[BUG] `/clear` in Claude Desktop resets current session in-place instead of creating a new session

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?

In Claude Desktop (macOS), running /clear resets the current session in-place rather than creating a new session. The current session is renamed to "General coding session" in the sidebar and its message content is replaced with "No messages yet" — making the entire session history inaccessible through the UI.

In the terminal CLI, /clear correctly creates a new context window while preserving the original session as a separate, accessible entry in the session list. The desktop app does not match this behavior.

The raw .jsonl transcript file survives on disk at ~/.claude/projects/<project>/<uuid>.jsonl, but because the desktop app's session cache entry is reset rather than a new one being created, the transcript is permanently orphaned — there is no UI path to access it.

What Should Happen?

/clear in Claude Desktop should behave the same as in the terminal CLI: start a fresh context window (new session entry in the sidebar) while preserving the original session — including its title and full conversation history — as a separate, accessible entry.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop (macOS) and start a session with at least a few messages in it
2. Run /clear in the chat input
3. Sidebar: the session is renamed to "General coding session"
4. Main panel: "No messages yet" — all prior messages are gone
5. Navigate away and back; restart the app — the history does not return
6. Confirm the .jsonl transcript still exists on disk at ~/.claude/projects/.../<original-uuid>.jsonl — data is intact but inaccessible

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude 1.15200.0 (250bae) 2026-06-23T05:40:53.000Z

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

Screenshots

Before running /clear
<img width="1392" height="1522" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f7ac0158-4b0a-4dd0-9d08-19a8d139b2b9" />

After running /clear
<img width="1392" height="1522" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1ef0c822-ff47-4c03-93a5-8c0875d4f361" />

Related Issues

• #59534 — same /clear session-preservation failure in CLI (closed stale); my bug is the desktop-app manifestation
• #61172 — open CLI issue for the name-inheritance half of the same problem