User identity and local data changedthird-party/claude-desktop/data-storage
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Upstream edited this page at 25 Sep 2026 17:09 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 28 Sep 2026 22:07 UTC.
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1515Claude 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.
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17| Platform | Application data | Logs |
18| -------- | ------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------- |
19| macOS | `~/Library/Application Support/Claude-3p/` | `~/Library/Logs/Claude-3p/` |
20| Windows | `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude-3p\` | (under the application-data directory) |
21| Linux | `~/.config/Claude-3p/` | (under the application-data directory) |
17| Platform | Application data | Logs |
18| - | - | - |
19| macOS | `~/Library/Application Support/Claude-3p/` | `~/Library/Logs/Claude-3p/` |
20| Windows | `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude-3p\` | (under the application-data directory) |
21| Linux | `~/.config/Claude-3p/` | (under the application-data directory) |
2222
2323<Note>
2424 On Windows, earlier Claude Desktop releases stored this data under `%APPDATA%\Claude-3p\` (the Roaming profile). On first launch after upgrading, the app moves the existing directory to `%LOCALAPPDATA%` automatically; if Roaming is redirected to a network share, conversation history and configuration are copied and large regenerable caches are re-downloaded. Update any external tooling, backup jobs, or endpoint policies that reference the old path. macOS paths are unchanged.
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2727Within the application-data directory:
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29| Path | Contents |
30| ------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
31| `ant-did` | The random device identifier described above. |
32| `configLibrary/` | Locally authored configuration (from the in-app configuration window). `_meta.json` records which saved configuration is applied; each is a `<id>.json` file alongside it. Ignored when a managed profile is present. |
33| `local-agent-mode-sessions/.../cowork_account_settings.json` | User-level preferences set in the app (display name, locale, memory toggle). |
34| `local-agent-mode-sessions/` | Cowork and Chat conversation history. One `local_<uuid>.json` file plus a working directory per session, scoped by account and organization ID. The working directory includes an `uploads/` subdirectory with copies of files attached to the conversation and an `outputs/` subdirectory for files Claude creates. |
35| `local-agent-mode-sessions/.../memory/` | Cowork memory: a `CLAUDE.md` instructions file plus a `memory/` subdirectory of Markdown notes Claude writes about the user's preferences, projects, and feedback. See [Memory](#memory). |
36| `local-agent-mode-sessions/.../spaces/<projectId>/memory/` | Markdown memory notes for one project, used by Cowork sessions and Chat conversations inside that project. See [Memory](#memory). |
37| `local-agent-mode-sessions/.../<sessionId>/audit.jsonl` | Append-only log of session events (tool invocations, permission decisions, file operations). Each entry is HMAC-chained to the previous one so edits or deletions are detectable; the companion `.audit-key` file holds the per-session signing key, encrypted via the OS keychain. |
38| `claude-code-sessions/` | Code session records holding each session's working folder, settings, title, and sometimes a short summary. The conversation transcripts themselves are in Claude Code's own store at `~/.claude/projects/`, outside this directory. |
39| `claude-code/`, `claude-code-vm/` | Claude Code binary and VM workspace data for Code sessions. |
40| `vm_bundles/` | Cached copy of the VM workspace bundle that Cowork sessions run in, plus the data disk the app creates to hold those sessions' home directories inside the VM. |
41| `cowork_plugins/` | User-installed and [org-provisioned](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/extensions#organization-plugins-admin) plugins. Created on first plugin install. |
42| `IndexedDB/`, `Local Storage/`, `Session Storage/` | Renderer-side UI state (window layout, recent folders, preferences). |
29| Path | Contents |
30| - | - |
31| `ant-did` | The random device identifier described above. |
32| `configLibrary/` | Locally authored configuration (from the in-app configuration window). `_meta.json` records which saved configuration is applied; each is a `<id>.json` file alongside it. Ignored when a managed profile is present. |
33| `local-agent-mode-sessions/.../cowork_account_settings.json` | User-level preferences set in the app (display name, locale, memory toggle). |
34| `local-agent-mode-sessions/` | Cowork and Chat conversation history. One `local_<uuid>.json` file plus a working directory per session, scoped by account and organization ID. The working directory includes an `uploads/` subdirectory with copies of files attached to the conversation and an `outputs/` subdirectory for files Claude creates. |
35| `local-agent-mode-sessions/.../memory/` | Cowork memory: a `CLAUDE.md` instructions file plus a `memory/` subdirectory of Markdown notes Claude writes about the user's preferences, projects, and feedback. See [Memory](#memory). |
36| `local-agent-mode-sessions/.../spaces/<projectId>/memory/` | Markdown memory notes for one project, used by Cowork sessions and Chat conversations inside that project. See [Memory](#memory). |
37| `local-agent-mode-sessions/.../<sessionId>/audit.jsonl` | Append-only log of session events (tool invocations, permission decisions, file operations). Each entry is HMAC-chained to the previous one so edits or deletions are detectable; the companion `.audit-key` file holds the per-session signing key, encrypted via the OS keychain. |
38| `claude-code-sessions/` | Code session records holding each session's working folder, settings, title, and sometimes a short summary. The conversation transcripts themselves are in Claude Code's own store at `~/.claude/projects/`, outside this directory. |
39| `claude-code/`, `claude-code-vm/` | Claude Code binary and VM workspace data for Code sessions. |
40| `vm_bundles/` | Cached copy of the VM workspace bundle that Cowork sessions run in, plus the data disk the app creates to hold those sessions' home directories inside the VM. |
41| `cowork_plugins/` | User-installed and [org-provisioned](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/extensions#organization-plugins-admin) plugins. Created on first plugin install. |
42| `IndexedDB/`, `Local Storage/`, `Session Storage/` | Renderer-side UI state (window layout, recent folders, preferences). |
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4444Files in this directory are written with owner-only permissions so other OS accounts on the same machine cannot read them. The app encrypts stored sign-in tokens and similar secrets with the operating system's secure storage (see [Credentials](#credentials)), but not conversations, settings, or locally applied configuration, including an API key saved from the in-app configuration window. Protection at rest for those files depends on the device's full-disk encryption, such as FileVault or BitLocker.
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8080Parts of each session run as separate processes: the sandbox VM for Cowork sessions, and the Claude Code runtime for Code sessions. Processes that cannot receive credentials through an in-memory channel read them from short-lived files that the app writes for them. All of these files are created with owner-only permissions and are cleaned up automatically:
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82| Path (within the application-data directory) | Contents | Lifecycle |
83| -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
84| `host-creds-<random-id>.json` | The resolved inference credential (bearer token or API key, plus the endpoint), as environment values for background Claude Code worker processes. Written atomically with owner-only permissions (mode `0600` on macOS; per-user ACLs on Windows). | Rewritten on each credential refresh; deleted when the app quits; leftovers from a crash are removed at the next launch. The random path segment is regenerated when you sign out of the inference provider or its credentials are rotated, so a process holding the old path loses access. |
85| `ccd-session-secrets/<session-id>/` | File-based credentials for Code sessions: Google Cloud application default credentials for Google Cloud's Agent Platform, or AWS configuration files for Amazon Bedrock. The directory is created with owner-only permissions (mode `0700` on macOS; per-user ACLs on Windows). | Created when the session starts; removed when the session ends; the whole directory is swept before the next Code session starts and when you sign out of the inference provider. |
86| Per-session working directory | For Cowork sessions, the same file-based credentials (Google Cloud's Agent Platform and Amazon Bedrock) are written into the session's working directory, which is mounted into the sandbox VM. | Scoped to the session; removed with the session directory. |
82| Path (within the application-data directory) | Contents | Lifecycle |
83| - | - | - |
84| `host-creds-<random-id>.json` | The resolved inference credential (bearer token or API key, plus the endpoint), as environment values for background Claude Code worker processes. Written atomically with owner-only permissions (mode `0600` on macOS; per-user ACLs on Windows). | Rewritten on each credential refresh; deleted when the app quits; leftovers from a crash are removed at the next launch. The random path segment is regenerated when you sign out of the inference provider or its credentials are rotated, so a process holding the old path loses access. |
85| `ccd-session-secrets/<session-id>/` | File-based credentials for Code sessions: Google Cloud application default credentials for Google Cloud's Agent Platform, or AWS configuration files for Amazon Bedrock. The directory is created with owner-only permissions (mode `0700` on macOS; per-user ACLs on Windows). | Created when the session starts; removed when the session ends; the whole directory is swept before the next Code session starts and when you sign out of the inference provider. |
86| Per-session working directory | For Cowork sessions, the same file-based credentials (Google Cloud's Agent Platform and Amazon Bedrock) are written into the session's working directory, which is mounted into the sandbox VM. | Scoped to the session; removed with the session directory. |
8787
8888Aside from these files, credentials delivered through managed configuration are held in memory only.
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