No UI to restore/unarchive archived sessions in Desktop app

Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened May 26, 2026 by ICERainbow666 Closed May 29, 2026

Bug Description

After archiving a session in the Claude Code Desktop app, there is no way to restore it through the UI. The only workaround is to manually edit the session metadata JSON file and change isArchived from true to false.

How to Reproduce

  1. Open Claude Desktop app
  2. Archive a session from the session list
  3. Try to find and restore the archived session
  4. No "Archived" filter, tab, or restore option exists in the UI

Current Workaround

Manually edit the metadata file at:

AppData/Local/Claude-3p/claude-code-sessions/{group}/{sub}/local_{sessionId}.json

Change "isArchived": true"isArchived": false

This requires AI assistance or technical knowledge to locate and edit the file — not a reasonable expectation for regular users.

Expected Behavior

  • An "Archived" section or filter in the session list sidebar
  • A right-click context menu option to "Restore" or "Unarchive" a session
  • Or a Settings page that lists archived sessions with an unarchive action

Environment

  • Claude Code version: 2.1.149
  • OS: Windows 11 Pro

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