User identity and local data changedthird-party/claude-desktop/data-storage
Nearest release: v2.1.301, published under an hour before upstream edited the page. Shown because the two are within 24 hours of each other. Nothing here says the release caused the edit.
Upstream edited this page at 15 Oct 2026 14:43 UTC, give or take a minute or two: the time comes from Anthropic’s own sitemap rather than from a commit. This site recorded the change at 15 Oct 2026 14:54 UTC.
Upstream edited
Recorded here
Lines+2added
Lines−2removed
From line
57
where the diff opens
First seen
14 Aug 2026
this site's first read of the page
Recorded edits19to this page, all time
The whole hunk
from line 57, old and new numbered
/
from line 57
5757
5858## Chat conversations
5959
60[Chat](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/chat) conversations follow the same storage model as Cowork sessions: each conversation is a session state file plus a working directory under `local-agent-mode-sessions/`, in the layout described in the table above. The state file records the conversation; the working directory holds the transcript, an `uploads/` directory with copies (or hard links) of files attached to the conversation, an `outputs/` directory for files Claude creates during the conversation (its scratch space), and the same HMAC-chained `audit.jsonl` event log. Because attachments are hard-linked where the filesystem allows it, edits made to the original file while the conversation is open can be visible to the conversation. Conversation content leaves the device only as inference requests to your configured provider, as web search queries to your configured search backend, through web access your egress configuration allows, in connector tool calls permitted by your `toolPolicy` configuration and the user's approvals, and, if you have enabled [content capture](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/telemetry#content-capture), in telemetry to your own collector.
60[Chat](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/chat) conversations follow the same storage model as Cowork sessions: each conversation is a session state file plus a working directory under `local-agent-mode-sessions/`, in the layout described in the table above. The state file records the conversation; the working directory holds the transcript, an `uploads/` directory with copies (or hard links) of files attached to the conversation, an `outputs/` directory for files Claude creates during the conversation (its scratch space), and the same HMAC-chained `audit.jsonl` event log. Because attachments are hard-linked where the filesystem allows it, edits made to the original file while the conversation is open can be visible to the conversation. Conversation content leaves the device only as inference requests to your configured provider, as web search queries to your configured search backend, through web access your egress configuration allows, through [sandbox network access](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/chat#sandbox-network-access), in connector tool calls permitted by your `toolPolicy` configuration and the user's approvals, and, if you have enabled [content capture](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/telemetry#content-capture), in telemetry to your own collector.
6161
6262For the questions security reviews most often ask about Chat:
6363
from line 64
6464* **Memory is read-only and applies only inside projects.** A Chat conversation inside a project can read that project's memory unless memory was paused when the conversation started, but cannot add to or change it. Chat conversations outside a project do not read or update memory.
6565* **Project folders are read-only.** A Chat conversation inside a project can read files in folders added to the project in Claude Desktop, under the conditions in [Project folders in Chat](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/chat#project-folders-in-chat), and cannot change them.
6666* **Claude cannot search past chats.** Users can search their own conversations in the app, which scans the per-session files on the device on demand, but there is no index of conversation content, server-side or local (history exists only as the per-session files above), and a Chat conversation has no tools for listing or reading other sessions' transcripts. Each conversation is isolated to its own directory.
67* **The advanced file analysis sandbox writes only inside the session directory.** When [advanced file analysis](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/chat#advanced-file-analysis) is enabled, code runs in a local sandbox with no network access. The sandbox writes only to the conversation's `outputs/` directory, and reads its `uploads/` directory plus, for a conversation inside a project, that project's memory. For a conversation inside a project, the sandbox can also read the folders added to the project in Claude Desktop, under the conditions in [Advanced file analysis](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/chat#advanced-file-analysis).
67* **The advanced file analysis sandbox writes only inside the session directory.** When [advanced file analysis](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/chat#advanced-file-analysis) is enabled, code runs in a local sandbox. Commands in it can reach the hosts in `coworkEgressAllowedHosts`, as described under [Sandbox network access](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/chat#sandbox-network-access). The sandbox writes only to the conversation's `outputs/` directory, and reads its `uploads/` directory, its transcript, and its saved tool results plus, for a conversation inside a project, that project's memory. For a conversation inside a project, the sandbox can also read the folders added to the project in Claude Desktop, under the conditions in [Advanced file analysis](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/chat#advanced-file-analysis).
6868
6969Deleting a conversation's session state file and working directory removes all of this; there is no other copy.
7070
No line in this hunk matches that.