## Problem When starting a new session in the Claude Code Desktop App (Windows), there is no way to choose or change the working directory: - **Before the first message**: No folder picker is shown. The app automatically uses the last-used directory. - **After the first message**: The directory path appears but cannot be changed. This means every new session is locked to whatever directory was used previously. For users working across multiple projects (e.g. Unity, Python tools, C# projects),

Desktop App: Allow choosing working directory before first message

Status Fixed / completed

Maintainer reply None cached

Workaround ✓ Mentioned in description ↑

Activity 3 comments · opened Jul 3, 2026 · closed Aug 25, 2026

Problem

When starting a new session in the Claude Code Desktop App (Windows), there is no way to choose or change the working directory:

Before the first message: No folder picker is shown. The app automatically uses the last-used directory.
After the first message: The directory path appears but cannot be changed.

This means every new session is locked to whatever directory was used previously. For users working across multiple projects (e.g. Unity, Python tools, C# projects), this forces them into the wrong project context every time.

Impact

Wrong CLAUDE.md and memory files are loaded
Claude wastes tokens trying to orient itself in an unrelated codebase
Users cannot correct the directory once the session has started

Expected behavior

A folder picker should be available before sending the first message, or
The working directory should be changeable at any point during the session

Current workaround

Use the CLI instead: claude --cwd "C:\path\to\project"

Environment

Claude Code Desktop App on Windows 10
Version: 1.x (latest)

View original on GitHub ↗

3 Comments

borian-dev · 1 month ago

+1. A related case worth folding in: sessions migrated from the terminal CLI into the desktop app open with no working directory at all (blank next to the title), and there's no way to attach one afterwards — so the chat is stuck with no project context. Being able to set/change the working directory on an existing session (a click-to-set on the directory pill, or a /cd-style command) would fix both this and the "can't change after first message" case.

pgalbraith · 1 month ago

How on earth can this be not fixed for two weeks? The desktop app is useless now for anyone who works on more than one project, as far as I can tell.

TitaniumMoose · 1 month ago

I'm evaluating Claude Code for our dev team's rollout, and this will become a blocker at scale.
New Session silently reuses the last folder, and since a session's folder can't be changed after creation, anyone who forgets has to throw the session away and restart (also loading the wrong project/memory context).
There's no setting to default or require a folder, the switcher is a hidden pill (#76960), and the /desktop handoff errors on version skew — so there's no workaround.

Worth adding why this is easy to miss: the "Welcome back" greeting reads as
"you're home, go," so your eye jumps to the first session and skips everything
below — including the folder control. The layout steers attention right past the
one thing that matters. A folder prompt on New Session (or required selection)
fixes it by putting the choice in the path you can't skip.

Please add a folder prompt on New Session and/or a setting to set a default or require explicit selection.