### Preflight Checklist - [x] I have searched [existing issues](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20label%3Abug) 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? In the Claude Code desktop app, my sessions in the left sidebar were organized using **Group by → Custom groups**. After I switched between my two Claude

[BUG] Custom sidebar groups disappear after switching Claude accounts and back (desktop app)

Status Open

Reported on v2.1.87

Maintainer reply None cached

Activity 3 comments · opened Jul 21, 2026

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?

In the Claude Code desktop app, my sessions in the left sidebar were organized using Group by → Custom groups. After I switched between my two Claude accounts and then switched back to the account where the groups were created, the sidebar now shows every session as a flat, ungrouped list — even though the filter menu still reads Group by: Custom groups.

No sessions were lost — all of them are still present and openable. Only the custom grouping fails to render. Status and Environment filters are both set to All, so nothing is being filtered out.

What Should Happen?

Returning to the account that owns the custom groups should restore the grouped sidebar view, matching the still-selected "Group by: Custom groups" setting.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

In the Claude Code desktop app, organize sidebar sessions using Group by → Custom groups.
Switch to a second Claude account (I use one account per organization).
Switch back to the original account — the one where the custom groups were created.
Observe: the sidebar shows all sessions as a flat, ungrouped list.

Actual: "Group by" still shows "Custom groups", Status = All, Environment = All, but no groups render.
Expected: the custom groups reappear.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.87 (Claude Code); desktop app (Claude.app) 1.22209.3

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

Related / likely duplicate of #79134 — same symptom on the same build (1.22209.3). Filing separately with my own reproduction (mine coincided with switching Claude accounts); happy for the maintainers to merge or link these.

This is about the desktop app UI (the session sidebar), not the CLI in a terminal — so the Terminal/Shell field is not really applicable here.

Environment: macOS (Darwin 25.5.0). I use two separate Claude accounts (one per organization) and switch between them inside the app. All sessions remained intact; only the custom-group organization disappeared. Clearing filters, re-selecting "Custom groups", and restarting the app did not restore the groups.

View original on GitHub ↗

3 Comments

kurt-rb · 1 month ago

thanks for reporting. found on search for this issue. just happened to me as well, Claude Code desktop app. made a first custom folder. lost all my working folders and organization. it would seems they were moved to 'ungrouped' but actually the total volume of sessions is too low so they are not in the sidebar anymore, restarting did not surface them. the only session to survive? one that was pinned.

kurt-rb · 1 month ago

btw. found this that someone built to resurface lost sessions. have not tried it. https://github.com/nonatofabio/claude-sessions

hsien-lin · 1 month ago

Adding a variant of this bug with an extra detail that may help pinpoint the root cause.

Symptom (differs from OP): My own custom groups also disappeared, but in my case the panel is not empty and not a flat list. Instead, it is populated with custom groups created by other members of my organization on their own machines (group names in a language I don't use with certain teammates, all showing "Drag or move sessions here" because none of my sessions belong to them). My own groups are not shown at all.

Why this matters: OP's report reads as a client-side render failure. In my case, seeing group metadata that belongs to other users in my org suggests the backend is serving group data at the wrong scope — likely an org-scoped fetch where it should be per-user/per-machine. That's a cross-account metadata leak, not just a UI glitch, and probably points at a clearer root cause than "grouping stopped rendering."

Verified locally:

All my own sessions are intact (session list API returns all of them with correct cwd and titles).
The foreign group names do not exist in ~/.claude.json, any file under ~/.claude/backups/, or anywhere under ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/. They must be coming from the backend at runtime.

Environment:

macOS (Darwin 21.6.0)
Claude Code desktop app, single account signed in
No recent account switching that I recall, unlike OP's trigger

Did not fix it: Clear filters, toggling Group by (Recency → Custom groups), toggling Environment (Local ↔ All), full Cmd+Q restart.