What is claude-desktop-rtl?

Claude Desktop RTL is a tool that adds proper right-to-left text support to the Claude desktop app on Windows and macOS. The Claude app does not natively display Arabic text in the correct direction, so this project patches the app to fix that. After installing it, Arabic text flows right to left and English or code stays left to right, even when the two are mixed in the same message. The fix also keeps up as answers stream in live. The tool works by injecting a small JavaScript layer into the existing Claude app files rather than creating a separate copy of the app. Your login, chat history, and Claude Code features continue to work normally after the patch. A background task on both Windows and macOS watches for Claude app updates and automatically re-applies the patch so you do not have to reinstall it after every update. Installation on Windows is a double-click on a provided batch file followed by approving an administrator permission prompt. On macOS you run a shell script in the terminal, which may require a one-time privacy permission for terminal access in System Settings. Node.js is required on both platforms, and Windows can install it automatically if it is missing. Once installed, you can toggle the right-to-left mode on or off inside Claude using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+R, and it remembers your preference. Under the hood, the engine sets each text block to detect its own direction based on its first strong character, so an English paragraph with one Arabic word does not flip incorrectly. Code blocks, tables, and math stay left to right. The modification involves re-signing app files, which may trigger antivirus warnings on Windows. The README notes this is a community-made client modification and may conflict with Anthropic's terms of service, recommending it be used for accessibility purposes at the user's own discretion. Both an installer and an uninstaller are included. The project is released under the MIT license.