[BUG] Archiving a local Cowork project removes it from the UI with no way to view or restore it (Chat projects unaffected) #85272

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?

What's wrong

Archiving a local Cowork project on Claude Desktop for Windows removes it
from every tab, including Archived. Chat projects archived in the same session,
on the same machine, appear in the Archived tab correctly and can be unarchived.

Environment

Claude Desktop, Windows 11, v1.26832.0, Team plan.

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a local Cowork project bound to a folder on disk.
2. Archive it from the project's three-dot menu.
3. Open Projects > Archived.
4. The project is not listed. It is also absent from Your projects,
   Organization, and Shared with you.

Expected

The archived local project appears in the Archived tab and can be unarchived,
matching both the documented behavior and the observed behavior of Chat projects.

Actual

It disappears from the UI entirely. No tab, filter, sort, relaunch, or full
system reboot surfaces it.

Evidence: 12 trials, zero exceptions

Same machine, same app version, same afternoon:

• 4 Chat projects archived. 4 of 4 appear in the Archived tab. Correct.
• 8 local Cowork projects archived. 8 of 8 disappear from all tabs.

Control test, performed hours later: a freshly created Chat project was archived
deliberately and appeared in the Archived tab immediately. The archive function
itself is not broken. It is broken only for local Cowork projects.

The data is not destroyed, only unreachable

• Project folders and files on disk are untouched.
• Session transcripts belonging to the archived projects are still readable. A
  local-mode Cowork session opened a transcript from one of the affected
  projects and returned real content.
• The session index still enumerates sessions belonging to the missing projects.
• Session data lives at
  %APPDATA%\Claude\local-agent-mode-sessions<account-id><device-id>\local_
  with no project directory anywhere in the path, so session storage and project
  records are decoupled.

This points at the Archived view failing to query local projects, rather than at
the archive operation destroying anything.

Impact

8 projects unreachable. Work product is recoverable by pointing new projects at
the existing folders, but project instructions, scoped memory, and folder
bindings are lost from the UI with no user-side recourse.

Related

#59850, #22931. This report adds the Chat vs Local discriminator and the
control test.

What Should Happen?

What's wrong

Archiving a local Cowork project on Claude Desktop for Windows removes it
from every tab, including Archived. Chat projects archived in the same session,
on the same machine, appear in the Archived tab correctly and can be unarchived.

Environment

Claude Desktop, Windows 11, v1.26832.0, Team plan.

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a local Cowork project bound to a folder on disk.
2. Archive it from the project's three-dot menu.
3. Open Projects > Archived.
4. The project is not listed. It is also absent from Your projects,
   Organization, and Shared with you.

Expected

The archived local project appears in the Archived tab and can be unarchived,
matching both the documented behavior and the observed behavior of Chat projects.

Actual

It disappears from the UI entirely. No tab, filter, sort, relaunch, or full
system reboot surfaces it.

Evidence: 12 trials, zero exceptions

Same machine, same app version, same afternoon:

• 4 Chat projects archived. 4 of 4 appear in the Archived tab. Correct.
• 8 local Cowork projects archived. 8 of 8 disappear from all tabs.

Control test, performed hours later: a freshly created Chat project was archived
deliberately and appeared in the Archived tab immediately. The archive function
itself is not broken. It is broken only for local Cowork projects.

The data is not destroyed, only unreachable

• Project folders and files on disk are untouched.
• Session transcripts belonging to the archived projects are still readable. A
  local-mode Cowork session opened a transcript from one of the affected
  projects and returned real content.
• The session index still enumerates sessions belonging to the missing projects.
• Session data lives at
  %APPDATA%\Claude\local-agent-mode-sessions<account-id><device-id>\local_
  with no project directory anywhere in the path, so session storage and project
  records are decoupled.

This points at the Archived view failing to query local projects, rather than at
the archive operation destroying anything.

Impact

8 projects unreachable. Work product is recoverable by pointing new projects at
the existing folders, but project instructions, scoped memory, and folder
bindings are lost from the UI with no user-side recourse.

Related

#59850, #22931. This report adds the Chat vs Local discriminator and the
control test.

Error Messages/Logs

none

Steps to Reproduce

See above

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

Claude Desktop, Windows 11, v1.26832.0, Team plan.

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

No response