[BUG]

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?

Bug Report: Conversation History Not Auto-Loading Despite Permissions

Issue Summary:
Claude Code stores conversation history in JSONL files at
/Users/[user]/.claude/projects/[project-path]/ and grants explicit read permissions via
settings.local.json, but this context is not automatically loaded into new conversation sessions.

Expected Behavior:
When a project has read permissions configured for the conversation history directory, Claude should
automatically load recent conversation context at the start of new sessions to maintain continuity.

Actual Behavior:
Each conversation session starts completely fresh with no context from previous sessions, despite:

1. Conversation logs existing in the projects directory
2. Explicit read permissions being configured in .claude/settings.local.json

Evidence:

.claude/settings.local.json contains:
{
"permissions": {
"allow": [
"Read(//Users/[...]/.claude/projects/-Users-dwl-obsidian-story-great-work-choices-rabbit/**)"
]
}
}

Conversation history exists at:
/Users/[...]/.claude/projects/-Users-dwl-obsidian-story-great-work-choices-rabbit/

18 JSONL files totaling ~9.5MB with conversation history, including summaries like:

• "Pattern Space Loss"
• "Recursive Resonator Design: Nested Pattern Space Strategy"
• etc.

Impact:
Loss of collaborative context across sessions, requiring manual re-reading of conversation logs to
reconstruct previous work, "rituals," and project-specific workflows.

Environment:

• Claude Code version: 2.0.22
• Platform: macOS (Darwin 22.6.0)

What Should Happen?

Expected Behavior:
When a project has read permissions configured for the conversation history directory, Claude should
automatically load recent conversation context at the start of new sessions to maintain continuity.

Error Messages/Logs

no error messages

Steps to Reproduce

claude --continue

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.0.22

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_