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Connect Claude Desktop

Connect Orchard to Claude Desktop so it can create reminders, check your calendar, and control your other Apple apps through natural conversation. Claude Desktop installs Skills through its own import flow rather than reading a shared folder, so Orchard gives it a separate button from the other local agents.

Import the Skill

  1. Open Orchard from the menu bar and sign in if you have not already.
  2. Continue to the Use Orchard with Skills step in onboarding, or open the app integrations list. If Claude Desktop is installed on your Mac, a Claude Desktop row appears alongside Local Agents.
  3. Click Install. Orchard opens the .skill package with Claude.app.
  4. Claude Desktop shows its own import confirmation dialog. Approve it there.
  5. Wait for Orchard to detect the install; this can take up to two minutes. The row updates to Installed once Orchard confirms the Skill is active.
Claude Desktop's import confirmation dialog for the Orchard Skill package

Note

The Claude Desktop row only appears if Orchard finds Claude.app in /Applications or ~/Applications. If you install Claude Desktop after opening Orchard, reopen the panel to make the row appear.

Where it installs

Claude Desktop manages its imported Skills separately from ~/.claude/skills/, Claude Code’s own Skill location. Installing for one doesn’t install for the other, even though both apps are made by Anthropic. Use the Claude Code page for that flow.

If Claude reports it as disabled

Claude Desktop lets you disable individual Skills from its own settings. If you do that, Orchard’s Claude Desktop row shows Installed in Claude Desktop, but disabled in Skills instead of a plain Installed state.

Disabled, not broken

This is not an Orchard error: Orchard detected the Skill files on disk, but Claude Desktop’s manifest marks the entry as disabled. Open Claude Desktop’s Skills settings and re-enable Orchard there; Orchard cannot flip that switch for you.

Updating

When a newer Skill package ships with an Orchard update, the Claude Desktop row switches its button from Install to Update. The flow is identical: click it, Claude Desktop opens with the newer package, and you confirm the re-import in Claude’s own dialog.

Verify it worked

  1. Open Claude Desktop and check its Skills list: you should see orchard listed and enabled.
  2. Start a conversation and ask something that needs a local Apple app, for example: “What’s on my calendar this week?”
  3. Claude Desktop should call the Orchard Skill and come back with a real answer. Orchard.app must be running for this to succeed.
Orchard listed and enabled in Claude Desktop's Skills settings

Tips

  • Free accounts can install and use the Skill; Pro-only tools return an upgrade message instead of running. See Free vs Pro.
  • Orchard.app must stay running while Claude Desktop calls Orchard tools. The Skill path does not auto-launch the app the way orchard mcp does.
  • MCP is also available for Claude Desktop via the config in Connect via MCP, though the Skill stays the recommended path.