[BUG] Claude Desktop auto-update wiped Cowork projects list and 5 scheduled tasks on macOS

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?

After Claude Desktop auto-updated to v1.2773.0, my Cowork projects panel is completely empty. I had multiple active projects and 5 scheduled tasks, all gone from the UI.

This looks like the same root cause as #35131 and the earlier #29373 (marked stale without a fix). Project data and task files are still on disk. The app just doesn't read them anymore.

Confirmed intact on disk:

• Project folder at /Users/markfreedman/Dropbox/claude-cowork/ with CLAUDE.md, subprojects, and scheduled task scripts all present and untouched
• ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/ still contains both local-agent-mode-sessions/ and claude-code-sessions/ directories, suggesting the migration ran but didn't rebuild the index the UI reads from

What I already tried:

• Full Cmd+Q and relaunch
• Verified account is correct
• Checked Projects panel filters and dropdowns
• Confirmed config.json has no project list and no backup files exist in the Claude Desktop data folder

What Should Happen?

After an auto-update, existing projects and scheduled tasks should remain visible in the UI since the underlying data is still present on disk. The migration should rebuild whatever index the UI reads from, not just copy files between directories.

Error Messages/Logs

No error messages shown in the UI. The Projects panel simply appears empty with no indication that projects previously existed.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Be on a working install of Claude Desktop with active Cowork projects and scheduled tasks
2. Allow Claude Desktop to auto-update to v1.2773.0 (884b37), built 2026-04-15
3. Relaunch the app
4. Open the Projects section in Cowork
5. Observe that the panel is empty even though project folders and files remain intact on disk
6. Open Scheduled tasks and observe all previously configured tasks are gone

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

unknown, prior to 1.2773.0

Claude Code Version

1.2773.0 (884b37) — Claude Desktop (not Claude Code CLI)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

NOTE: This bug is about Claude Desktop's Cowork feature, not the Claude Code CLI. Filing here because this repo tracks Cowork issues (see related issues #35131 and #29373 with area:cowork label).

Exact build: 1.2773.0 (884b37), built 2026-04-15T14:32:09.000Z
Hardware: M2 Mac Mini (Apple Silicon)

Diagnostic info gathered:

• ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/config.json contains no project references (only locale, theme, auth, and coworkNetworkMode settings)
• ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/ contains both local-agent-mode-sessions/ and claude-code-sessions/ directories, consistent with the migration described in #35131
• No backup files exist in the Claude Desktop data folder
• find on the data folder for any file matching project returned nothing, suggesting the project registry lives only in IndexedDB or Local Storage LevelDB
• User project folders on disk (e.g. ~/Dropbox/claude-cowork/) are fully intact with all CLAUDE.md files, subprojects, and scheduled task scripts present

Before the update I had multiple active Cowork projects and 5 scheduled tasks configured. All are absent from the UI after the update. The Projects section and Scheduled section render but are empty.