Desktop app generates a new plugin hash dir on every remote SSH connection — plugins re-upload each time and accumulate indefinitely

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?

Summary

When using the Claude Code Windows desktop app to connect to a remote SSH server, the app creates a fresh
hash-named directory under ~/.claude/remote/plugins/ on every single connection — even when reconnecting to
the same workspace path. Each new dir triggers a full re-upload of the same plugin tarballs and a fresh
"Setting up plugins…" step. Over a single day's worth of normal reconnects this accumulated to 30 identical
copies of anthropic-skills@1.0.0 in my remote plugins dir.

Environment

• Desktop app: Claude Code for Windows (please add your version — Settings → About)
• Remote server CLI: 2.1.121 (from ~/.claude/remote/ccd-cli/)
• Remote OS: CloudLinux 8.10, kernel 4.18.0-553.111.1.lve.el8.x86_64, x86_64
• CloudLinux CageFS: present (per-user filesystem isolation)
• Connection: standard OpenSSH with key auth as user claudeadmin
• Workspace: same folder on every reconnect (/home/<sitename>/public_html)

Steps to reproduce

1. From the Windows desktop app, open a remote workspace at a path on the SSH server.
2. Wait for plugins setup to complete and the CLI session to start.
3. Disconnect the desktop app.
4. Reconnect to the same folder.
5. Observe ~/.claude/remote/plugins/ on the server.

Expected

• Plugin install location is keyed deterministically (e.g., on workspace path or plugin identity) so

reconnections reuse the existing dir and skip "Setting up plugins…".

Actual

• Each reconnect creates a brand-new hash dir, e.g. (real hashes from one user's day):

ad26ee25d8e8af15 anthropic-skills@1.0.0 2026-05-04 19:48
53f66aa16b83d141 anthropic-skills@1.0.0 2026-05-04 20:22
440ab60d659c62c9 anthropic-skills@1.0.0 2026-05-04 20:25 (partial — failed)
327c7c5d80e50417 anthropic-skills@1.0.0 2026-05-04 20:29

• All four were created reconnecting to the same workspace path.
• Each new connect causes a fresh ~516KB plugin tarball upload + extraction.
• Over hours of normal use, ~30 duplicate dirs accumulated, all containing the same anthropic-skills v1.0.0.

Downstream issues observed

1. Slow handshake on every connect — UI sits at "Setting up plugins…" while the same plugin tarball uploads

again.

1. Plugin dir growth is unbounded — naive cleanup is not safe because the live CLI process holds the most

recent dir open.

1. Stacked --serve processes — when a reconnect happens before the previous server's connection cleanup,

multiple ~/.claude/remote/server --serve processes stack up trying to bind the same rpc.sock. Saw 3
simultaneously after rapid reconnects; the desktop app's handshake then hung indefinitely.

1. Stalled uploads leave partial tarballs — partial tar.gz files sit in the plugins dir after a failed

handshake; nothing cleans them up.

1. CLI re-download — on first install, the 247MB CLI archive downloaded from downloads.claude.ai repeatedly

because the install logic didn't recognize the cached file as valid. Three concurrent --install processes
ran for 5–16 minutes each.

Suggested fix direction

• Hash plugin install dirs by (plugin_source, version) (or workspace + plugin), not by per-connection state.
• Before spawning a new --serve, check for and reuse an existing one.
• After successful install, clean stale partial tarballs and dirs older than the active one.

What Should Happen?

• Hash plugin install dirs by (plugin_source, version) (or workspace + plugin), not by per-connection state.
• Before spawning a new --serve, check for and reuse an existing one.
• After successful install, clean stale partial tarballs and dirs older than the active one.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

see summary

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

latest

Platform

Other

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Windows Terminal

Additional Information

_No response_