Preserve original filename when images are pasted/attached into chat

Problem

When an image is pasted or drag-attached into Claude Code (desktop app or CLI), the model receives only the pixel data — the original filename and EXIF are stripped. The filename is often load-bearing context.

Real example (today)

I recovered 19 phone photos whose Samsung filenames (20240311_151708.jpg = capture timestamp, to the second) were the key to matching them against dated journal entries. Pasted into chat, Claude received anonymous pixels and could not match them by name; the same files read from disk matched instantly.

The punchline: one photo shows a projector screen displaying a clock at 3:17:08 pm — the filename says 151708. Claude could read the clock in the pixels but had no idea the filename agreed, because the filename never arrived.

Ask

Inject the original filename alongside the attachment — e.g. an adjacent text annotation like [attached: IMG_2903.jpg] — and ideally the capture date. The Anthropic API image block has no filename field, so this looks like harness-level plumbing rather than an API change.

Workaround today

Reference files by path, or point Claude at the folder and let it read from disk — works perfectly, but defeats the point of drag-and-drop.

Environment: Claude Code desktop app, macOS (darwin 25.2).

Filed via Claude Code — the model in this session was the one who couldn't see the filenames.