Desktop app repair fails silently; reinstall clears session list even though session files remain on disk
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 Claude Code desktop app stopped working during normal use. Reopening it prompted a "Repair" option; clicking Repair hung indefinitely with no progress. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app. After reinstall, none of my previous sessions appear in the app for any project — even when opening a project folder that has session history.
What Should Happen?
After reinstalling, the app should detect and list existing sessions from the local .claude\projects\ data folder, since the underlying session files are still present and untouched.
Error Messages/Logs
None shown — the Repair step just hung with no visible error, and the reinstall completed without any error message. The app currently just shows an empty session list.Steps to Reproduce
- Have an existing Claude Code installation with saved sessions.
- App becomes unresponsive/stops working during use.
- Reopen app, click "Repair" when prompted.
- Repair hangs indefinitely with no progress.
- Uninstall the app.
- Reinstall the app fresh.
- Open a project folder that previously had sessions.
- No sessions are listed, despite the .jsonl session files still existing on disk at %USERPROFILE%\.claude\projects\<project-folder>\.
Claude Model
Sonnet (default)
Is this a regression?
Yes, this worked in a previous version
Last Working Version
_No response_
Claude Code Version
2.1.241 (Claude Code)
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
Windows
Terminal/Shell
Terminal.app (macOS)
Additional Information
Verified manually that session data was not actually lost: %USERPROFILE%\.claude\projects\ still contains 8 project folders with 28 total .jsonl session files, unaffected by the uninstall/reinstall. This confirms the bug is in the app's session index/UI, not in data persistence.