[BUG] History panel never shows past sessions — only the active one

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 history panel in the VSCode extension (clock icon in the chat sidebar) never
lists past sessions — only the currently active one. This happens even though the
.jsonl transcript files for past sessions exist on disk under
%USERPROFILE%\.claude\projects\<encoded-cwd>\, are complete, and have the correct
cwd and entrypoint: "claude-vscode".

Ruled out:

• File permissions (files are readable, correct cwd)
• Stale extension cache — did "Claude Code: Logout" then logged back in; Bootstrap

refreshed fine ([Bootstrap] Cache updated, persisting to disk), but the panel
behavior didn't change

• Restarting VSCode / the machine / reinstalling the extension — no effect
• A colleague on the same VSCode + same extension version sees their own history

normally, which points to an account/org-level difference rather than a local
machine issue

Likely root cause found in the extension log
(%APPDATA%\Code\logs\<session>\window1\exthost\Anthropic.claude-code\Claude VSCode.log):

[uds-messaging] Skipped: cross-session messaging gate off (will late-bind if a GrowthBook refresh enables it)

This looks like a GrowthBook feature flag ("cross-session messaging" or similar)
disabled for my account/org, which appears to gate whether the extension reads past
sessions from disk into the history panel at all.

Also noted (possibly unrelated): on the day most of the "missing" sessions were
created, the log shows repeated 401 Unauthorized errors during Bootstrap/OAuth
profile fetch. Those resolved after logout/login, but the panel behavior did not
change.

Environment: Windows 10 Pro 10.0.19044, Claude Code VSCode extension 2.1.231,
reproduced again after updating to 2.1.232.

What Should Happen?

The history panel should list all past sessions for the current project (as read
from the .jsonl files on disk), not only the session currently active in memory —
regardless of the "cross-session messaging" GrowthBook flag state, or at minimum
that flag shouldn't silently disable reading local session history.

Error Messages/Logs

%APPDATA%\Code\logs\<session>\window1\exthost\Anthropic.claude-code\Claude VSCode.log

[uds-messaging] Skipped: cross-session messaging gate off (will late-bind if a GrowthBook refresh enables it)

On 2026-08-12, the same log also showed (unrelated auth issue, resolved separately):
[Bootstrap] Fetch failed: 401
[Bootstrap] fetchBootstrapData failed: AxiosError: Request failed with status code 401
Failed to fetch org fast mode status ... AxiosError: Request failed with status code 401
Failed to fetch oauth profile from OAuth token: ... Request failed with status code 401
[claudeai-mcp] Fetch failed (401) after 1 attempt(s)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use Claude Code via the VSCode extension for multiple sessions across different

days (session .jsonl files accumulate under
%USERPROFILE%\.claude\projects\<encoded-cwd>\).

1. Close VSCode, reopen it, and start a new chat with Claude Code.
2. Click the history icon in the chat sidebar to open the history panel.
3. Only the current, newly-started session appears. No past sessions are listed,

even though their .jsonl files exist on disk with the correct cwd and
entrypoint: "claude-vscode".

Already tried, no effect: "Claude Code: Logout" + login again, restarting VSCode,
restarting the machine, reinstalling the extension (updated from 2.1.231 to
2.1.232).

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

CLI: 2.1.29 (Claude Code) VSCode extension: 2.1.231, reproduced again after updating to 2.1.232

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

A colleague using the same VSCode version and same extension version can see their
own session history normally, which points to an account-level rollout/cohort
difference (GrowthBook flag) rather than a machine-local issue. This is a personal
Claude.ai account, not part of an organization.

Possibly related: issue #79676 describes session history failing to load when the
VS Code workspace is opened at an exact drive root path (e.g. "P:\"). My workspace
is "v:\mdominguez" — a subfolder on a mapped network drive, not the literal drive
root — so it may be a different bug, but both involve mapped/network drive letters
on Windows and could share a code path.