Recent activity on welcome screen uses unclear selection logic, skips substantive sessions

Description

The "Recent activity" section on the Claude Code welcome screen doesn't appear to show a straightforward reverse-chronological list of recent sessions. Instead, it uses some selection/filtering logic that can surface low-context messages (e.g. a brief two-word reply) while skipping over substantive technical sessions.

Steps to reproduce

1. Have multiple recent sessions across different project directories, including sessions with substantive technical work
2. Launch claude from the home directory
3. Observe the "Recent activity" list

Observed behavior

The welcome screen showed three entries: a mid-conversation fragment from a different project directory (5d ago), a brief informal reply with no technical context (1w ago), and an off-topic question (1w ago).

Meanwhile, multiple recent sessions with substantive technical content were skipped entirely (database discussions, code investigation work, script development, etc.). One of the displayed entries didn't even belong to the same project directory.

I verified by checking the actual session files — the displayed messages are not a simple reverse-chronological list of recent session openers. The selection logic is unclear and the results feel arbitrary.

Expected behavior

Recent activity should either:

1. Show a clear reverse-chronological list of the most recent sessions (not individual messages), or
2. Show session summaries/topics rather than raw first messages, which are often low-context fragments

Why this matters

Displaying arbitrary message fragments — especially terse or informal ones — feels unhelpful. Users see a confusing highlight reel instead of a useful overview of their recent work.

Environment

• Claude Code v2.1.92
• macOS