[BUG] VS Code extension: opening session history clears current chat and shows an empty history list (regression, started with v2.1.232)

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?

Environment

• Extension: anthropic.claude-code v2.1.232 (VS Code Marketplace, Auto Update on, released ~2026-08-14)
• OS: Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200
• VS Code, connected to a project on a mapped network drive (T:\...)

Regression note
Symptom onset coincides with the extension auto-updating to v2.1.232 roughly 22 hours before this report. No history-panel issues were observed on the prior version. This strongly suggests the bug shipped with v2.1.232 rather than being pre-existing.

Steps to reproduce

1. Have an active Claude Code chat session in the VS Code extension with real conversation history.
2. Open the session history / chat history panel (or restart VS Code / move the chat into a new window).
3. Observe the panel.

Expected behavior
The history panel lists prior sessions for the current project, and the active chat's content is preserved.

Actual behavior

• The current chat is cleared from view.
• The session history list renders empty, as if no prior sessions exist for the project.

Evidence the data is not actually lost
The underlying session transcripts remain intact on disk at ~/.claude/projects/<project-hash>/<session-id>.jsonl, fully populated with the real conversation content (verified directly — multi-MB files with complete message history). So this appears to be a UI/read bug in the history panel, not data loss.

Workaround
Resuming a specific session from the terminal bypasses the broken panel.

Possibly related
#74271 ("panel history lists pruned/unloadable sessions and disagrees with Spark (Activity Bar) history") describes a similar-sounding root cause — the panel reading session metadata without properly reconciling against on-disk transcripts — though the exact trigger and symptom differ from this report.

Impact
Users may believe they've permanently lost conversation history when they haven't, since the UI gives no indication the data still exists.

What Should Happen?

The history panel should list prior sessions for the current project, and the active chat's content should be preserved when opening it.

Error Messages/Logs

No console errors observed. The panel simply renders an empty session list — it fails silently rather than throwing a visible error.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open a Claude Code chat session in the VS Code extension (extension v2.1.232) with existing conversation history.
2. Open the session history / chat history panel — or restart VS Code, or move the chat into a new window.
3. Observe: the current chat is cleared from view, and the history panel shows an empty list (no prior sessions), even though the session's .jsonl transcript still exists on disk at ~/.claude/projects/<project-hash>/<session-id>.jsonl with full content.

Note: this began after auto-updating to v2.1.232 (~22 hours before filing); no such issue on the prior version.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

Unknown exact version — auto-updated to v2.1.232 ~2026-08-14, no issues before that update. (We don't have the precise prior version number since Auto Update silently replaced it.)

Claude Code Version

2.1.117 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

_No response_