[FEATURE] Allow configuring the Cowork workspace base path (Documents/Claude)
Preflight Checklist
- [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
- [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)
Problem Statement
The ~/Documents/Claude/ folder is currently hardcoded as the Cowork working directory for Artifacts and Scheduled tasks. During initial setup I was prompted to choose a folder location, but the app ignored my selection and created ~/Documents/Claude/ anyway (confirmed bug #54138).
Proposed Solution
Please add a setting — either in Claude Desktop Preferences or claude_desktop_config.json — to configure this base path. My preferred location is ~/Documents/Systems/. This would allow users to consolidate all Claude working files inside an existing project structure rather than having a standalone sibling folder in Documents.
Alternative Solutions
I've tried using a macOS symlink: ln -s ~/Documents/Systems ~/Documents/Claude. This redirects all app writes to my preferred location and works functionally, but the folder still appears in Finder and iCloud Drive, creating visual clutter. The chflags hidden workaround doesn't persist through iCloud sync.
Priority
High - Significant impact on productivity
Feature Category
Configuration and settings
Use Case Example
I maintain a structured project folder at ~/Documents/Systems/ that contains all my Claude automation files, scheduled tasks, skill files, and artifacts. When Cowork creates ~/Documents/Claude/ as a sibling folder, it splits my Claude working files across two locations with no way to consolidate them. I need to reference artifacts and scheduled task outputs from within my Systems project, but they land in a separate directory I didn't choose and can't redirect through the app.
Additional Context
Related issue: #54138 (artifacts folder hardcoded, ignores selected project folder).
The scheduled-tasks.json file at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/[session-id]/scheduled-tasks.json stores absolute filePaths per task and CAN be edited manually to point to a different directory — this works for scheduled tasks. The Artifacts path appears to be hardcoded in the app bundle (confirmed in ion-dist i18n files). A single configurable base path setting would fix both.
This issue has 7 comments on GitHub. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗