Desktop app 1.40609.1 (bundled claude-code 2.1.255): /remote-control fails with "Remote Control initialization failed" for every interactive session; terminal CLI works

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?

Running /remote-control inside the Claude Desktop app fails every time with Remote Control initialization failed. The exact same command run from a standalone terminal CLI session (~/.local/bin/claude) works and registers a https://claude.ai/code/session_... URL that shows up on my phone. So the failure is isolated to Desktop-app-hosted interactive sessions. One personal Max account, signed in on Desktop, CLI and phone (same account UUID verified).

Today alone ~/Library/Logs/Claude/main.log records 99 of these failures. The only successful Remote control enabled: "https://claude.ai/code/session_..." entries came from a scheduled-task run — never from an interactive session. The log records only the generic message; no underlying root-cause reason is logged.

I ruled out the already-documented causes, so this is not one of them:

• NOT the inference-only token bug (#48378): CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN is not set in the hosted session's environment.
• NOT a proxy: ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.anthropic.com.
• Scope IS present: CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_SCOPES=user:inference user:file_upload user:profile user:sessions:claude_code.
• NOT version: fails on 2.1.255 (i.e. after the 2.1.252 "Desktop-hosted Remote Control stalling" fix).
• NOT stale auth: after a full logout/login the oauth-v2 session_stale_relogin latch cleared and a valid cached token with user:sessions:claude_code is now used — it still fails.
• Already tried, no effect: app update, full logout + login, app relaunch, full machine restart.

What Should Happen?

Running /remote-control in a Desktop-hosted Code session should initialize Remote Control and publish the session to claude.ai/code and the mobile app — exactly as it already does when the same command is run from the standalone terminal CLI.

Error Messages/Logs

From ~/Library/Logs/Claude/main.log, repeated ~99x today for interactive sessions:

[info]  [rcAutoEnable] verdict: enable=true source=user_intent trigger=warm_send
[info]  Enabling remote control for session local_xxxxxxxx
[error] Failed to toggle remote control for local_xxxxxxxx: "Remote Control initialization failed"

The only successful enablements all came from a scheduled task, never an interactive session:

[info] [CCDScheduledTasks] Confirmed task run for: daily-memory-sync
[info] Remote control enabled: "https://claude.ai/code/session_..."

Steps to Reproduce

1. In the Claude Desktop app, open a Code session and run /remote-control.

→ It fails immediately with "Remote Control initialization failed".

1. In a separate terminal, run claude, then /remote-control.

→ It works: prints a https://claude.ai/code/session_... URL and the session appears in the Claude mobile app.

Both use the same account. Remote Control works from the standalone terminal CLI but never from a Desktop-app-hosted interactive session.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude Desktop app 1.40609.1; bundled claude-code 2.1.255 (Desktop sessions); standalone CLI ~/.local/bin/claude 2.1.257 (works)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

This reproduces on the latest build (Desktop app 1.40609.1, bundled claude-code 2.1.255) and the two documented causes are ruled out (see below), so it is not one of the known token/proxy cases. Consolidating several open reports of the same Desktop-hosted Remote Control failure.

Related issues (same "Remote Control initialization failed" / Code-tab-never-registers family):

• #57286 — open, macOS/Max, identical error string (labels: area:desktop, duplicate)
• #84502 — open; Code-tab (Desktop interactive) sessions never register for Remote Control
• #84929 — open; sessions register locally but never appear on claude.ai/code or mobile
• #48238 — closed as not planned; same error, isolated to the Desktop app, terminal CLI works

Extra environment detail:

• macOS, Darwin 25.6.0, Apple Silicon
• The Cowork VM engine is still on 2.1.247 (it did not update together with the app)
• The app log only surfaces the generic "Remote Control initialization failed" with no underlying reason (HTTP status, missing scope, bridge error). Exposing that would speed diagnosis.