claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [BUG] Cowork custom instructions reset to initial value on app restart [1 comments, 2 participants]

TL;DR

The issue can likely be resolved by ensuring that the custom instructions are properly persisted to the underlying file CLAUDE.md and that this file is not overwritten with the original value on restart.

Guidance

• Verify that the CLAUDE.md file is being updated correctly when custom instructions are saved through the UI, and check for any file permissions issues that might prevent writing to this file.
• Investigate the session creation process to determine why the original value is being written to the CLAUDE.md file on each restart, and consider modifying this process to use the persisted custom instructions instead.
• Check if there are any caching mechanisms or temporary files involved that might be causing the custom instructions to be lost on restart.
• Consider adding logging or debugging statements to track the flow of data and identify where the custom instructions are being overwritten.

Example

No specific code example can be provided without more information about the implementation details of Claude Desktop, but a potential solution might involve modifying the code that handles session creation to read from the CLAUDE.md file instead of overwriting it with the original value.

Notes

The exact solution will depend on the specifics of how Claude Desktop handles data persistence and session creation, which are not fully detailed in the issue description. Further investigation and debugging will be necessary to determine the root cause and develop a complete fix.

Recommendation

Apply a workaround to manually persist the custom instructions to the CLAUDE.md file, such as by creating a script that periodically backs up the file or by modifying the UI to prompt the user to save changes to a separate file. This is a temporary solution until the underlying issue can be fully resolved.