Desktop app cannot start sessions in ~/Library/CloudStorage (OneDrive/iCloud) paths

Resolved 💬 4 comments Opened Mar 15, 2026 by stroudcollectivus Closed Apr 13, 2026

Summary

The Claude desktop app (macOS) cannot start Claude Code sessions in any directory under ~/Library/CloudStorage/ (OneDrive, iCloud Drive, Google Drive, etc.). The CLI works perfectly on these same paths.

Environment

  • macOS: 26.3 (Build 25D125)
  • Claude desktop app: latest (Claude Code binary 2.1.74)
  • Storage provider: OneDrive (via macOS CloudStorage/FileProvider)

Symptoms

  1. Open a project folder on ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-... in the desktop app
  2. Type a message and hit Submit
  3. Screen switches but nothing happens — no response
  4. Any follow-up message shows "failed to load session"

Root cause

The desktop app launches the Claude Code binary through the disclaimer helper at /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/Helpers/disclaimer. This binary cannot access ~/Library/CloudStorage/ paths:

$ /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/Helpers/disclaimer ls ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-.../
ls: Operation not permitted
EXIT: 1

The same command on a local path works fine:

$ /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/Helpers/disclaimer ls ~/Developer/SortedPOS/
CLAUDE.md  docs  ...
EXIT: 0

The Claude Code CLI binary (not wrapped in disclaimer) works perfectly on CloudStorage paths.

Logs

From ~/Library/Logs/Claude/main.log:

[info] Starting local session local_xxx in ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-.../project
[info] Using Claude Code binary at: .../claude-code/2.1.74/claude
[error] Session local_xxx query error: Claude Code process exited with code 1
[info] [CCD CycleHealth] unhealthy cycle (0s, hadFirstResponse=false, reason=no_response)

The disclaimer binary's code signing identity is disclaimer (Team: Anthropic PBC Q6L2SF6YDW). Adding both Claude.app and the disclaimer binary to Full Disk Access does not resolve the issue — macOS's FileProvider/CloudStorage protection appears to require specific entitlements that disclaimer does not have.

Impact

Any user with projects on OneDrive, iCloud Drive, Google Drive, or other cloud storage providers synced via macOS CloudStorage cannot use the desktop app for those projects. The CLI is unaffected.

Workaround

Clone repos from cloud storage to a local path (e.g., ~/Developer/), or use the Claude Code CLI for cloud storage projects.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Have any folder synced via OneDrive/iCloud/Google Drive (visible under ~/Library/CloudStorage/)
  2. Open that folder in the Claude desktop app
  3. Submit any message
  4. Observe: session fails to start, binary exits with code 1

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