[FEATURE] Unarchive Claude Code sessions in desktop app option

Found 2 possible duplicate issues:

1. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/30201
2. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/26677

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I went to rename and archived by mistake. Having an unarchive would be helpful for mistakes like this.

+1 facing same issue

this is definitely a bug

happened to me too

there was always an unarchive button

now its neither in CLI, NOR in Gui, nor Web, nor one of the 2 Web apps

thats such a terrible blunder

SAMEEEE :(

+1 on this. Context from my workflow: I'm a PM vibe coding in Claude Code. I archive sessions actively to manage a busy session list and return to them throughout the day. Right now, archiving is a one-way trap — the only action on an archived session is Delete, which makes the feature feel broken rather than useful.

A few suggestions worth considering for the solution:

• Toggle the archive icon on hover (as proposed) — simplest fix
• Right-click context menu with Unarchive — more discoverable
• Slash command (/unarchive) — good for keyboard-first users
• "Move to Today" as a label rather than just "Unarchive" — makes the intent clearer in the UI

The use case is: archive-to-park, then restore-to-resume. That's a legitimate workflow that the current implementation breaks entirely.

Reinforcing this need, if you archive session used by dispatch, dispatch stops working, and there's no way to unarchive it and have dispatch working again.

Really frustrating if you accidentally archive something before committing. I made this mistake today.

Same here. I just made the same mistake. Please fix this by adding the option to unarchive.

As a temporary fix you can ask Claude to unarchive it

As a temporary fix you can ask Claude to unarchive it

I tried ... it said no lol.

I can't control the chat interface — unarchiving is something you need to do directly in the Claude.ai UI. Look for an archive or settings option on the conversation itself.

That’s so weird - it did it for me!

Maybe due to reasoning depth? I am using opus 4.6 max.

Until this feature is implemented, I made a tool that provides unarchive (and delete) functionality through a browser-based GUI.

https://github.com/SugaCrypto/cowork-archive-manager

The claude API explicitly prevents it btw

const sessionId = "session_....";

const res = await fetch(`https://claude.ai/v1/sessions/${sessionId}`, {
  method: 'PATCH',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'anthropic-version': '2023-06-01',
    'anthropic-beta': 'ccr-byoc-2025-07-29',
    'x-organization-uuid': '...'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ session_status: "idle" })
});
console.log(res.status, await res.text());

Gives back a 409

'{"error":{"details":"session_id=session_...","message":"cannot update archived session session_...","type":"invalid_request_error"},"request_id":"","type":"error"}'

Working fix (macOS) — no app update needed:

The archive flag is stored as isArchived in a local JSON file. Flipping it and relaunching fully restores the session.

# 1. Find your archived session file(s)
find ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude-code-sessions   -name '*.json' | xargs grep -l '"isArchived": true'

# 2. Unarchive (replace <path> with the file found above)
python3 -c "
import json
path = '<path>'
with open(path) as f: d = json.load(f)
d['isArchived'] = False
with open(path, 'w') as f: json.dump(d, f, indent=2)
print('Done:', d.get('title'))
"

# 3. Fully quit Claude Code (Cmd+Q), then relaunch

Session reappears in the active list immediately on restart.

Proposed product fix: right-click context menu on archived sessions → 'Unarchive' — one write to isArchived: false in the session JSON + sidebar refresh. Should be a minimal change on the desktop side.

The broader issue here is that Claude Desktop is missing basic session lifecycle management that Claude Code CLI already has:

• CLI: cleanupPeriodDays (default 30) auto-purges inactive sessions on startup. Simple and effective.
• Desktop: No auto-cleanup, no delete for active sessions, and archive is a one-way trap.

At minimum, Desktop should inherit the CLI's cleanupPeriodDays behavior. Archive without unarchive, and no delete, makes session management painful for heavy users.

AHH Get this done

Here is the fix for Windows 11 Desktop version:
Manually edit the session file:
Find the session JSON at %AppData%\Claude\claude-code-sessions\{org-id}\{user-id}\local_{session-id}.json
Alternatively it may be here: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude\claude-code-sessions
Change "isArchived": true → "isArchived": false
Save and restart Claude Code

Just another "me too" on this - organization and classification should not be a one-way action (with the exception of Delete). In fact, perhaps Delete should be a progression - you can only delete archived things 🤷‍♂️ . But definitely crave the unarchive

@scr-oath I agree, I always prefer a progression! Even delete should flow into a temp bin - perm delete (personally prefered)

+1... * 100, so +100

This exists:

<img width="194" height="306" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e929e243-cc9c-4a60-b191-588ec4db4e87" />

(Claude 1.5354.0 (9a9e3d) 2026-04-29T01:14:34.000Z for Mac)

@fredrik Nice to see they finally added it.

Thank you very much. The changes, including pinning, are very helpful.

still not fix with the latest Claude Code in desktop version. Claude would auto archive my sessions in a folder and the folder does not have the filter while another folder have a filter icon.