[BUG] Desktop conversation history never auto-loads — background-sync blocked, refresh button non-functional

[ThatDragonOverThere]

Environment

• Desktop version: 1.2581.0 (also reproduced on 1.2278.0)
• OS: Windows 11 Pro x64
• Plan: Max

What's Wrong

Claude Desktop does not load conversation history on startup. The conversation list is empty. The refresh button does not work. The only way to load conversations is to sign out and sign back in.

Log Evidence

On every startup, main.log shows:

[LocalSessionManager] Initialization succeeded — existingSessions=0
[LocalSessionManager] Session storage directory does not exist yet, skipping load

Followed immediately by repeated blocked permission checks:

Blocked permission check { permission: 'background-sync', requestingOrigin: 'https://a.claude.ai/' }

Electron is blocking the background-sync web permission that Desktop uses to fetch conversation history from the server. The refresh button in the UI triggers the same blocked path — it does nothing.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop (fresh launch or after cache clear)
2. Conversation list is empty — no history loads
3. Click the refresh button — nothing happens
4. Sign out → sign back in → conversations load normally

Impact

Requires sign out/sign in on every session to see conversation history. Conversations created on mobile or browser are invisible in Desktop until re-auth. Persistent workflow disruption for users who rely on cross-device conversation continuity.

Related

• Same machine also experiencing renderer crashes (SYS-025, [BUG] App intermittently goes permanently blank/white during active session — no crash logged, no recovery #44558)
• background-sync permission is blocked by Electron's default permission policy — Desktop appears to depend on it without requesting it properly through the Electron permission handler

[github-actions]

Closing for now — this doesn't appear to be about Claude Code. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.