Appendix: Claude Desktop Without a Cornell-Managed Device

This article walks through manually configuring Claude Desktop to use the same Cornell AI Gateway as the managed install — the same data protections and billing model, on a non-managed device.

It's for users without an assigned Cornell-managed device. If your device is Cornell-managed, use the standard install instead — Installing Claude Desktop on macOS (Pilot) or Installing Claude Desktop on Windows (Pilot) — which does most of what follows automatically.

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. You'll enter it partway through setup, so you cannot finish without it.

2. Enroll in Secure Connect — using the gateway from a non-managed device still requires your device to be enrolled in Secure Connect.

Step 1 — Install Claude Desktop

  1. Go to https://claude.com/download.
  2. Download the installer for your computer — Mac gets a .dmg, PC gets a .msix. On the download page, Windows lists two builds: pick Windows for a standard Intel/AMD PC, or Windows (arm 64) for an ARM device (e.g. a Surface or Snapdragon laptop). If unsure which you have, choose Windows.
  3. Run the installer and follow the prompts. If you're asked for admin permission, approve it with your usual account.

claude.com/download page with the correct download button for each OS

Step 2 — Open the gateway configuration screen

Launch Claude Desktop. Do not sign in to a personal account. Instead:

🍎 Mac

Help → Troubleshooting → Enable Developer Mode, then Developer → Configure third-party inference.

Mac: the Help → Troubleshooting menu with Enable Developer Mode highlighted

🪟 PC

Click the menu (☰) → Help → Troubleshooting → Enable Developer Mode, then Developer → Configure third-party inference.

PC: the ☰ → Help → Troubleshooting menu with Enable Developer Mode highlighted

Then open Developer → Configure third-party inference:

the Developer menu with Configure Third-Party Inference highlighted

Step 3 — Fill in the Connection settings

In the configuration window, open the Connection section and enter:

Field What to enter
Connection Gateway
Credential kind Static API key
Gateway base URL https://api.ai.it.cornell.edu
Gateway API key your personal key (the sk-… value)
Gateway auth scheme bearer

Configure third-party inference window, Connection section, with each field labeled and the key field highlighted

You can press Test connection (top-right of the credentials card) to confirm the key and URL work before continuing.

You don't need to list the models by hand. Scroll to the Models section and leave Model discovery turned on — Claude Desktop reads the available models from the gateway at launch. Press Test model discovery to confirm; you should see the Cornell models appear.

Models section with Model discovery enabled, showing the Cornell models discovered from the gateway

Step 4 — Turn off non-essential telemetry

Open the Telemetry & updates section and turn on these toggles (each one blocks that category of data from leaving your computer):

  • Block nonessential telemetry — product/usage analytics.
  • Block nonessential services — cosmetic web fetches. ⚠️ This also stops artifact previews and connector icons from rendering in conversations.

Optional:

  • Block essential telemetry — crash and error reports. Turning this on maximizes privacy, but slows diagnosis of gateway-specific failures.

See Privacy — What We Turned Off and Why for what each one means.

Telemetry & updates section with the recommended toggles enabled

Step 5 — Apply and confirm

  1. Click Apply and restart Claude Desktop when prompted.
  2. On relaunch, the app should take you straight into Cowork — no personal sign-in.
  3. Ask it something simple, like Say hello.

On relaunch, the app confirms it's running through the gateway with no Claude.ai account:

Welcome screen confirming Claude is set up to run through a custom inference gateway, no account needed

…and drops you straight into Cowork:

Claude Desktop open in Cowork mode after restart, with the "You're using Gateway" banner

How do I know it worked?

  • After restart, you land directly in Cowork without a claude.ai sign-in screen.
  • Claude answers your prompt.
  • The Cornell models are available in the model picker.

If anything failed, see Claude on Cornell's Gateway — Troubleshooting.

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