desktop-sessions-discovery

name

desktop-sessions-discovery

description

Discover, search, and selectively restore Claude desktop app sessions hidden across multiple accountIds. Use when user mentions "missing sessions after account switch", "lost desktop sessions", "where do my old sessions live", or runs multiple Claude accounts on the same machine. Do NOT use for Claude Code CLI session history or resuming work within one session — this only recovers the native desktop app's per-accountId session files; for in-session continuity use handoffs.

Claude Desktop Sessions Discovery Toolkit

Claude desktop app (Mac/Windows native) stores sessions per <accountId>/<orgId>/. When you switch accounts, old sessions become invisible in UI — they remain on disk but LocalSessionManager.loadSessions() only reads the active accountId folder.

This is GitHub issue #48511, open since April 2026 with no Anthropic fix. Issue #26452 has 40 comments documenting the same loss.

This skill is a community workaround. Use at your own risk — see Caveats.

Storage paths (reverse-engineered, NOT in official Anthropic docs)

Install type	Path
Win32 .exe install (recommended)	%APPDATA%\Claude\claude-code-sessions\<acct>\<org>\local_<sid>.json
Windows MSIX (Microsoft Store)	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude\claude-code-sessions\<acct>\<org>\ — see issue #48362 (atomic-rename bug breaks this entirely)
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude-code-sessions/<acct>/<org>/local_<sid>.json
Legacy (pre-Feb 2026)	same path, but folder name was local-agent-mode-sessions/

Source: bundled JS .vite/build/index.js line 771: const $6t="claude-code-sessions". May change in any release.

Schema of local_*.json

{
  "sessionId": "uuid",
  "cliSessionId": "uuid",
  "cwd": "C:\\path\\to\\project",
  "originCwd": "...",
  "createdAt": <unix ms timestamp OR ISO string>,
  "lastActivityAt": <unix ms timestamp OR ISO string>,
  "model": "claude-opus-4-7-...",
  "effort": "default",
  "isArchived": false,
  "title": "Human-readable title shown in UI",
  "permissionMode": "default",
  "remoteMcpServersConfig": [],
  "completedTurns": 12
}

NB: timestamp format is inconsistent — some sessions use Unix ms (int), others ISO string. Parser must handle both.

Four operations

1. Registry — interactive HTML browse (recommended starting point)

Script: scripts/sessions_registry.py

python scripts/sessions_registry.py                # generate + auto-open in default browser
python scripts/sessions_registry.py --no-open      # generate only
python scripts/sessions_registry.py --output /custom/path.html

Produces a self-contained HTML registry with:

• Live JS search by title / cwd / sessionId substring
• Sort by recency / turns count / title A-Z / size
• Filter: hide 0-turn auto-runs ("Morning digest", "Observer daily analysis"), hide already-restored
• Per-accountId collapsible sections, active accountId highlighted green
• "Restore" button per session — copies command to clipboard
• "RESTORED" badge for sessions already migrated (read from ~/.claude/desktop-migrations.jsonl)
• Includes BOTH claude-code-sessions/ (current) AND local-agent-mode-sessions/ (legacy pre-Feb 2026)

Use when: user wants to browse the archive visually before deciding what to restore. After clicking Restore, paste the copied command in chat with Claude (it knows the next step) or run it directly in terminal.

2. Inventory — full picture (text)

Script: scripts/sessions_inventory.py

Scans all <accountId>/<orgId>/local_*.json, prints grouped table with title/cwd/size/lastActivityAt sorted by recency. Includes cross-account view (which projects appear in multiple accountIds — useful when same user worked on the same project under different accounts).

3. Find — search by title/cwd substring (text)

Script: scripts/sessions_find.py

python sessions_find.py "<query>"                  # substring in title or cwd
python sessions_find.py "<query>" --account <prefix>  # filter by accountId
python sessions_find.py --since 2026-04-01         # date filter
python sessions_find.py --untitled                  # parse-failed or empty

Output is top-N matches sorted by recency, with copy-pasteable restore command.

4. Restore — selective single-session migration

Script: scripts/sessions_restore.py

python sessions_restore.py <sid8>             # auto-detect active accountId
python sessions_restore.py <sid8> --to <acct> # explicit target
python sessions_restore.py <sid8> --dry-run   # plan only

Behaviour:

1. Find source session by sessionId substring (8 chars usually unique)
2. Detect active accountId by latest mtime (heuristic)
3. Copy local_<sid>.json into <targetAcct>/<sameOrgId>/
4. Verify byte-for-byte match before declaring success (proof loop)
5. Append to ~/.claude/desktop-migrations.jsonl audit log
6. Source kept as backup, never deleted

After restore: restart Claude desktop app to see session in UI.

Caveats and risks

v2.1.9+ regression (issue #18645)

Anthropic added validation that blocks sessions "not originally created on the current machine". Cross-account migration on the SAME machine appears to work as of April 2026, but cross-machine copies are broken. Anthropic likely tightens validation further in upcoming releases.

VM bundle architecture coming (issue #54428)

Next desktop architecture moves storage to vm_bundles/claudevm.bundle/sessiondata.img (disk-image format). When released, file-copy migration of local_*.json may stop working entirely. This toolkit has finite shelf life.

MSIX install fatal bug (issue #48362)

If you installed Claude desktop from Microsoft Store, fs.rename('.tmp', '.json') fails with EXDEV inside MSIX sandbox — sessions never persist at all. Switch to Win32 .exe install.

Mass merge wrecks UI usability

With 700+ sessions in one accountId, the app's session list becomes unreadable. Prefer selective restore one-at-a-time when you actually need a specific thread.

Recommended long-term

Drift serious work into Claude Code CLI. CLI sessions live in ~/.claude/projects/<slug>/<UUID>.jsonl, are account-agnostic, stable storage, open JSONL format, survive desktop app reorgs. Use desktop app for quick UI but not for long-running projects.

Files

• scripts/sessions_registry.py — interactive HTML registry, opens in browser
• scripts/sessions_inventory.py — full text table (grep-friendly)
• scripts/sessions_find.py — substring search
• scripts/sessions_restore.py — selective copy with verify and audit log

macOS specifics

All four scripts detect platform via sys.platform and pick the right path automatically — no flags needed on Mac.

• Storage path: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude-code-sessions/<acct>/<org>/local_<sid>.json
• Legacy path: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/local-agent-mode-sessions/<acct>/<org>/local_<sid>.json
• HTML auto-open: uses open <html> (system default browser)
• No MSIX issue: macOS .dmg install is the only distribution channel; no atomic-rename bug
• Spotlight bonus: mdfind -onlyin ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/ "<query>" works on session JSONs (indexes content), faster than find for one-off lookups
• Reveal in Finder after restore: open -R ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude-code-sessions/<acct>/<org>/local_<sid>.json

License

Public domain. This is a community workaround for an Anthropic bug; share freely.

See also

• claude-sync (CLI only): https://github.com/tawanorg/claude-sync
• claude-session-restore (CLI only): https://github.com/ZENG3LD/claude-session-restore
• CLI multi-account guide: https://medium.com/@buwanekasumanasekara/setting-up-multiple-claude-code-accounts-on-your-local-machine-f8769a36d1b1