session, replying and answering Claude, and goes on to groups, announcements and the
  rest. It opens as a page you can move through by heading, or as plain text (Alt+P), and works
  offline. It's also on the web at https://kellylford.github.io/AIChat/user-guide.html, with a
  Contents list, alongside the keyboard shortcuts. (#102, #104)

---

Reporting Issues

Found a problem or have a suggestion? Help, Report a Bug fills in a report and shows you
exactly what it includes before it goes anywhere: never your session titles, folders or messages.

1. Open on GitHub copies the report and opens a new GitHub issue with it filled in. This needs
   access to the repository.
2. Copy Report puts the report on the clipboard, to email to
   support@theideaplace.net.

Downloads

The same files as 0.1.2: TheChatPlace-windows-Setup.exe, TheChatPlace-windows-Portable.zip and
TheChatPlace-macos-arm64.dmg, with the update feeds. See the
user guide to get started, and
the README for everything The Chat Place does.

Requirements

The same as 0.1.0: Windows 10 or 11, or a Mac with Apple silicon, and Claude Code installed with
its native installer and signed in to a Claude subscription. See the 0.1.0 release notes for the
details.

---

The Chat Place is an independent project by Kelly Ford. It works with Claude Code and the Claude desktop app, but it isn't made, sponsored or endorsed by Anthropic, and isn't affiliated with it. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic.

The Chat Place 0.1.2

The Chat Place 0.1.2

An update to 0.1.1, still a pre-release: rename sessions, a menu for each session, a look at
what Claude knows about you, an Ungrouped view, Remote Control that's easier to find, and a set of
fixes. If you have 0.1.1 installed, it offers this update itself (Help, Check for Updates asks at
once), and your sessions and settings are kept.

Added

• Rename a session with F2, File, Rename Session, or the session's menu. A chat you started
  in The Chat Place is renamed outright. A Claude desktop app session's new name shows only in The
  Chat Place, because the desktop app's files are never changed; clear the name to go back to the
  desktop app's. (#93, #97)
• A menu for each session. The Applications key or Shift+F10 in the session list, or a
  right-click, opens the selected session's commands: load, open in Claude, continue here,
  rename, Remote Control, groups, export, and hide or delete. (#89, #97)
• What Claude knows about you (Ctrl+Shift+K, or View, What Claude Knows About You). Claude
  Code keeps what it knows about you in plain files, and this lists them by kind: your
  instructions (CLAUDE.md, yours and each project's), the memories Claude saved, your skills,
  subagents, slash commands, output styles and settings. Enter reads one, and Edit in Your Editor
  opens it in your own editor. The Chat Place itself never changes them. (#92, #97)
• View, Show Sessions, Ungrouped lists the sessions that aren't in any group, yours or the
  desktop app's, so you can see what still needs filing. In the same menu, Archived's letter is
  now V: it shared C with Chat Place Sessions, so C only moved between the two. (#106)
• Ctrl+Shift+B opens a message's code blocks straight from the messages list, to list, read
  and copy each one; before, they were only on the message's menu. (#101)
• Remote Control is easier to find. It's on each session's menu, a session on Remote Control
  says so in its row and heading, and View, Show Sessions, Remote Control Sessions now lists your
  Chat Place sessions too. For a Claude desktop app session, File, Remote Control offers to open
  it in the desktop app, where its Remote Control is turned on, or to continue it here as a copy
  with Remote Control on from its first turn. (#96, #99)

Changed

• Deleting a session for good is one step. In 0.1.1 you had to hide a chat, switch to the
  Hidden view, find it again and then delete it, and nothing told you so. Now File, Delete Session
  Permanently, or Shift+Delete in the session list, works on any chat you started in The Chat
  Place, from any view. It still asks first, with No as the answer if you just press Enter. Claude
  desktop app sessions can still only be hidden; delete those in the desktop app. (#90)
• The menu says which key does what. File, Hide Session reads as "Hide Session (Delete)" and
  Delete Session Permanently as "Delete Session Permanently (Shift+Delete)", so screen readers
  read the key along with the command. (#90)
• The keyboard shortcuts are online too: every key, as a web page, Markdown and plain text, in
  the docs folder, made from the same list
  as Help, Keyboard Shortcuts. (#88)

Fixed

• Coming back to The Chat Place with a dialog open works. With Code Blocks or another
  dialog open (a message box or a dialog over a dialog included), switching to another app and
  back could leave focus on the main window behind the dialog, where no key did anything, so the
  app seemed hung. The dialog now comes forward with focus where you left it. (#103)
• Shift+F10 in the session list no longer flashes the File menu. Focus went to the menu bar
  for a moment, and a screen reader said so, before anything else happened. Shift+F10 and the
  Applications key now open the session's menu straight away, in the session list and the
  messages. (#89, #97)
• Delete in the attachments list removes the attachment again. It hid the whole loaded
  session instead, without asking, and left the file attached. (#90)
• Deleting the chat you have open deletes its conversation every time. On Windows it could
  fail now and then, because The Chat Place was still reading it. (#90)
• After a delete, a screen reader reads the session that took its place, not the one that was
  just deleted. (#90)
• A failed delete says so. If a chat's files can't be deleted, you're told they're still on
  your computer, rather than hearing that it was deleted. (#90)
• A deleted chat's unsent reply no longer lingers. It made The Chat Place warn about unsent
  text you couldn't reach, and held back automatic updates. (#90)
• Safer deletes. Delete Session Permanently waits while a chat is working, here or in a
  terminal, and refuses any chat whose id belongs to a Claude desktop app session, so it can never
  delete one of the desktop app's conversations. (#90)

---

Reporting Issues

Found a problem or have a suggestion? Help, Report a Bug fills in a report and shows you
exactly what it includes before it goes anywhere: never your session titles, folders or messages.

1. Open on GitHub copies the report and opens a new GitHub issue with it filled in. This needs
   access to the repository.
2. Copy Report puts the report on the clipboard, to email to
   support@theideaplace.net.

Downloads

The same files as 0.1.1: TheChatPlace-windows-Setup.exe, TheChatPlace-windows-Portable.zip and
TheChatPlace-macos-arm64.dmg, with the update feeds. See the
README for everything The Chat Place does.

Requirements

The same as 0.1.0: Windows 10 or 11, or a Mac with Apple silicon, and Claude Code installed with
its native installer and signed in to a Claude subscription. See the 0.1.0 release notes for the
details.

---

The Chat Place is an independent project by Kelly Ford. It works with Claude Code and the Claude desktop app, but it isn't made, sponsored or endorsed by Anthropic, and isn't affiliated with it. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic.

The Chat Place 0.1.1

The Chat Place 0.1.1

A small update to 0.1.0, still a pre-release. If you have 0.1.0 installed, it offers this update
itself (Help, Check for Updates asks at once), and your sessions and settings are kept.

What's new

• A File menu. The first menu is now File, so Alt+F opens it as in other Windows programs.
  Everything that was on the Session menu is there. Attach Files in the reply area moves to
  Alt+T; Ctrl+Shift+F still attaches files from anywhere.
• Hide a session instead of losing it. File, Hide Session (or the Delete key in the session
  list) takes any session out of the list, a Claude desktop app session too, without changing it.
  View, Show Sessions, Hidden lists what you've hidden, and File, Bring Back Session returns one.
  Hidden sessions stay quiet: they aren't announced, notified or counted as needing you.
• Delete a session for good. For a chat you started in The Chat Place and have hidden, File,
  Delete Session Permanently deletes it and its conversation from your PC, after asking. This
  replaces Forget, which couldn't be undone and left you no way back.
• On the Mac, VoiceOver reads more. Edit boxes, lists and choices now have their names,
  VO+M finds The Chat Place's own menus, speech falls back to the system voice when VoiceOver
  won't speak for it, and the reply box is taller and keeps its width.
• An icon. The Chat Place now has its own icon, a speech bubble, on the program, the
  installer, the Start menu, the window and the notification area.

Downloads

The same files as 0.1.0: TheChatPlace-windows-Setup.exe, TheChatPlace-windows-Portable.zip and
TheChatPlace-macos-arm64.dmg, with the update feeds. See the
README for everything The Chat Place does.

Requirements

The same as 0.1.0: Windows 10 or 11, or a Mac with Apple silicon, and Claude Code installed with
its native installer and signed in to a Claude subscription. See the 0.1.0 release notes for the
details.

---

The Chat Place is an independent project by Kelly Ford. It works with Claude Code and the Claude desktop app, but it isn't made, sponsored or endorsed by Anthropic, and isn't affiliated with it. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic.

The Chat Place 0.1.0

The Chat Place 0.1.0

The Chat Place is a home for your Claude Code chats, built from the start for the keyboard and
screen readers. Everything is in one window: your sessions, the conversation you're reading and
a reply box. You can start a chat with Claude, read every reply as you would any text, answer
Claude's questions, and keep track of several conversations at once without hunting for which
one needs you.

It runs on the Claude subscription you already have, through Claude Code, and never asks for an
API key. It also lists the Claude Code sessions in the Claude desktop app, so everything you have
going is in one place.

This is the first release, and a pre-release, for Windows and for Macs with Apple silicon. On
Windows it has been used every day with JAWS; NVDA and Windows voices are supported, but NVDA
hasn't had a full test pass yet. The Mac version is new: it speaks through VoiceOver or a system
voice, but hasn't had a full pass with VoiceOver, and Windows notifications have no Mac
equivalent yet.

What's new

Everything, because this is the first release. Here's what you'll find:

• One window, in Tab order: the session list, the messages of the session you load, and the
  reply box. F6 moves between them and the status bar, and Escape in the messages or the reply box
  takes you back to your sessions.
• Start a chat with Ctrl+N: choose a folder, give it a title, pick a model (Opus, Sonnet,
  Haiku or your Claude Code default) and a permission mode (auto by default, where Claude runs most
  tools without asking; accept edits, manual or plan are the others), then write your first
  message. Reply with Ctrl+Enter, and
  you stay in the reply box. Send while Claude is still answering, and your message is queued
  until the turn ends; it shows at the end of the messages, where Send Now (Ctrl+Enter) makes
  Claude stop and answer it at once, and Edit or Delete change your mind. Session, Change Model
  picks another model for a chat's next turns.
• Read like a document. Arrowing through the messages reads each one in full. Enter opens a
  message as a formatted page, with headings, lists, tables and code blocks your screen reader
  can jump between, or as plain text to read by line, word and character. Ctrl+Shift+C copies a
  message's last code block, and Code Blocks on the context menu lists and copies each one.
• Hear what's happening. New replies are announced through JAWS, NVDA or a Windows voice: the
  whole reply, a short summary or nothing, as you choose. Your own message is read back when it's
  sent, so you know exactly what went. Show tool activity (Ctrl+T) to see and hear what Claude is
  doing during a long turn, and Turn Status (Ctrl+Shift+T) says how long it's been working. Stop
  (Ctrl+Period) ends a turn. Settings (Ctrl+Comma) chooses how much is said and which voice says
  it, and Ctrl+Shift+R repeats the last announcement.
• Claude asks, you answer. In the chats you start here, when Claude needs permission to run something, has a question for
  you, or a plan to approve, the session shows as needing you and Ctrl+Shift+A opens it. Nothing
  is approved by waiting.
• Know which session needs you. Sessions that need you are listed first. Windows notifications
  tell you when a chat finishes or needs you while you're in another window, and choosing one
  brings you straight to that session.
• Keep things organised. Sort the list, show only the sessions you want, find a session by
  title or folder (Ctrl+F), and put sessions in groups (Ctrl+G). The Claude desktop app's own
  groups show too.
• Your Claude desktop app sessions, read-only, so two programs never write to one session.
  Open in Claude (Ctrl+O) switches the desktop
  app to one, and Continue Here (Ctrl+Shift+N) carries it on in The Chat Place as a copy.
• Attach files and pictures (Ctrl+Shift+F), including a screenshot pasted with Ctrl+V, so Claude can see what
  you see.
• Commands and skills (Ctrl+/): a searchable list of slash commands and your skills, with
  what each one does.
• See what changed. Changed Files (Ctrl+Shift+D) lists the files Claude changed, and reads
  each change line by line.
• Keep an eye on your plan. Usage and Context (Ctrl+Shift+U) says how full the conversation is
  and how much of your plan's limits you've used. It tells you when the conversation is past 80%
  full, when a limit passes 90%, and when it's reached.
• Export a conversation (Ctrl+E) as Markdown, a web page or plain text.
• No surprise bills. If a turn would run on Fable without your choosing it (some plans bill
  Fable to usage credits), The Chat Place doesn't send your message, says why, and gives the
  message back. The same goes for a turn that would be billed through an API key.
• Remote Control, off unless you turn it on (Settings, or Session, Remote Control for one
  chat): while a turn runs, you can reach that chat from claude.ai and your other devices.
  Turning it on copies the conversation to claude.ai.
• Sign-in check: Help, Claude Code Sign-in says whether Claude Code is signed in, and helps
  you sign in if it isn't.
• Report a Bug (Help menu) fills in a GitHub issue for you, and shows you exactly what the
  report includes first: never your session titles, folders or messages. Without access to
  GitHub, Copy Report puts it on the clipboard to email to support@theideaplace.net.
• Automatic updates, on Windows and the Mac: The Chat Place checks for new versions and asks
  before installing one. Your sessions and settings are kept.

Help, Keyboard Shortcuts (F1) lists every key.

Downloads

• TheChatPlace-windows-Setup.exe: the installer. It installs for you only, with no
  administrator rights, adds The Chat Place to the Start menu, and keeps it up to date.
• TheChatPlace-windows-Portable.zip: the same app in a folder, to run without installing. The
  portable copy doesn't update itself.
• TheChatPlace-macos-arm64.dmg: the Mac app. Open it and drag The Chat Place to
  Applications. It updates itself wherever you keep it, once it's out of the disk image. Signed
  and notarized by Apple, so it opens without a warning.
• The .nupkg files and the releases.*.json, assets.*.json and RELEASES-* files are the
  update feeds the apps read, one set for Windows and one for the Mac. You don't need to download
  them.

The installer and the programs in the portable zip are signed by "kelly ford". Windows SmartScreen
may still ask about a new download until the publisher builds up a reputation.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11 (built for x64; Arm PCs run it under Windows's x64 emulation), or a Mac with
  Apple silicon. On a Mac, speech through VoiceOver needs "Allow VoiceOver to be controlled with
  AppleScript" turned on in VoiceOver Utility, General, and macOS asks once whether The Chat Place
  may control VoiceOver.
• Claude Code installed with its native installer, and signed in to a Claude subscription
  (the same login the Claude desktop app uses). Chats you start in The Chat Place run through
  Claude Code in headless mode, which counts against your plan's monthly credit for that kind of
  use (see Anthropic's article
  Use the Claude Agent SDK with your Claude plan).
  Past it, turns stop unless you've turned on extra usage, which is billed. Usage and Context
  (Ctrl+Shift+U) shows where you stand. Reading the desktop app's sessions costs nothing.
• On Windows 10, the formatted message page needs Microsoft's Edge WebView2 runtime, which
  Windows 11 already has. Without it, messages open as plain text.
• The Claude desktop app, if you want its sessions listed too.

The README has the full details of every feature and
how it works.

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The Chat Place is an independent project by Kelly Ford. It works with Claude Code and the Claude desktop app, but it isn't made, sponsored or endorsed by Anthropic, and isn't affiliated with it. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic.