### Preflight Checklist - [x] I have searched [existing issues](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues) and this hasn't been reported yet (closest are #75424/#55456, which are about MCPs/settings bleed — not transcript loss) - [x] This is a single bug report ### Environment - Claude Code: 2.1.208 (first observed on 2.1.207) - OS: Linux ARM64 (Kali rolling, ClockworkPi uConsole CM4) - Terminal: VTE and plain PTY (reproduces in both; no sandbox involved) ### What's Wrong? When runni

[BUG] Interactive session with custom CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR writes no transcript JSONL anywhere (headless -p works) — 2.1.207+

Status Fixed / completed

Reported on v2.1.208

Maintainer reply ✓ Yes — bcherny

Activity 3 comments · opened Jul 18, 2026 · closed Aug 17, 2026

💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (bcherny, collaborator) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

Preflight Checklist

[x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet (closest are #75424/#55456, which are about MCPs/settings bleed — not transcript loss)
[x] This is a single bug report

Environment

Claude Code: 2.1.208 (first observed on 2.1.207)
OS: Linux ARM64 (Kali rolling, ClockworkPi uConsole CM4)
Terminal: VTE and plain PTY (reproduces in both; no sandbox involved)

What's Wrong?

When running an interactive session with a custom CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR (isolated profile, logged in via /login inside that profile), the conversation works normally on screen, but no session transcript is ever written — projects/<cwd-slug>/<session-id>.jsonl is not created under the custom dir, and nothing is written under the default ~/.claude either. The session is unrecoverable (--resume has nothing to resume) and any tooling that reads transcripts (usage/cost meters) sees nothing.

Other files ARE written to the custom dir during the same session: shell-snapshots/, session-env/<session-uuid>, .claude.json (project entry + history), and an empty sessions/ directory appears.

What works, same binary, same day:

Headless claude -p "..." with the same custom CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR → transcript written correctly to $CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR/projects/<slug>/<id>.jsonl.
Interactive with the default config (no CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR) → transcript written correctly.

Steps to Reproduce

export CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/claude-profile-test
claude          # complete /login inside this profile once
# have any conversation (confirmed reply on screen), then /exit
find "$CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR" -name '*.jsonl'        # -> nothing
find ~/.claude/projects -newer /tmp/marker -name '*.jsonl'  # -> nothing for that cwd

What Should Happen?

The transcript should be written to $CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR/projects/<cwd-slug>/<session-id>.jsonl, as it is for headless runs with the same profile and for interactive runs with the default config.

Notes

Possibly related to the session daemon: sessions/<pid>.json registry and daemon sockets live under /tmp/cc-daemon-<uid>/, and the daemon appears to be per-default-config. The v2.1.208 release notes mention daemon fixes, but this still reproduces on 2.1.208.
Impact: every multi-profile setup using the CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR pattern (as recommended in #261) silently loses all interactive history/resume for those profiles.

View original on GitHub ↗

3 Comments

bcherny collaborator · 1 month ago

Tried to reproduce on 2.1.233 (Linux, tmux): fresh CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=/tmp/cc-alt, interactive session, 2 prompts, /exit — the transcript was written to $CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR/projects/<cwd-slug>/<session-id>.jsonl, and --resume finds it. Same for claude -p. So a custom CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR by itself doesn't cause this.

Your exact symptom (interactive writes no transcript while -p does, and shell-snapshots/ etc. are still written) matches one specific intended behavior: an interactive session that inherits the CLAUDE_CODE_CHILD_SESSION marker (set in every subprocess a Claude Code session spawns) or CLAUDE_CODE_SKIP_PROMPT_HISTORY skips transcript saving so nested sessions don't pollute --resume; headless -p still saves. These can leak in via a wrapper script, shell profile, or a tmux/screen server that was originally started from inside a Claude Code session. I verified on 2.1.233 that setting the marker reproduces your report exactly.

Could you check in the shell where you launch the isolated profile:

env | grep -E 'CLAUDE_CODE_(CHILD_SESSION|SKIP_PROMPT_HISTORY)' (and tmux show-environment -g | grep CLAUDE if in tmux)
On ≥2.1.217 the session shows a persistent "Transcript saving is off — …" warning under the input box when this is the cause — do you see it?

If a var is set, unset it (or launch with CLAUDE_CODE_FORCE_SESSION_PERSISTENCE=1) — see the session saving warnings docs. If neither var is set and you still lose transcripts on 2.1.233 with no warning shown, please reply with the output above and we'll dig further.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

github-actions[bot] · 1 month ago

We weren't able to reproduce this. Could you provide steps to trigger the issue — what you ran, what happened, and what you expected? This issue will be closed automatically if there's no activity within 7 days.

github-actions[bot] · 8 days ago

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.