[BUG][Claude Desktop] Sort by: Recency has no effect when Group by: Project

Note: This is a bug in the Claude Desktop app, not the Claude Code CLI. The anthropics/claude-code issue tracker appears to be the closest public reporting venue — please re-route if there's a better one. The CLI-specific fields in the template (Claude Code version, terminal, platform) have been answered as best-effort and the app version is included in the body.

What's Wrong?

In the Claude Desktop session organizer (the sliders/filter popover at the top of the sessions list), setting Sort by → Recency has no effect when Group by → Project is also selected. Sessions remain ordered alphabetically by project name (2023-macbook-pro, 2025, advanced-dungeons-and-dragons, ai-gm, ...) regardless of which "Sort by" option is chosen.

The "Recency" radio shows as checked in the menu, but the visible order on the page does not change.

What Should Happen?

When Sort by: Recency is selected, project groups (and/or the sessions within them) should be ordered by most-recent activity first, not alphabetically by project name. The current behavior makes the "Sort by" control appear to do nothing whenever grouping is enabled, which is the default.

It's also worth clarifying in the UI whether "Sort by" is meant to order the groups (projects) or the sessions inside each group — currently neither appears to respond to the Recency setting under Group by: Project.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop and view the sessions list.
2. Click the sliders icon at the top-right of the sessions list to open the filter/sort popover.
3. Confirm Group by is set to Project (default).
4. Click Sort by → choose Alphabetically. Note the order of projects.
5. Click Sort by → choose Recency. The selected radio updates to Recency, but the order of projects on screen does not change — they remain alphabetical.
6. For comparison: change Group by to a different value (e.g., none) and Sort by → Recency does take effect there.

Additional Information

• Application: Claude Desktop (macOS) — not the Claude Code CLI.
• Claude Desktop version: Claude 1.5354.0 (9a9e3d) 2026-04-29T01:14:34.000Z
• OS: macOS Tahoe 26.3.1 (a) (25D771280a)
• Screenshot of the popover with Group by: Project and Sort by: Recency selected is attached below.

The "Claude Code Version", "Platform", and "Terminal" fields in the template are not applicable to this bug (it's the desktop app, not the CLI), but the form requires them — values entered are placeholders.

<img width="574" height="273" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8f116129-ed71-4181-952c-ea564fd53c4e" />