[BUG] Inline PDF preview in Claude Desktop shows stale/cached content after the file is regenerated at the same path

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?

Claude Desktop's inline/built-in file viewer caches a PDF by file path. If the assistant regenerates the PDF at that same path with different content and re-sends it, the inline viewer keeps showing the original (stale) version instead of the updated one. The file on disk is correct — confirmed independently by re-reading the file and extracting its text, which no longer contained the removed section, while the inline viewer still displayed the old content.

What Should Happen?

The inline viewer should detect that the file's content changed (e.g. by modification time or content hash, not just path) and refresh the preview automatically, or at least provide an obvious way to force a refresh.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Have the assistant generate a PDF and deliver it to the user — it opens/renders in Claude Desktop's inline viewer.
Ask the assistant to edit the content and regenerate the PDF at the exact same file path.
Have the assistant re-deliver/re-send the same file path.
Observe the inline viewer — it still shows the original (pre-edit) content, even though the file on disk has been updated and verified correct.

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.220 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Windows Terminal

Additional Information

_No response_