[BUG] Claude Desktop (macOS): Recents sidebar frozen at week-old state while same account is fully current on claude.ai web — survives restart and update check

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?

The Recents sidebar in the macOS Claude Desktop app is frozen at conversation state from approximately July 15, 2026 — it renders a full list of conversations, but nothing created or updated after that date ever appears. The same account on claude.ai in a browser shows all current conversations (through July 24) immediately and correctly, confirmed side-by-side on the same machine and network.

This machine's Desktop app had gone unused for roughly a week before the issue was observed, so the freeze plausibly coincides with the start of that idle period.

What Should Happen?

Expected: Recents reflects live account state on launch and refresh, matching the web client.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

1. Launch Claude Desktop on a machine where the app has been idle ~1 week
2. Observe Recents sidebar — populated, but only with conversations from before the idle period
3. Create/update conversations from another client (web, another machine) — they never appear in this app's Recents
4. Open claude.ai in a browser on the same machine, same account — all current conversations visible

Troubleshooting already attempted (none resolved the issue)

• Full quit (Cmd+Q) and relaunch — Recents still frozen at the same date
• Claude → Check for Updates — [FILL IN result: up to date / updated, no change]
• Sign out and sign back in — [FILL IN if performed: no change]
• Hard refresh attempts within the app — no change
• Verified account state is current via browser on the same machine — it is

Claude Model

Other

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.214

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

<img width="612" height="651" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c6c1d3a0-4506-471d-a17a-f3b2e4955494" />