[BUG] Claude Desktop app - chat area renders blank on load, Ctrl+R required to display messages

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?

When opening any chat in the Claude Desktop app (Windows), the conversation area loads blank — only the Anthropic logo is visible and no messages render. Pressing Ctrl+R forces the chat to display correctly, but this happens consistently across multiple chats every session.

Steps already tried:

• Fully quit and relaunched the app
• Deleted the Cache folder from %AppData%\Claude manually
• Used built-in Help → Troubleshooting → Clear Cache and Restart
• Used built-in Help → Troubleshooting → Reset App Data

None of the above resolved the issue. Ctrl+R remains the only reliable workaround.

App version: 1.7196.0
OS: Windows 11

What Should Happen?

Chats should render and display messages immediately on load without requiring a manual Ctrl+R refresh

Error Messages/Logs

1. Open the Claude Desktop app on Windows
2. Click on any existing chat from the sidebar
3. Chat area loads blank — only the Anthropic logo spinner is visible
4. Press Ctrl+R — messages then render correctly
5. Repeat with any other chat — issue occurs consistently every session

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open the Claude Desktop app on Windows
2. Click on any existing chat from the sidebar
3. Chat area loads blank — only the Anthropic logo spinner is visible
4. Press Ctrl+R — messages then render correctly
5. Repeat with any other chat — issue occurs consistently every session

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

1.7196.0

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Windows Terminal

Additional Information

<img width="661" height="906" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7e81da7a-9cad-442c-9cf3-6a9d70cddcf0" />