unarchive-cowork

name	unarchive-cowork
description	Unarchive a Claude Desktop Cowork session by finding and modifying the session JSON file. Use when the user wants to restore an archived Cowork session.
argument-hint	[search term]
disable-model-invocation	true

Unarchive a Claude Desktop Cowork session.

Usage

• /unarchive-cowork - List all archived Cowork sessions
• /unarchive-cowork <search term> - Find and unarchive a session matching the search term

How it works

Cowork sessions are stored as JSON files under:

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/local-agent-mode-sessions/

Each session has a local_*.json file containing metadata including isArchived, title, and initialMessage.

Steps

1. Search for archived sessions:

   • Prefer rg "isArchived.*true" --glob "*.json" in the sessions directory
   • If rg is not available, fall back to grep -rl '"isArchived": true' --include="*.json" in the sessions directory
   • Read each file to get the title field

2. If $ARGUMENTS is empty, list all archived sessions with their titles and let the user choose which to unarchive.

3. If $ARGUMENTS is provided, search for sessions matching that term:

   • Prefer rg "<term>" --glob "*.json" -l in the sessions directory
   • If rg is not available, fall back to grep -rl "<term>" --include="*.json" in the sessions directory
   • Cross-reference with the archived sessions list
   • If exactly one match, confirm with user then unarchive it
   • If multiple matches, show the list and let the user choose

4. To unarchive: edit the session JSON file, changing "isArchived": true to "isArchived": false

5. Remind the user: They must quit and reopen Claude Desktop for the change to take effect.

Important notes

• This skill works in Claude Code CLI and the Code tab in Claude Desktop (not Cowork, which runs in a sandboxed VM without host filesystem access)
• The sessions directory path is macOS-specific: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/local-agent-mode-sessions/
• Only modify the isArchived field; do not change any other session data
• Always confirm with the user before making changes