Claude Code Projects now run parallel cloud threads from one chat

On September 17, 2026, Anthropic redesigned Claude projects from a folder into a conversation. The new experience is in beta in Claude Code: you send work in one chat, and Claude coordinates parallel cloud threads that keep working after you close the laptop.

Managing multiple sessions across a build used to mean dividing the work, juggling handoffs, and stitching results together. Now Claude scopes the request, delegates tasks, coordinates the threads, reviews the outputs, and assembles the finished result. You can steer throughout from desktop, web, or phone.

Threads do the work

A project is one ongoing conversation. Threads do the work; Claude directs them. Each thread is a Claude Code cloud session on its own branch and its own copy of the repository. If threads touch the same code, the overlap is resolved as a merge conflict, just like any other pull request. Threads can split delegated work using subagents, loops, and workflows so large assignments finish faster.

Creating a project requires only a name. A goal and the repo or context are optional; you send work in the conversation. Claude suggests work it can pick up immediately. You can configure the project's cloud environment, connectors, plugins, instructions, and model. Brief the project the way you would brief a chief of staff, and Claude routes work to new or existing threads. With repositories connected, a thread opens pull requests and runs tests.

Anthropic's examples are multi-repo and multi-PR by design. Set a goal to cut checkout p75 latency, then ask Claude to profile endpoints, test optimizations, and open pull requests in parallel. Or connect API, web, and mobile repos to retire a deprecated v1 endpoint: Claude creates a thread per repo to migrate callers, run tests, and open PRs, then reports which ones should merge first. Every thread adds to and draws from shared memory. A library collects files you add and artifacts Claude produces.

Who can use it

Beta access started September 17 for select Claude Pro and Max subscribers who use cloud sessions in Claude Code and have no existing projects on the web or desktop. Product docs match that gate: accounts that have used cloud sessions and do not have existing projects in claude.ai chat or Cowork. Projects are not available on Team or Enterprise plans yet.

Over the coming week, Anthropic will expand access to more Claude Code users on those plans. Updated projects across all of Claude, plus Team and Enterprise, come after that. Existing Pro and Max projects keep working as they do today and will be upgraded as the rollout expands to chat and Cowork. If Projects does not appear in the sidebar at claude.ai/code or in the desktop app's Code tab, join the waitlist.

Create a project, watch the meter

Create projects at claude.ai/code, in the desktop Code tab, or in the Claude iOS and Android apps. For code, repositories must live on github.com—not GitHub Enterprise Server, GitLab, or Bitbucket—your connected account needs push access, and the Claude GitHub App must be installed. A /web-setup token is not enough for project threads.

The Overview pane shows which threads finished, which pull requests are ready, and which thread is waiting on you. Library, Pull requests, and Routines sit as extra tabs. Threads start from the project's repositories, instructions, memory, connectors, and cloud environment—not from Claude Code on your machine.

Because a project can run several threads at once and each is a full Claude Code session, projects can hit usage limits faster. Check project-specific usage and set model and effort for the coordinator chat and the worker threads. Docs say a new project runs every thread on Opus at high effort. Threads run in the cloud today; running on your machine, alongside local tools and behind your network, is coming very soon.

If Projects already shows in your sidebar, read Anthropic's announcement and the Claude Code projects docs, then create a project around work that will outlast a single session. If it does not, join the waitlist from that announcement and keep using parallel cloud sessions until the rollout reaches you.