[BUG] Desktop sidebar dot stuck in orange/brown "waiting for approval" color on sessions that have already ended with no pending permission request

Note: This issue was written and filed by Claude Code on behalf of the user.

What's Wrong?

In the Claude Desktop app (macOS), the session status dot in the left sidebar sometimes gets stuck showing the orange/brown "waiting for approval / needs input" color for sessions that have already ended completely. The conversation is finished, the turn has ended, and there is no pending permission request — opening the session confirms nothing is waiting for the user — yet the dot stays in the permission-waiting color indefinitely.

This is distinct from the two known neighboring reports:

• #73553 — the running (blinking) dot stuck on ended sessions. Same build also reproduces that one; this issue is about the dot being stuck with the wrong classification (permission-waiting), not just stuck on.
• #59740 — sessions that genuinely need input with no way to dismiss the state. Here the session does not need input at all; the state itself is wrong.

Both stuck variants (blinking-running and brown-waiting) affect only some ended sessions while others display correctly, so this looks like stale per-session status state rather than a global rendering issue.

What Should Happen?

Once a session's turn has ended and no permission prompt is pending, the sidebar dot should return to the neutral/idle state. The permission-waiting color should only ever be shown while an actual approval request is open.

Steps to Reproduce

No deterministic repro yet — observed recurringly during normal multi-session use:

1. Run several sessions in the Desktop app; some involve permission prompts during their turns.
2. Let the sessions finish naturally (turn complete, all prompts resolved, nothing running).
3. After some time, observe the sidebar: some ended sessions show the orange/brown permission-waiting dot even though opening them shows no pending approval and the conversation is over.
4. The state persists indefinitely (does not clear on its own or on opening the session).

Impact

The permission-waiting color is the strongest attention signal in the sidebar — it means "Claude is blocked on you". When ended sessions falsely show it, the user keeps checking sessions that need nothing, and real approval requests get lost in the noise. Combined with #73553, the sidebar status dots become untrustworthy overall.

Version

Claude Desktop 1.18286.0 (259c3f), build date 2026-07-02

Operating System

macOS 15.7.5 (Darwin 24.6.0), Apple Silicon (arm64)

Claude Model

Fable 5 (claude-fable-5)