[BUG] Cowork Live Artifacts hardcode ~/Documents/Claude/Artifacts as mount path, ignoring user-configured folder and breaking macOS privacy controls
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?
Cowork Live Artifacts hardcode ~/Documents/Claude/Artifacts as mount path, ignoring user-configured folder and breaking macOS privacy controls
Problem Statement
Cowork Live Artifacts always attempt to mount to ~/Documents/Claude/Artifacts/<artifact-name>, regardless of which folder the user has connected in the Cowork session. This causes two compounding issues:
- The mount path is hardcoded and cannot be changed via any setting or config file
- On macOS, virtiofs cannot stat ~/Documents without explicit "Documents Folder" privacy permission granted to Claude — an all-or-nothing permission that grants access to the entire Documents folder
Users who store their Claude working directory outside of ~/Documents (e.g., ~/Claude/) have no way to use Live Artifacts without granting broader filesystem access than they are comfortable with.
Workarounds Attempted
- Deleting and recreating the Live Artifact: does not resolve, same path is used
- Creating a symlink from ~/Documents/Claude/Artifacts to ~/Claude/Artifacts: virtiofs fails with "operation not permitted" before it can follow the symlink
- Searching config files (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, ~/.claude/): no stored path reference found, confirming the path is hardcoded in the app or stored server-side
Suggested Fix
Mount the Live Artifact folder relative to the user-connected Cowork session folder, not a hardcoded ~/Documents path. This is consistent with how the Code tab already handles folder selection.
Related issues: #27697, #47179
Environment
- OS: macOS
- Claude Desktop version: latest (April 2026)
- Feature: Cowork Live Artifacts
What Should Happen?
Cowork should mount the Live Artifact folder relative to the folder the user connected in the session, not a hardcoded path under ~/Documents.
Error Messages/Logs
RPC error: failed to mount /mnt/.virtiofs-root/shared/Users/<username>/Documents/Claude/Artifacts/<artifact-name> as .artifacts/<artifact-name>: source path is not accessible: stat /mnt/.virtiofs-root/shared/Users/<username>/Documents/Claude/Artifacts/<artifact-name>: operation not permitted
Steps to Reproduce
- Set up Claude working folder at ~/Claude/Artifacts (outside ~/Documents)
- Open Cowork and connect ~/Claude/Artifacts as the session folder
- Create or open a Live Artifact
- Observe that Cowork ignores the connected folder and attempts to mount ~/Documents/Claude/Artifacts/<artifact-name> instead
Claude Model
Opus
Is this a regression?
I don't know
Last Working Version
_No response_
Claude Code Version
Claude for Mac 1.3883.0 | 2.1.118 (Claude Code)
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
macOS
Terminal/Shell
Terminal.app (macOS)
Additional Information
_No response_
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