Projects: project instructions silently truncated at 8,192 bytes for threads run on your computer (Work locally / Remote Control)

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

In a Claude Code project, the saved project instructions are 9,559 bytes (8,886 characters, UTF-8), well under the documented 16,000-character limit.

A thread that the project coordinator started on my computer (run locally through Remote Control, Claude desktop app Code tab) receives only the first 8,192 bytes of the instructions. Everything after that is silently missing. The cloud coordinator sees the full text.

Evidence: I asked the local thread to quote the last line of its project instructions verbatim. It returned - Düşünme ve fikir y, which stops mid-word. Measured against the saved instructions, that line ends at byte 8,191 (character 7,630). The next character is "ü", a 2-byte UTF-8 character whose first byte would be byte 8,192. So the cut happens exactly at 8,192 bytes and splits a multibyte character. Sections that start at bytes 8,969 and 9,231 never reach the thread.

What Should Happen?

Threads run on my computer should receive the full project instructions, as the Projects docs say instructions are sent to each new thread (up to 16,000 characters).

If local threads have a lower limit, it should be documented, the user should be warned when instructions exceed it, and truncation should never split a UTF-8 character.

Error Messages/Logs

None. The truncation is silent.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a Claude Code project and set project instructions longer than 8,192 bytes (for example ~9,500 bytes). Put a unique marker word on the very last line.
2. In the project conversation, choose "Work locally" from the + menu and start a task, so the thread runs on your computer via Remote Control. Do not mention the marker in the task.
3. In that thread, ask: "Quote the last line of your project instructions verbatim."
4. Observed: the quoted text stops at byte 8,192 of the instructions and the marker is missing. The cloud coordinator can quote the marker.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.295 (read from the session transcript; the desktop app's bundled copy, claude is not on PATH)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro, 10.0.26300
• Model: claude-opus-5-5 (from the session transcript)
• Thread: local session in the Claude desktop app Code tab, started by the project coordinator via Work locally. Session started 2026-10-11 21:39 UTC.
• Tested on 2.1.295; npm latest is 2.1.296. I don't know whether the limit exists in earlier versions.
• Instructions contain no CR characters; byte counts are UTF-8.