User identity and local data changedthird-party/claude-desktop/data-storage
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### Data shared with standard Claude Desktop
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1212
1313## Where data lives
1414
15Claude Desktop on 3P stores everything under a dedicated directory, separate from standard Claude Desktop, so the two modes can coexist on one machine without interfering.
15Claude Desktop on 3P keeps its application data and logs in directories of its own, separate from those of standard Claude Desktop. A few locations in the user's home directory are outside these directories, and [standard Claude Desktop uses them too](#data-shared-with-standard-claude-desktop).
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1717| Platform | Application data | Logs |
1818| - | - | - |
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5151Separately from the application-data directory, Claude Desktop writes user-visible outputs (Artifacts and scheduled-task results) to `~/Claude/` in your home directory, or `~/Documents/Claude/` on legacy installs. This folder is intended for you to browse directly and is not removed when you delete the application-data directory. To back up a user's data, copy every location listed under [Copy the data to the new device](#copy-the-data-to-the-new-device).
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53### Data shared with standard Claude Desktop
54
55Unless you [restrict a device to one deployment mode](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/mdm.md#restrict-a-device-to-one-deployment-mode), a user can switch, in the same OS user account, between Claude Desktop on 3P and standard Claude Desktop, where users sign in to claude.ai. On a device where you haven't turned on the [migration to Claude Enterprise](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/move-to-claude-enterprise.md), the two modes handle the user's data as follows:
56
57* **Chats, Cowork tasks, projects, and memory**: standard Claude Desktop doesn't show, import, or upload those stored in the 3P [application-data directory](#where-data-lives). It reads and writes some settings files in that directory, such as the user's choice of mode. It also reads the Code session records in `claude-code-sessions/`, so that it doesn't list those sessions or delete their folders.
58* **Code sessions**: each mode lists only its own, but **Code** in both modes and Claude Code in the terminal keep their transcripts in the same folder, `~/.claude/`. Each mode reads the transcripts there to count usage, and the figures that standard Claude Desktop shows for `/stats` in **Code** include sessions from both modes and the terminal. Claude Code in the terminal can resume a session from either mode, and then sends the earlier conversation to the provider that the terminal uses.
59* **Claude Code setup**: `~/.claude/` and `~/.claude.json` also hold Claude Code's setup, such as skills, plugins, hooks, permission rules, trusted folders, and MCP servers, shared by **Code** in both modes and Claude Code in the terminal. Sign-ins to MCP servers made in **Code** are in [Claude Code's own credential store](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/authentication#credential-management), which they share too.
60* **Connectors**: standard Claude Desktop doesn't load the connectors, plugins, or extensions that users added outside **Code**. From your [`managedMcpServers`](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#managedmcpservers) entries, it loads only a built-in Microsoft 365 connector set in the device's managed profile.
61* **Connector sign-ins**: on a device configured by MDM, a local file, or a bootstrap server, switching modes leaves [connector sign-ins](#credentials) made outside **Code** in place and doesn't revoke them. Standard Claude Desktop doesn't use them, and Claude Desktop on 3P uses them again when the user switches back.
62* **Files in `~/Claude/`**: by default, both modes write Artifacts, scheduled tasks, and project files here, and each lists only its own. To give Claude Desktop on 3P a folder of its own, have the user go to **Settings > Cowork** and click **Change** next to **Cowork files**. The app copies everything in the current folder, the other mode's files included, to the new location and leaves the old folder in place.
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64With the migration on, standard Claude Desktop also copies what [What is migrated](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/move-to-claude-enterprise.md#what-is-migrated) lists, and `~/.claude/`, `~/.claude.json`, and `~/Claude/` are still shared.
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66No configuration key moves these three locations. They are in the user's home directory, so each OS user account has its own.
67
68A [diagnostic report](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/installation.md#troubleshooting), or the `.zip` file from **Help > Troubleshooting > Show Logs in Finder** (**Show Logs in File Explorer** on Windows), includes app log lines from both modes, whichever mode the user creates it in.
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5370### Session audit log
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5572As a Cowork session or Chat conversation runs on the device, the app writes an `audit.jsonl` file in the session's working directory, under `local-agent-mode-sessions/` in the [application-data directory](#where-data-lives). The file holds the conversation's content. The session's transcript, under the same directory, holds it too. The app appends the full text of:
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336353## Removing data
337354
338355To fully reset a device's Claude Desktop on 3P state, delete the application-data directory above and the `~/Claude/` user-files folder. Code session transcripts are in Claude Code's store at `~/.claude/projects/`, which Claude Code in the terminal also uses, so delete them there separately if you need to remove them. For [SSH remote sessions](https://claude.com/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/ssh-remote-sessions.md#host-requirements), transcripts are in `~/.claude/projects/` and attached files in `~/.claude/uploads/` in the SSH user's home directory on the remote host. Claude Desktop also copies those transcripts to the device, into folders in `~/.claude/projects/` whose names start with `ssh-`, so delete them in both places.
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357On a device that also runs standard Claude Desktop, `~/Claude/` and `~/.claude/` hold that mode's files too, so deleting them deletes those as well. See [Data shared with standard Claude Desktop](#data-shared-with-standard-claude-desktop).
339358
340359> [!NOTE]
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