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claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix Desktop App: Sidebar shows no diff for file changes when CWD is not a git repo

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Repro

Start Claude Code Desktop in a directory without .git (e.g. a multi-repo workspace folder containing several sub-repos). Have Claude create or edit a file at that level.

Expected

Sidebar shows the new/changed file (e.g. as "untracked" or "new file"), since the filesystem change is observable independent of git.

Actual

Sidebar diff is empty — appears to require a git repo at the working directory root to display anything.

Why it matters

Multi-repo working directories are a normal layout (one parent folder containing several cloned repos as siblings). Edits at the parent level — CLAUDE.md, .claude/, scratch notes — are invisible in the UI even though they happened, which makes it easy to miss what the agent just did.

extent analysis

TL;DR

The issue can be addressed by modifying Claude Code Desktop to observe filesystem changes independently of git repository presence.

Guidance

  • Investigate the current implementation of Claude Code Desktop's file system observation mechanism to understand why it relies on the presence of a .git directory.
  • Consider adding a fallback or alternative observation method that can detect changes in the file system without relying on git.
  • Review the UI update logic to ensure that changes detected through the new observation method are properly reflected in the sidebar.
  • Test the modified implementation in a multi-repo workspace folder to verify that edits at the parent level are correctly displayed in the UI.

Example

No code snippet is provided as the issue does not contain sufficient technical details about the implementation.

Notes

The solution may require significant changes to the underlying architecture of Claude Code Desktop, and careful consideration should be given to ensuring that the new observation method does not introduce performance or security issues.

Recommendation

Apply a workaround by modifying the file system observation mechanism to detect changes independently of git repository presence, as this will allow for proper display of edits in the UI without requiring a .git directory.

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claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix Desktop App: Sidebar shows no diff for file changes when CWD is not a git repo