[FEATURE] Desktop: keep a session in "Needs input" until it is answered or dismissed, not just until it is viewed

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

In the Code tab of the Claude desktop app, a session that is waiting for my decision gets an amber "needs input" dot in the sidebar and is listed as needing input on the home screen. With many sessions running in parallel, this is the signal I rely on to know where the next move is mine.

If I open that session and then switch to another one without answering, the dot goes away and the session drops out of the home-screen list. The question is still unanswered, but nothing marks it anymore. I find it again only if I remember it, or by reopening every idle session.

This looks intentional: #64193 and #72208 asked for the dot to clear on view, back when only a reply cleared it. That fixed the noise, but now one click is enough to lose a pending decision. Opening a session is often triage, not handling: I read the question, see that it needs more thought or the result of another session, and move on.

The app still records the decision as pending. In my local session records (%APPDATA%\Claude\claude-code-sessions\…\local_<id>.json), a session I viewed without answering keeps postTurnSummary.status_category: "blocked" with its needs_action text. Today 19 of my open sessions are in that state, and none of the ones I checked shows the amber dot. The information needed to keep the indicator is already there.

Proposed Solution

Treat "seen" and "answered" as two different states:

• Viewing a session keeps clearing the unread marker.
• A session whose last turn is classified blocked stays in the home-screen "Needs input" list, with a distinct sidebar marker (for example a hollow amber ring), until it receives a reply or I dismiss it explicitly. The explicit dismiss is the right-click action asked for in #59740 and #82328.

People who find the dot noisy keep clear-on-view and get an explicit dismiss; a pending decision is never lost to a single click.

Alternative Solutions

• Archive finished sessions, so that every open session means "pending". This does not work for me: open sessions are also waiting on CI, a PR review, a background task or another session. The amber state is the only signal that says the next move is mine.
• Right-click → Mark as unread before leaving. Manual, has to be remembered every time (which is the job of the indicator), and the blue dot means "unread content", not "decision pending".
• Pin the session. Same problem: manual, and pinning already means something else.

Priority

Medium - Would be very helpful

Feature Category

Other

Use Case Example

1. I have 30+ sessions open in the Code tab across several repositories.
2. Session A ends its turn by asking me to choose between options.
3. A shows the amber dot and is listed under "Needs input" on the home screen.
4. I open A, read the question, decide to check something in session B first, and click B.
5. A loses its dot and leaves the home-screen list. Nothing tells me later that A is still blocked on me.

With this change, A stays listed until I reply to it or dismiss it.

Additional Context

• Same area, opposite direction (the dot should clear on read or be dismissable): #64193 (closed, duplicate), #72208 (closed, duplicate), #59740 (closed, not planned), #61421 (closed, not planned) and #82328 (open). This request is compatible with them: dismissing stays explicit, and viewing alone does not count as handling.
• Related open issues: #89531 (a "waiting on me" color in the sidebar) and #99571 (filter to sessions with attention dots, which only helps if the dot survives a view).
• Environment: Claude desktop app 2.26454.0.0 (MSIX package), Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200.