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Blackcrab 0.3.0: a calmer desktop, and your sessions in your pocket

The biggest release yet: a round of desktop features that make long days of Claude Code work easier to navigate, plus the host side of Blackcrab Remote — a companion mobile app coming soon to iPhone and Android.

A more capable desktop

Blackcrab 0.3.0 folds in a batch of desktop improvements aimed at the parts of the app you touch all day: finding conversations, reading long transcripts, and keeping local Claude Code sessions connected reliably.

There are also quieter fixes that matter in daily use. Resuming an older conversation no longer fails when its original model has been retired, and scrolling through a long transcript is smooth instead of jumpy, including in smaller non-fullscreen windows.

  • Read-only session view with live tailing, so you can follow a running session without taking it over.
  • A diagnostics console that records recent errors in one place.
  • An expanded command palette with keyword search across your sessions and more actions.
  • Saved grid layouts you can recall from the command palette.
  • Backup and restore for local app data — settings, layouts, usage history, drafts, and per-session overrides; transcripts and secrets stay out.
  • Clearer handling when a conversation is already open somewhere else, instead of two writers fighting over one file.

Coming soon: Blackcrab Remote for iPhone and Android

The headline of 0.3.0 isn't on the desktop at all. Blackcrab Remote, a companion mobile app, is coming soon to iPhone and Android — and the host side that makes it work ships in this desktop release.

Your Claude Code sessions live on your computer, but you shouldn't have to be sitting at it to keep an eye on them or nudge them along. Blackcrab Remote connects your phone to your desktop so you can do exactly that. A conversation that's actively running in another window is flagged and left alone, so the phone never collides with a live session.

Blackcrab Remote is heading to TestFlight first, with the App Store and Google Play to follow. We'll share links as soon as they're live.

  • Pair in seconds by scanning a QR code from the desktop (or pasting a short payload). Connections are end-to-end encrypted, work directly over local Wi-Fi, and fall back to an encrypted relay when you're away.
  • See every session as a chat list, with unread indicators and recent activity first.
  • Read transcripts beautifully: formatted text — headings, bold, lists, code blocks — with the model's tool calls shown as clean, terminal-style cards instead of raw text.
  • Reply and steer from anywhere: send a follow-up, stop a runaway turn, or approve and deny permission prompts, with an instant 'thinking' indicator while the model works.
  • Start a new session in any of your projects from the phone, or jump back into a past conversation — the desktop resumes it for you.
  • Pick up where you left off on either device, with a synced read cursor and a 'new messages' divider showing exactly where you stopped.

Upgrade notes

There are no manual migration steps for 0.3.0. Existing users can update through the app or download a fresh installer from GitHub Releases. As with earlier builds, the release is macOS-first, with Windows and Linux artifacts produced by CI.

More devlog

Release notes

What changed in Blackcrab 0.1.1 and 0.1.2

The first two updates after the initial preview focused on making Blackcrab more reliable as a daily Claude Code workspace: better attention signals, safer handoffs, usage dashboards, project reporting, faster search, and signed update artifacts.

Design note

Why Blackcrab is a desktop app

The product is not trying to hide Claude Code. It gives the CLI a native workspace for parallel sessions, local context, and the parts of agent work that are easier to manage visually.

Product devlog

Designing the tiled session grid

Running one agent at a time is simple, but it leaves a lot of attention unused. The grid is Blackcrab's attempt to make parallel agent work legible without turning it into a control room.

Engineering

What local-first means for Blackcrab

Local-first is not a vibe for this product. It is a practical constraint around where transcripts live, how Claude Code runs, and what kind of trust the app should ask for.