[BUG] Cowork: folders attached in Project → Context are not mounted in new chat sessions
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?
Same bug, but the documented workaround does NOT fix it for me.
Setup: Cowork project with Production_server and Sandbox_server folders added
in Project → Context. Folders show as attached in the Context panel.
What happens: new chat sessions in this project do not mount these folders at
all — only the project's docs/knowledge (files, memory.md) come through, no
filesystem access to the attached folders.
Tried, none worked:
- Full app restart (Cmd+Q, not just closing the window)
- Confirmed app is on the latest version (Check for Updates)
- Removed and re-added both folders in Project → Context
- The "send a message first, then mount" workaround from #76183 — mount
control still doesn't pick up the folders after sending a message
Only workaround that works: staying in an already-active session from before
this started, where the folders happened to mount correctly. Any brand new
session in this project is broken.
Would appreciate this being looked at separately if it's not exactly the same
root cause as #76183, since the standard workaround here doesn't apply.
What Should Happen?
Folders attached to a Cowork project via Project → Context should automatically mount in every new chat session started within that project, without requiring manual reattachment or the "send a message first, then attach" workaround.
Error Messages/Logs
No error is shown in the UI — the session silently proceeds without access to the attached folders. Asking Claude to list its mounted paths in a broken session returns only: outputs, uploads, .claude/projects, .claude/skills, .projects/<project-name> — the folders attached in Context (Production_server, Sandbox_server) are simply absent from the mount table.Steps to Reproduce
- Create a Cowork project and add one or more local/iCloud folders under Project → Context.
- Start a brand new chat session inside that project.
- Ask Claude to check which folders/paths are accessible in the session.
- Observe: only the project's docs/knowledge (files, memory.md) are present — the folders attached in Context are not mounted.
- Try the following, none of which restore the mount for new sessions in this project:
- Full app restart (Cmd+Q, not just closing the window)
- Confirming the app is on the latest version
- Removing and re-adding the folders in Project → Context
- Sending a placeholder message first, then attaching the folder (workaround from #76183)
Claude Model
None
Is this a regression?
Yes, this worked in a previous version
Last Working Version
_No response_
Claude Code Version
Claude 1.22209.0 (77c938)
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
macOS
Terminal/Shell
Terminal.app (macOS)
Additional Information
_No response_
3 Comments
Related data point, possibly same root cause, possibly adjacent.
My project's designated folder also failed to mount automatically in a new session, matching this report. But I found something more specific: the project-level CLAUDE.md content itself does load into the model's context correctly at session start (confirmed via the system reminder passed to the model — the project instructions text was present verbatim, including an explicit line telling the model to connect the folder "for every session, new and existing"). Despite that instruction being present and read, the model did not proactively call the folder-mount tool at session start.
In my case, moving the identical instruction text out of the project-level CLAUDE.md and into the global/UI-level custom instructions field caused it to be acted on correctly. That is a single anecdotal data point from one session, not a controlled test, but worth someone verifying.
So there may be two separate issues bundled under "folders don't mount": (1) the mount itself failing silently as described in this report, and (2) even when instruction text is present and loaded, project-scoped instructions may not carry the same behavioral weight as global instructions for triggering a proactive tool call. Worth checking if a fix for one addresses the other.
Platform: macOS, Cowork mode.
Not reproducing on 1.24012.9 (03c61d). Update from my side: this is no longer reproducing for me. Folders attached in Project → Context now mount correctly in new sessions, with no workaround applied. I’m not sure whether a fix landed or the conditions changed on my end, so flagging it as “stopped reproducing” rather than confirmed-fixed.
Closing this as completed.
@dzacca - thanks for the detailed follow-up. Your second point is a different failure mode than what I reported: in my case the mount itself failed silently, in yours the instruction loaded but didn’t trigger the tool call. That one isn’t covered by this closing, so it’s probably worth its own issue - the global-vs-project instruction weighting is a separate question from mount reliability, and it’ll get lost in a closed thread otherwise.
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