Turning the Developer Menu On and Off in the Claude Desktop App

ClaudeClaude DesktopMCP

an hour ago

You can turn on Developer Mode in the Claude desktop app.
You use the developer menu to connect MCP servers or extensions, and to find out why the app is not working as expected.
You do not need it for everyday chats or tasks.

Items in the developer menu

Item	Purpose
`Open MCP Log File`	Check connection logs and errors for MCP servers
`Reload MCP Configuration`	Reload edited MCP server settings without restarting the app
`Extensions`	Install an extension file or folder directly
`Open App Config File`	Open the `claude_desktop_config.json` file, where the list of MCP servers is stored
`Open Developer Config File`	Open the `developer_settings.json` file, where the Developer Mode setting is stored
`Show Dev Tools`	Check the app screen's console, network requests, and more in Chrome DevTools (`Option+Cmd+I`)
`Enable Main Process Debugger`	Turn on a debugger for the app's main process and open Chrome's `chrome://inspect` page
`Record Performance Trace`	Start recording the app's performance; select it again to stop recording and save it to a file
`Record Rendering Trace (rolling)`	Keep recording screen rendering while keeping only the most recent part; select it again to save it to a file
`Write Main Process Heap Snapshot`	Save the main process's current memory state to a `.heapsnapshot` file
`Record Memory Trace (auto-stop)`	Start recording memory usage; it stops automatically after 3 minutes and saves to a file
`Trigger 1Password connect nudge`	Show the 1Password connection prompt right away (visible only when 1Password is integrated)

The English-only items are for debugging the app itself or recording its performance and memory, and you use them when you need to track down app problems in depth.
Recorded files are saved in the ~/Library/Logs/Claude/traces folder, and when saving finishes, Finder shows you where the file is.
You can open .pftrace files in Perfetto, and .heapsnapshot files in the Memory tab of Chrome DevTools.

# Turning it on

Select Help > Troubleshooting > Enable Developer Mode....

Help > Troubleshooting > Enable Developer Mode

When a confirmation dialog says you will be able to access developer tools and debugging features, select Enable.

Developer Mode confirmation dialog

The app quits and restarts automatically, and a Developer menu appears in the menu bar.
Your choice is saved in the ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/developer_settings.json file.

developer_settings.json

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{
  "allowDevTools": true
}

If the Troubleshooting menu has no Enable Developer Mode... item, Developer Mode may already be on, or, on an organization or team account, an admin may not allow Developer Mode by policy, so the item is hidden.

# Turning it off

The Claude desktop app has no menu item for turning off Developer Mode.
Open the developer_settings.json file with Developer > Open Developer Config File, change the allowDevTools value to false, and save it.

developer_settings.json

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{
  "allowDevTools": false
}

Saving the file does not remove the Developer menu right away.
The menu is shown based on the value read when the app starts, so you need to fully quit the app with Claude > Quit Claude (Cmd+Q) and run it again for the menu to disappear.
Deleting the developer_settings.json file and running the app again gives the same result.