[DOCS]

Documentation Type

Missing documentation (feature not documented)

Documentation Location

_No response_

Section/Topic

[BUG] Existing project sessions show "Session not found on disk" although session JSONL files still exist after restoring .claude from Recycle Bin

Current Documentation

_No response_

What's Wrong or Missing?

Summary

Claude Code can no longer open any of my previous sessions after I accidentally deleted my .claude folder and restored it from the Windows Recycle Bin.

The project conversation files still exist on disk, but Claude Code reports:

Session not found on disk

for every previous session.

Environment

• Claude Code version: 2.1.202
• Platform: Windows 11
• Install method: Native
• Background server: Ephemeral

Steps to reproduce

1. Close Claude Code.
2. Accidentally delete the .claude directory.
3. Restore the entire .claude directory from the Windows Recycle Bin.
4. Launch Claude Code again.
5. Previous conversations still appear in the session list.
6. Click any previous conversation.

Expected behavior

Claude Code should reopen the existing conversation because the conversation file still exists.

Actual behavior

Every previous conversation fails with:

Session not found on disk

Evidence

The conversation files are still present.

Example:

C:\Users\DELL.SXT602\.claude\projects\D--programing-lms-f-b\6f1c4f8e-c651-4302-bc83-f6d27e173a49.jsonl

The file contains the same Session ID:

6f1c4f8e-c651-4302-bc83-f6d27e173a49

The JSONL file contains the complete conversation history, timestamps, prompts, tool results and metadata.

The problem is that Claude Code no longer associates the session list with these existing files.

Additional observations:

• .claude/projects contains all conversation JSONL files.
• .claude/sessions is empty.
• No obvious session index/database appears to exist anymore.
• claude doctor reports no issues.

Request

Could you please advise whether there is a way to rebuild the session index from the existing project JSONL files?

If not, this appears to be a recovery bug because the conversation data still exists but Claude Code cannot reopen it.

Suggested Improvement

Summary

Claude Code can no longer open any of my previous sessions after I accidentally deleted my .claude folder and restored it from the Windows Recycle Bin.

The project conversation files still exist on disk, but Claude Code reports:

Session not found on disk

for every previous session.

Environment

• Claude Code version: 2.1.202
• Platform: Windows 11
• Install method: Native
• Background server: Ephemeral

Steps to reproduce

1. Close Claude Code.
2. Accidentally delete the .claude directory.
3. Restore the entire .claude directory from the Windows Recycle Bin.
4. Launch Claude Code again.
5. Previous conversations still appear in the session list.
6. Click any previous conversation.

Expected behavior

Claude Code should reopen the existing conversation because the conversation file still exists.

Actual behavior

Every previous conversation fails with:

Session not found on disk

Evidence

The conversation files are still present.

Example:

C:\Users\DELL.SXT602\.claude\projects\D--programing-lms-f-b\6f1c4f8e-c651-4302-bc83-f6d27e173a49.jsonl

The file contains the same Session ID:

6f1c4f8e-c651-4302-bc83-f6d27e173a49

The JSONL file contains the complete conversation history, timestamps, prompts, tool results and metadata.

The problem is that Claude Code no longer associates the session list with these existing files.

Additional observations:

• .claude/projects contains all conversation JSONL files.
• .claude/sessions is empty.
• No obvious session index/database appears to exist anymore.
• claude doctor reports no issues.

Request

Could you please advise whether there is a way to rebuild the session index from the existing project JSONL files?

If not, this appears to be a recovery bug because the conversation data still exists but Claude Code cannot reopen it.

Impact

High - Prevents users from using a feature

Additional Context

_No response_