Manage Claude Desktop sessions

Claude Desktop stores its Claude Code sidebar separately for each signed-in account. Switching accounts can make existing sessions disappear from the sidebar even though their transcripts still exist.

harn claude-desktop can mirror those sidebar entries across accounts. It can also archive completed entries after Harnery records their task lifecycle as done.

Before you begin

• Run the command on the machine where Claude Desktop stores its session index.
• Initialize Harnery in the project whose lifecycle events you want to read.
• Fully quit Claude Desktop before relying on a changed sidebar. Closing the window usually leaves the app running in the system tray.

Keep sessions visible after an account switch

1. Inspect the account directories Harnery found.

   harn claude-desktop accounts
   harn claude-desktop sessions

2. Preview the mirror plan. The command changes nothing without --yes.

   harn claude-desktop mirror --all

3. Apply the plan.

   harn claude-desktop mirror --all --yes

   Use --to <account-prefix> or --from <account-prefix> when you want a one-way copy. Use --session <id-or-title> to mirror one session.

4. Fully quit Claude Desktop and relaunch it.

Mirroring copies sidebar entry files. It does not copy or fork the transcript. Both accounts point to the same underlying Claude Code session, so do not open and drive that session from two accounts at the same time.

Archive completed sessions

1. Mark the Harnery task done from its agent session.

   harn agents lifecycle done --reason "implementation and verification complete"

2. Preview the cleanup plan.

   harn claude-desktop tidy

   Harnery maps each desktop entry to its session and reads the newest durable lifecycle event. It reports active, blocked, unmatched, and already archived entries without changing them.

3. Apply the archive plan.

   harn claude-desktop tidy --yes

   Limit the batch with --account <uuid-prefix> when needed.

4. Fully quit and relaunch Claude Desktop.

Applied cleanup changes only isArchived and replaces each entry atomically. Repeating the command is safe; already archived entries become skips.

Handle older hand-labeled sessions

Older sessions may have a [DONE] title but no lifecycle event. Normal cleanup skips them because a title is editable and cannot prove completion.

Preview those entries only when you intend to include that history:

harn claude-desktop tidy --include-legacy-prefix
harn claude-desktop tidy --include-legacy-prefix --yes

The compatibility flag never overrides a matching active or blocked lifecycle event. A [BLOCKED] title never qualifies for cleanup.

Troubleshooting

No desktop data directory was found

Pass the directory explicitly:

harn claude-desktop accounts --data-dir <path>

Harnery normally checks ~/Library/Application Support/Claude on macOS, %APPDATA%\\Claude on Windows, and ~/.config/Claude on Linux. A CLI running under WSL also scans Windows user profiles mounted under /mnt/c/Users/.

A completed entry is reported as unmatched

The desktop row must carry a cliSessionId that maps to a Harnery session in the current project’s active or rotated event ledgers. Run the command from the project that recorded the lifecycle event. Do not rename the sidebar entry as a substitute for that evidence.

The sidebar did not change

Quit the Claude Desktop process from its tray menu, then relaunch it. The window close button may only hide the application.

Why lifecycle evidence is authoritativeRead how Harnery separates current activity from declared task lifecycle.

Claude Desktop CLI referenceSee every subcommand, selector, environment variable, and caveat.