[BUG] Cowork (macOS): since 2026-09-06 new projects bind ONE folder only ("Use a folder"); Context accepts documents only — silently breaks the multi-folder projects heavy users built on, while the docs still describe the old behaviour

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

• Claude Desktop, macOS (Apple Silicon), latest version as of 2026-09-06
• Paid individual plan, heavy Cowork user: ~10 folder-linked projects, scheduled tasks bound to project folders, months of daily use

What changed, and when
Until at least 2026-09-01 I could create Cowork projects with several local folders in Context ("Choose a folder"). Every project in my setup was created that way. Since 2026-09-06 the "Create a project" dialog shows only: name, description, and a single "Use a folder" button. The resulting project:

• appears OUTSIDE the "Local" section of the Projects list (it is a cloud-type project);
• accepts exactly one folder, chosen at creation;
• has a Context section that only accepts documents (Upload from device / Add text / GitHub / Drive / Notion) — there is no "Add folder";
• cannot be converted to the previous local multi-folder type.

Projects created before this week keep their folders and still work. This is evidently the staged rollout of the Chat/Cowork merge reported in #76694 in July — an issue that, two months later, has zero comments from Anthropic. I have now received that regression, with a newer dialog, and with no warning of any kind.

Additional evidence that this is a product change, not a glitch
The new single-folder projects appear on the iPhone app alongside chat projects. My pre-existing multi-folder Cowork projects do not appear there at all — they exist only in the macOS app. In other words, the merge turned "project" into a cloud object and left folder-linked Cowork projects as a legacy type that can be used but no longer created. If that is the plan, users who built on the legacy type deserve to be told, and given a path forward.

Why I am filing this with considerable frustration
I did not adopt Cowork casually. I built an operating model on the documented capability of linking a project to more than one folder: every project reads its own repository plus a shared governance repository (architecture, routing directory, templates), and scheduled tasks are bound to those folders. This is precisely the "folder-linked, living files" workflow Cowork was marketed on. This week that capability was removed from my account without notice, without a release note, and with the Help Center still telling me to use an option that no longer exists on screen.

Concretely, as of today:

1. I cannot create a single new project that follows the model I have been running for months.
2. I cannot migrate or re-create an existing project without losing its second folder. I spent a full working day on a migration that turned out to be impossible, following your own documentation.
3. The only workaround — one parent folder over everything — gives every project access to every repository, destroying the one-project-one-folder isolation that is the entire reason to use folder-linked projects.
4. Per-session "request folder access" is not a substitute: it is not persisted on the project and does not carry to scheduled tasks.

I understand products evolve. What I do not accept is a documented capability disappearing through a silent staged rollout, with the documentation unchanged, and with the earliest report of it sitting unanswered for two months. Heavy users are the ones who build real systems on this product; we are also the ones who get hurt first when a capability is pulled without notice. That is the damage I am reporting, beyond the bug itself.

What I am asking

1. A clear statement: is the removal of multi-folder local projects a bug or a product decision?
2. If a decision: say so publicly, update the documentation, and provide a migration path that preserves multi-folder linking for existing AND new projects before the old type is switched off.
3. If a bug: an acknowledgement and a timeline for restoring "Add folder" in Context for new projects.
4. A response on #76694, which has been waiting since July.

Related: #76694, #76573, #76344, #76187, #75625.

What Should Happen?

New projects can link one or more local folders in Context, as documented in the Help Center article "Organize your tasks with projects in Claude Cowork" ("Use an existing folder" / "Add a local folder").

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop on macOS (latest version as of 2026-09-06), go to Projects.
2. Click "New project". The "Create a project" dialog shows only: "What are you working on?", "What are you trying to achieve?", and a single "Use a folder" button. There is no "Choose a folder" / "Use an existing folder" option and no way to add a second folder.
3. Click "Use a folder", pick any local folder, click "Create project".
4. Observe: the new project is listed OUTSIDE the "Local" section of the Projects page, next to chat projects, and it also appears on the iPhone app.
5. Open the new project's Context section. Observe: it only offers Upload from device / Add text content / GitHub / Drive / Notion. There is no "Add folder". The folder chosen in step 3 cannot be changed and no second folder can be added.
6. For comparison, open any project created before 2026-09-06 (listed under "Local"). Its Context section still shows several linked local folders and the old interface (Files / Space instructions / Projects from Chat). These projects do not appear on the iPhone app.

Actual: new projects are cloud-type, single-folder, documents-only Context; multi-folder local projects can no longer be created.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

Claude Desktop on macOS (Apple Silicon), build in use on 2026-09-01 — multi-folder projects could still be created

Claude Code Version

Claude Desktop, macOS (Apple Silicon), latest version as of 2026-09-06 Claude 1.46388.4 (50e62f) 2026-09-05T01:57:47.000Z

Platform

Other

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

Note on scope: this is a Claude Desktop (Cowork) issue on macOS, not the Claude Code CLI. It is filed here because Cowork/desktop regressions from the same Chat/Cowork merge are tracked in this repo under area:cowork / area:desktop (#76694, #76573, #76187). The "Claude Code Version" field therefore refers to the Claude Desktop app.