claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [BUG] [Desktop App] Deleting session working directory makes app unusable with no recovery path in GUI

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

App version: 1.8555.2 OS: macOS 26.5, Apple M5 Pro (arm64)

Summary: When the working directory of an active session is deleted from the filesystem, the Claude desktop app stops accepting all input. There is no way to recover or change the working directory from within the GUI. This is a GUI-only problem — in the CLI, you simply run claude from a different directory.

Error (from app internals):

Error: Working directory no longer exists: ~/src/foobar. The folder may have been moved, deleted, or unmounted. Steps to reproduce:

Open Claude desktop app — it opens a session rooted in some directory (e.g. ~/src/foobar) Delete that directory from Finder or terminal Try to type anything in Claude Code — input is rejected with red error text, never reaches model Expected behavior: The app should detect the missing directory and either prompt the user to choose a new working directory, or fall back to the home directory gracefully.

Actual behavior: The session is completely frozen. The only workarounds are: (a) recreate the deleted directory, (b) quit the app, manually edit session JSON files in ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude-code-sessions/, then relaunch — neither of which is discoverable by a normal user.

Why CLI doesn't have this problem: With the CLI, changing working directory is trivial (cd /new/dir && claude). The GUI has no equivalent affordance. At minimum, the GUI should expose a "Change working directory" option, and ideally should handle a missing cwd gracefully rather than silently breaking.

What Should Happen?

Expected behavior: The app should detect the missing directory and either prompt the user to choose a new working directory, or fall back to the home directory gracefully.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Open Claude desktop app — it opens a session rooted in some directory (e.g. ~/src/foobar) Delete that directory from Finder or terminal Try to type anything in Claude Code — input is rejected with red error text, never reaches model Expected behavior: The app should detect the missing directory and either prompt the user to choose a new working directory, or fall back to the home directory gracefully.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

App version: 1.8555.2

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

No response