feat: Claude Desktop Code mode session support

[grimmerk]

Summary

Add Claude Desktop "Code" mode sessions to CodeV's session list, similar to VS Code session support (PR #103).

Feasibility Research

Claude Desktop's Code mode shares the same ~/.claude/ data layer. Integration feasibility:

Capability	Status	How
Detect sessions	✅	~/.claude/sessions/*.json with entrypoint: "claude-desktop"
Session metadata	✅	Same JSONL format as CLI/VS Code
Status dots	✅	Hooks fire normally, codev-status files work
Bring to foreground	✅	open -a "Claude"
Switch to specific session	❌	claude:// URI exists but accepted parameters unknown
history.jsonl	❌	Not present (same gap as VS Code)
IDE lock file	❌	Not created by Claude Desktop

Why it doesn't appear now

detectActiveSessions() only handles claude-vscode specially (reads JSONL directly). claude-desktop falls into the CLI path which requires history.jsonl matching — but Claude Desktop sessions aren't in history.jsonl.

Fix

Treat claude-desktop the same as claude-vscode in:

• detectActiveSessions() — read JSONL directly instead of matching against history.jsonl
• scanClosedVSCodeSessions() — rename/extend to also scan for claude-desktop entrypoint
• Display: [DESKTOP] badge
• Switch: open -a "Claude" (app-level only, no session-level switching yet)

Comparison with VS Code support

	VS Code	Claude Desktop
entrypoint	claude-vscode	claude-desktop
JSONL format	Same	Same
history.jsonl	❌	❌
IDE lock file	✅	❌
URI handler (session-level)	✅ vscode://...?session=UUID	❓ claude:// exists, params unknown
Hooks/status	✅	✅
Switch precision	Session-level (URI handler)	App-level only (open -a "Claude")

Session data observed

~/.claude/sessions/38228.json:

{
  "pid": 38228,
  "sessionId": "033bedee-f8d7-4331-a040-39ce09ed7e78",
  "cwd": "/Users/grimmer/git/claude-desktop-claude-code-test",
  "startedAt": 1775483211434,
  "kind": "interactive",
  "entrypoint": "claude-desktop"
}

Process spawned as child of Claude.app with --output-format stream-json --permission-mode acceptEdits and LSP plugins (rust, typescript, swift, frontend-design).

Open questions

1. Does claude:// URI support session parameters? (e.g., claude://code?session=UUID)
2. Does Claude Desktop's ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/local-agent-mode-sessions/ contain useful session metadata?
3. Will Claude Desktop eventually write to history.jsonl?

Related

• PR feat: VS Code session support + real-time preview refresh #103: VS Code session support (same architecture, can be extended)
• feat: VS Code session remaining edge cases (resume delay + duplicate tab fixed in PR #109) #107: VS Code edge cases
• Feature / TODO list — remaining: detail view, AI Assistant cleanup, remote control #66: Feature/TODO list

🤖 On behalf of @grimmerk — generated with Claude Code

[grimmerk]

Local testing results for claude:// URI scheme

Tested via `open "claude://..."" commands. All executed without error but specific effects unclear:

URI	Error?	Observed effect
claude://conversation/new	No	May have brought Claude Desktop to foreground (first time only)
claude://project	No	No visible effect
claude://code/new	No	No visible effect

AppleScript: Very limited — only sees window Claude (one window name), cannot see internal tabs (Chat/Cowork/Code) or sessions. Menu bar items: Apple, Claude, File, Edit, View, Window, Help.

Conclusion: claude:// URI scheme exists but session-level deep linking appears unsupported. App-level focus (open -a "Claude") is the best available option for now. Session-level switching would require either:

1. Anthropic adding URI parameters (like VS Code's ?session=UUID)
2. Accessibility API to walk the AX tree and find/click the Code tab

🤖 On behalf of @grimmerk — generated with Claude Code

[grimmerk]

Breakthrough: claude://resume?session=<ID>&cwd=<path> works!

Tested successfully:

open "claude://resume?session=033bedee-f8d7-4331-a040-39ce09ed7e78&cwd=/Users/grimmer/git/claude-desktop-claude-code-test"

This switches Claude Desktop to the Code tab and resumes/focuses the specified session. Same concept as VS Code's vscode://anthropic.claude-code/open?session=<UUID>.

Discovered from GitHub issue #26197 (Windows bug report revealed the URL format). This is the internal URI used by Claude Code CLI's /desktop command for session handoff.

Updated capability table

Capability	Status
Switch to specific session	✅ claude://resume?session=<ID>&cwd=<path>
All other capabilities	Same as before

Other URI patterns tested

URI	Effect
claude://resume?session=<ID>&cwd=<path>	✅ Switches to Code tab + resumes session
claude://code	❌ No effect
claude://code/new	Opens web claude.ai
claude://conversation/new	Opens web claude.ai

This means Claude Desktop support is now fully feasible — same architecture as VS Code (detect via entrypoint + switch via URI handler).

🤖 On behalf of @grimmerk — generated with Claude Code

[grimmerk]

Correction: correct URI format is claude://claude.ai/claude-code-desktop/local_<UUID>

Previous claude://resume?session=... had flicker and side effects. The correct format maps to Claude Desktop's internal SPA routes:

# Switch to specific Code session (clean, no flicker)
open "claude://claude.ai/claude-code-desktop/local_033bedee-f8d7-4331-a040-39ce09ed7e78"

All useful URI patterns

URI	Effect
claude://claude.ai/claude-code-desktop/local_<UUID>	Switch to Code session (clean!)
claude://claude.ai/new	New conversation
claude://claude.ai/chat/<UUID>	Switch to Chat conversation
claude://claude.ai/settings	Open settings
open -a Claude /path/to/folder	Open folder as new task

Updated feasibility: fully feasible

Capability	Status
Switch to specific Code session	✅ claude://claude.ai/claude-code-desktop/local_<UUID>
All other capabilities	✅ (same as before)

Claude Desktop support is now on par with VS Code — detection + display + status + session-level switching all work.

Note: the local_ prefix in the UUID path comes from Claude Desktop's internal session naming. Sessions created locally use local_<uuid>, drafts use draft_<uuid>.

🤖 On behalf of @grimmerk — generated with Claude Code

[grimmerk]

Stability risk note

All Claude Desktop URI patterns discovered above are undocumented internal behavior:

• claude://claude.ai/... — discovered via local try-and-error + View > Copy URL menu item revealing internal SPA routes
• claude://resume?session=...&cwd=... — discovered from GitHub issue #26197 (Windows bug report)
• ~/.claude/sessions/*.json entrypoint field — same private protocol as VS Code support

None of these are officially documented by Anthropic. They could change without notice in future Claude Desktop updates. Same risk level as our VS Code vscode://anthropic.claude-code/open?session=<UUID> dependency (which was documented via GitHub issue #29145 but not in official API docs).

Mitigation: fallback to open -a "Claude" (app-level focus) if URI handler fails.

🤖 On behalf of @grimmerk — generated with Claude Code