CRJ-900 Captain reported a cockpit window failure while in a climb. The Captain diverted the aircraft to an alternate airport and landed safely.

Narrative

On our climb; while passing through FL240; we encountered a L WINDOW HEAT caution message. Before the First Officer and I could even acknowledge the issue and call for the checklist; I heard a loud bang noise and saw that the left window was completely cracked throughout. I immediately took over the controls manually; disconnected the autopilot; and leveled off at FL250; as I didn't want to continue the climb and increase the differential pressure; which would add more stress to the cracked windshield. I told my First Officer to [request priority handling] and then called for the QRC - Cracked Window in Flight. Once the aircraft was under control; I reengaged the autopilot and handed the controls to my First Officer so I could run the checklist; coordinate with ATC; and communicate with our flight attendants and passengers.We continued the checklist in the QRH; and in the meantime; we asked ATC for the closest suitable airport. They advised that ZZZ was our nearest option. I determined ZZZ would be a good place to divert since we operate there daily and the weather was reasonable. I sent an ACARS message to our Dispatcher; informing them that we had requested priority handling due to a cracked windshield and were diverting to ZZZ. He responded back short after; acknowledging our diversion and sent us the latest METAR in ZZZ. I then called the flight attendant in the back; explained what had happened; and advised that we were diverting--most likely to ZZZ. I asked them to make an announcement to the passengers; letting them know we were diverting due to an issue with the pilot's window. I wanted this announcement made first since I was still in the process of completing the QRH procedures and setting up for the arrival into ZZZ; and I also needed to focus on monitoring the aircraft's descent. Even though the First Officer was the Pilot Flying at this point; I had to ensure the airplane was being flown correctly; particularly because I needed to adjust the manual pressurization as per the QRH during the descent. I advised the flight attendants that they had about 15-20 minutes to prepare for landing.We continued working through the QRH and coordinated with ATC for a shallow descent. At that point; we were directly above ZZZ; so we needed vectors around the field to lose altitude. Once we had caught up with the QRH and completed our approach set up and briefing; I made an announcement to the passengers; explaining that we had an issue with our cockpit window and were diverting to ZZZ. We set up for and received vectors for the RNAV XX approach into ZZZ and landed the aircraft safely. After exiting the runway; we completed the final QRH step of zeroing out the differential pressure and then taxied to the gate.