Sessions started in terminal / Remote Control aren't visible in the Claude desktop app (and vice versa)

Status Open
Reported on v2.1.296
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 0 comments · opened Oct 11, 2026

Problem
The desktop app and the claude CLI use the same engine and the same ~/.claude folder, but their session lists don't overlap. A session started in the terminal, including one started from the phone through claude remote-control, never appears in the desktop app's sidebar. I tested this: started a CLI session in a project folder, then looked it up in the app, and it was not found.

What I found
The app keeps its own session registry (IDs like local_... with a cliSessionId field) separate from the CLI transcripts in ~/.claude/projects. Resuming an app session in the terminal works if I look up its cliSessionId by hand and run claude --resume <id> (tested with --fork-session). The reverse direction doesn't work at all.

Why it matters
I want to start a session on my phone against my home PC, then later open it in the desktop app (or the other way round) without hunting for IDs. Right now work started on the phone lives somewhere the desktop app can't see.

Request
Make app and CLI sessions share one list, so a session started in either place shows up in both. A "resume in terminal" / "open in app" action would also help. As a minimum, let claude --resume list app sessions by title.

Environment
Windows 10 Pro, Claude Code CLI 2.1.296, Claude desktop app (Code tab), claude.ai subscription, Remote Control enabled.

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