Preflight Checklist
What's Wrong?
In the Claude desktop app's Cowork mode, "Add folder" now refuses my Google Drive for Desktop Mirror root at ~/My Drive, returning: "1 Folder was skipped because it overlaps a protected location in the home/root directory."
This same folder was connected and working ~2 days ago and broke after the desktop app auto-updated — so it's a regression.
The block is specific to the Mirror root. The app still connects, without complaint: real subfolders of it (e.g. /My Drive/01_personal-admin), and plain sibling folders at the same home level (/DevProjects, ~/Downloads). So it isn't triggered by home-directory placement in general, nor by Google-Drive-managed paths in general — only the Drive Mirror root itself. ~/My Drive is a genuine local directory in Mirror mode (not a symlink; readlink/realpath resolve to itself), so it isn't resolving into ~/Library. One filesystem difference vs. a folder that connects: ~/My Drive carries a com.apple.FinderInfo xattr and ~/DevProjects does not — offered as a possible signal, not a confirmed cause.
What Should Happen?
~/My Drive should connect as a single folder, as it did before the update. If the "protected location" check is intentional, it shouldn't hard-block a user-owned Drive Mirror root with no override — a warning-with-continue, or treating Mirror roots as allowed, would restore the prior workflow.
Error Messages/Logs
Add-folder UI error: 1 Folder was skipped because it overlaps a protected location in the home/root directory.
File-bridge error when trying the CloudStorage container workaround: ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-<your-account>/My Drive is not inside a folder connected to Cowork on this device.
Steps to Reproduce
- On macOS, run Google Drive for Desktop in Mirror files mode with the mirror at ~/My Drive.
- Claude desktop app → Cowork → Add folder → select ~/My Drive.
- Rejected: "1 Folder was skipped because it overlaps a protected location in the home/root directory."
- Controls that all succeed: add ~/My Drive/; add ~/DevProjects; add ~/Downloads.
- Workaround that fails: add ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-. It connects, but its My Drive entry is a symlink the bridge won't traverse, and .mirror-symlink holds only Drive-ID symlinks it also won't follow — so the workspace stays unreachable.
Note: ~/My Drive is confirmed a real directory (not a symlink; realpath = itself), carrying com.apple.FinderInfo which ~/DevProjects lacks.
Claude Model
Opus
Is this a regression?
Yes, this worked in a previous version
Last Working Version
Unknown exact build; worked ~July 8, 2026 (≈2 days before filing), before the desktop app auto-updated.
Claude Code Version
Claude desktop app 1.20186.0 (Cowork). Note: desktop-app issue, not the CLI — app version given as the closest analog.
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
macOS
Terminal/Shell
Terminal.app (macOS)
Additional Information
This is a Cowork / Claude desktop-app issue, not the Claude Code CLI — filed here as the closest public tracker; please redirect if there's a better venue.
Impact: my Cowork workspace root is ~/My Drive (Google Drive Mirror). With the root no longer connectable, the root instruction file and unified folder hierarchy can't be mounted — only individual subfolders, which flattens the workspace and drops root-level context.
Environment: macOS/Apple Silicon; Google Drive Mirror mode; app auto-updated within ~2 days of breakage (1.20186.0). Screenshots of the error available.
Preflight Checklist
What's Wrong?
In the Claude desktop app's Cowork mode, "Add folder" now refuses my Google Drive for Desktop Mirror root at ~/My Drive, returning: "1 Folder was skipped because it overlaps a protected location in the home/root directory."
This same folder was connected and working ~2 days ago and broke after the desktop app auto-updated — so it's a regression.
The block is specific to the Mirror root. The app still connects, without complaint: real subfolders of it (e.g.
/My Drive/01_personal-admin), and plain sibling folders at the same home level (/DevProjects, ~/Downloads). So it isn't triggered by home-directory placement in general, nor by Google-Drive-managed paths in general — only the Drive Mirror root itself. ~/My Drive is a genuine local directory in Mirror mode (not a symlink; readlink/realpath resolve to itself), so it isn't resolving into ~/Library. One filesystem difference vs. a folder that connects: ~/My Drive carries a com.apple.FinderInfo xattr and ~/DevProjects does not — offered as a possible signal, not a confirmed cause.What Should Happen?
~/My Drive should connect as a single folder, as it did before the update. If the "protected location" check is intentional, it shouldn't hard-block a user-owned Drive Mirror root with no override — a warning-with-continue, or treating Mirror roots as allowed, would restore the prior workflow.
Error Messages/Logs
Steps to Reproduce
Note: ~/My Drive is confirmed a real directory (not a symlink; realpath = itself), carrying com.apple.FinderInfo which ~/DevProjects lacks.
Claude Model
Opus
Is this a regression?
Yes, this worked in a previous version
Last Working Version
Unknown exact build; worked ~July 8, 2026 (≈2 days before filing), before the desktop app auto-updated.
Claude Code Version
Claude desktop app 1.20186.0 (Cowork). Note: desktop-app issue, not the CLI — app version given as the closest analog.
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
macOS
Terminal/Shell
Terminal.app (macOS)
Additional Information
This is a Cowork / Claude desktop-app issue, not the Claude Code CLI — filed here as the closest public tracker; please redirect if there's a better venue.
Impact: my Cowork workspace root is ~/My Drive (Google Drive Mirror). With the root no longer connectable, the root instruction file and unified folder hierarchy can't be mounted — only individual subfolders, which flattens the workspace and drops root-level context.
Environment: macOS/Apple Silicon; Google Drive Mirror mode; app auto-updated within ~2 days of breakage (1.20186.0). Screenshots of the error available.