ClaudeWin9x

Claude Code CLI access on Windows 95/98/2000/XP+ via a bridge server.

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"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

• Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park (1993)

example.mp4

┌─────────────────────┐  HTTP   ┌─────────────────────┐  stdio  ┌─────────────────────┐
│   Windows 9x/NT     │  :5000  │       Server        │         │   Claude Code CLI   │
│      Client         │◄───────►│     (.NET 10)       │◄───────►│                     │
│       (C99)         │   TCP   │                     │         │                     │
│                     │◄───────►│  :5001/:5002 files  │         │                     │
└─────────────────────┘         └─────────────────────┘         └─────────────────────┘

• Server spawns Claude Code CLI and communicates via JSON over stdio
• Claude Code requests file/command operations via HTTP to the server
• Server queues these operations for the client to poll and execute locally
• All connections initiated by client

Prerequisites

Server: Claude Code CLI

Client: Win95 needs Winsock 2 + MSVCRT (get Internet Explorer 5, Winsock 2 update), beyond that shouldn't need any dependency to run the executable but will need TCP/IP networking set up.

Quick Start

1. Server: Run ClaudeWin9x-Server.exe (with optional server.ini)
2. Client: Copy ClaudeWin9x-Client.exe and client.ini to Win9x/NT, then:

   C:\> ClaudeWin9x-Client.exe
   > /connect C:\MYPROJECT
   

Open ports 5000-5002 between machines.

Notes

Security: All traffic is unencrypted as there is no HTTPS on Win9x (obviously!). Only use on trusted networks.

Command output uses temp files because stdout pipe redirection doesn't work reliably on Windows 9x. As a result, ClaudeWin9x is less effective than it is on NT-based systems. It is what it is.

Configuration

Client (client.ini)

[server]
ip=192.168.1.100
api_port=5000
download_port=5001
upload_port=5002
skip_permissions=false

Server (server.ini)

[server]
api_port=5000
download_port=5001
upload_port=5002

Put these next to their respective executables.

Environment variables (if Claude Code is in non-standard location):

• CLAUDE_CLI_PATH - Claude CLI path
• CLAUDE_NODE_DIR - Node directory

Commands

Command	Description
/connect [path]	Start session
/disconnect	End session
/server ip:port	Set server address
/download <remote> <local>	Download file
/upload <local> <remote>	Upload file
/poll	Check for output
/status	Connection status
/log [on|off|view]	Logging
/clear	Clear screen
/help	Help
/quit	Exit

Build

Client

cd client
wmake

Builds a standalone executable targeting Win32, 386 and above. Minimum supported OS is Windows 95 OSR 2. Build using Open Watcom V2.

Server

cd server/ClaudeWin9x
dotnet run
dotnet publish -r win-x64       # Or linux-x64, osx-arm64, etc

Published as a native AOT binary - there's no runtime required (woo!). Requires .NET 10 SDK and Visual Studio Build Tools (Desktop C++ workload) to build on Windows.

Third Party

• cJSON - MIT
• Special thanks to Romane for making the icons in theme with the old Windows style.