Open a new Claude conversation from PowerToys Run. Type a question, press Enter, and Claude opens with your prompt already written.
Install
- Close PowerToys.
- Download the archive for your architecture below.
- Extract the
NewChatForClaudefolder into%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\PowerToys\PowerToys Run\Plugins. - Start PowerToys.
Then open PowerToys Run with Alt+Space and type cl: followed by your question. The space after the colon is optional.
The command ends in a colon on purpose. PowerToys matches an activation command as a plain string prefix and hides every other plugin as soon as one matches, so a command of cl would also swallow clipboard and clean. With cl:, typing claude still reaches your applications.
Upgrading works the same way. Delete the old NewChatForClaude folder first so no stale files remain.
The prompt is written, not sent
Your text lands in Claude's composer and Claude waits for you to press Enter. It is never submitted automatically.
This is a safety measure built into Claude by Anthropic, not a limitation of this plugin, and no plugin can change it. A link able to submit a prompt on its own would let any web page make Claude act without you seeing what it was told to do. The web version shows a caution banner above the composer for the same reason.
So the gesture is two keystrokes: Enter in PowerToys Run, then Enter in Claude.
What is in this release
| Query | A prompt opens a new conversation, in the Claude desktop app through claude:// or in your browser through claude.ai
|
| Settings | One option: the desktop app, the default browser, or both |
| Context menu | Ctrl+Enter opens the other destination, Ctrl+C copies the link |
| Languages | 33, following the Windows display language |
| Architectures | x64 and ARM64 |
The plugin is a single assembly. It makes no network call of its own, has no API key, no account, no telemetry, and nothing running in the background. It builds a URL and hands it to the shell.
The build is deterministic and no build machine path reaches the assembly. Each archive ships a .sha256 next to it so you can check what you downloaded.
Requirements
| PowerToys | 0.97 or later |
| Claude desktop app | Optional. Without it, set the destination to the browser |
Verifying the download
Each archive ships with a .sha256 file.
Get-FileHash .\NewChatForClaude-1.0.0-x64.zip -Algorithm SHA256Compare the result with the contents of NewChatForClaude-1.0.0-x64.zip.sha256.
Legal
This is an unofficial community plugin. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic or Microsoft, and neither company has reviewed or approved it.
Claude and Anthropic are trademarks of Anthropic PBC. PowerToys and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All rights in those marks belong to their owners and none are claimed here. The names are used only to say what this plugin connects to, and no Anthropic logo, mark or brand colour appears anywhere: the plugin icon is a plain typographic asterisk from Google's Material Symbols, under Apache 2.0.
The MIT licence covers the source code only. It grants no rights in any trademark or logo.