Claude Desktop is a point-and-click assistant that routes through Cornell's AI
Gateway using your personal gateway key — no personal Claude account involved.
This is a pilot deployment run by JCB IT with AI at Cornell and
IT@Cornell. Details may change as it develops.
Before you start
1. Get your gateway key — Getting Your Cornell AI Gateway Key. The installer asks
for it partway through, so you cannot finish without it.
2. Deployment on your machine — requesting your key for Claude Desktop
use opens a TDX ticket automatically, and someone from Client Services
will reach out to coordinate the rest. That ticket is already in the queue, so
there is nothing further to submit.
Step 1 — Open Self Service and install
- Open Self Service from your Applications folder.
- Find Claude Desktop Cornell Managed Configuration.
- Click Install.
Step 2 — Choose the gateway
Leave LiteLLM API Gateway selected and click Continue.
Click Continue again on the next screen.
Step 3 — Enter your key
Paste the key secret you generated in Getting Your Cornell AI Gateway Key, then click
Save.
When the installation finishes, click Done.
Step 4 — Open Claude
- Open Claude from your Applications folder.
- Click Continue.
You will see a message reading "Code has been disabled by your organization's
administrator." This is expected — click the X to dismiss it.
You can now start using Claude.
How do I know it worked?
- Claude opened without asking you to sign in to a personal account.
- It answers your prompts.
- The Cornell models are listed in the model picker.
If anything failed, see Claude on Cornell's Gateway — Troubleshooting.
What can it do?
Web search, Word/PowerPoint/Excel/PDF handling, and saved skills all work out
of the box. See What Claude Desktop Can Do for a tour.
About the Code tab
Claude's Code tab is off by default and enabled per person on request —
some people here have it and some don't, depending on what their work calls for.
Not seeing it is expected and does not mean the install failed: you'll get a
dismissible "Code has been disabled by your organization's administrator"
message on first launch.
If you'd use it, email itrequests@business.cornell.edu and ask.
Privacy — What We Turned Off and Why explains what Code does and what's worth
understanding before you switch it on.
Prefer a command line? See Appendix: Claude Code (CLI) on Cornell's AI Gateway.
Coming from a personal Claude subscription?
Read Appendix: Moving from a Personal Claude Subscription before you stop using
your personal account — very little transfers automatically.
Later on
Keys expire, and you may need to change your spend cap or rotate a secret you
think has been exposed. See Managing, Rotating, and Renewing Your Key.
Note for IT / advanced users: the underlying gateway configuration and the
installer frontends are documented in IT / MDM Reference.