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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
- Go to https://claude.com/download.
- 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.
- Run the installer and follow the prompts. If you're asked for admin
permission, approve it with your usual account.
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.
🪟 PC
Click the menu (☰) → Help → Troubleshooting → Enable Developer Mode, then
Developer → Configure third-party inference.
Then open Developer → Configure third-party inference:
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 |
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.
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.
Step 5 — Apply and confirm
- Click Apply and restart Claude Desktop when prompted.
- On relaunch, the app should take you straight into Cowork — no personal
sign-in.
- Ask it something simple, like
Say hello.
On relaunch, the app confirms it's running through the gateway with no Claude.ai
account:
…and drops you straight into Cowork:
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.