/desktop-sessions-discovery

name: desktop-sessions-discovery
description: Discover, search, and selectively restore Claude desktop app sessions hidden across multiple accountIds. Use when user mentions "missing sessions after account switch", "lost desktop sessions", "where do my old sessions live", or runs multiple Claude accounts on the same machine. Do NOT use for Claude Code CLI session history or resuming work within one session — this only recovers the native desktop app's per-accountId session files; for in-session continuity use handoffs.

Claude Desktop Sessions Discovery Toolkit

Claude desktop app (Mac/Windows native) stores sessions per `<accountId>/<orgId>/`. When you switch accounts, old sessions become invisible in UI — they remain on disk but `LocalSessionManager.loadSessions()` only reads the active accountId folder.

Related reports: [#48511](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/48511) was opened 2026-04-15 and is closed as not planned; [#26452](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/26452) was opened 2026-02-18 and remains open as checked 2026-09-06. These are version-specific user reports, not proof that the installed build has the same cause or that a fix does not exist.

This skill is a community workaround. Use at your own risk — see Caveats.

Storage paths (reverse-engineered, NOT in official Anthropic docs)

| Install type | Path | |---|---| | **Win32 .exe install** | `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude-code-sessions\<acct>\<org>\local_<sid>.json` | | **Windows MSIX (Microsoft Store)** | `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude\claude-code-sessions\<acct>\<org>\` — issue [#48362](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/48362) reports an atomic-rename failure in a specific environment; verify the current local error before attributing a missing session to it. | | **macOS** | `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude-code-sessions/<acct>/<org>/local_<sid>.json` | | Legacy (pre-Feb 2026) | same path, but folder name was `local-agent-mode-sessions/` |

Source: bundled JS `.vite/build/index.js` line 771: `const $6t="claude-code-sessions"`. May change in any release.

Schema of `local_*.json`

{
  "sessionId": "uuid",
  "cliSessionId": "uuid",
  "cwd": "C:\\path\\to\\project",
  "originCwd": "...",
  "createdAt": <unix ms timestamp OR ISO string>,
  "lastActivityAt": <unix ms timestamp OR ISO string>,
  "model": "claude-opus-4-7-...",
  "effort": "default",
  "isArchived": false,
  "title": "Human-readable title shown in UI",
  "permissionMode": "default",
  "remoteMcpServersConfig": [],
  "completedTurns": 12
}

NB: timestamp format is inconsistent — some sessions use Unix ms (int), others ISO string. Parser must handle both.

Four operations

1. Registry — interactive HTML browse (recommended starting point)

Script: `scripts/sessions_registry.py`

python scripts/sessions_registry.py                # generate + auto-open in default browser
python scripts/sessions_registry.py --no-open      # generate only
python scripts/sessions_registry.py --output /custom/path.html

Produces a self-contained HTML registry with:

• **Live JS search** by title / cwd / sessionId substring
• **Sort** by recency / turns count / title A-Z / size
• **Filter**: hide 0-turn auto-runs ("Morning digest", "Observer daily analysis"), hide already-restored
• Per-accountId **collapsible sections**, active accountId highlighted green
• **Selectable session ID** per session — select and copy it; the page does not perform a restore
• **"RESTORED" badge** for sessions already migrated (read from `~/.claude/desktop-migrations.jsonl`)
• Includes BOTH `claude-code-sessions/` (current) AND `local-agent-mode-sessions/` (legacy pre-Feb 2026)

Use when the user wants to browse the archive visually. When the user has already selected and authorized a specific restore, the agent performs the scoped dry-run, backup/copy and verification itself through available approved tools; do not assign clipboard/terminal work to the user. A generated restore command is an input to inspect, not authorization by itself.

2. Inventory — full picture (text)

Script: `scripts/sessions_inventory.py`

Scans all `<accountId>/<orgId>/local_*.json`, prints grouped table with title/cwd/size/lastActivityAt sorted by recency. Includes cross-account view (which projects appear in multiple accountIds — useful when same user worked on the same project under different accounts).

3. Find — search by title, cwd, or session ID substring (text)

Script: `scripts/sessions_find.py`

python sessions_find.py "<query>"                  # substring in title, cwd, or session ID
python sessions_find.py "<query>" --account <prefix>  # filter by accountId
python sessions_find.py --since 2026-04-01         # date filter
python sessions_find.py --untitled                  # parse-failed or empty

Output is top-N matches sorted by recency, with copy-pasteable restore command.

4. Restore — selective single-session migration

Script: `scripts/sessions_restore.py`

python sessions_restore.py <sid8>             # auto-detect active accountId
python sessions_restore.py <sid8> --to <acct> # explicit target
python sessions_restore.py <sid8> --dry-run   # plan only

Behaviour: 1. Find source session by sessionId substring (8 chars usually unique) 2. Detect active accountId by latest mtime (heuristic) 3. Copy `local_<sid>.json` into `<targetAcct>/<sameOrgId>/` 4. **Verify** byte-for-byte match before declaring success (proof loop) 5. Append to `~/.claude/desktop-migrations.jsonl` audit log 6. Source kept as backup, never deleted

After a verified copy, inspect the current app's documented reload/restart requirement and active work before restarting. File parity alone does not prove a session is visible or resumable. The default target-account detection is an mtime heuristic: inspect the signed-in destination and use explicit `--to` for an authorized restor