[BUG] Regression: desktop sidebar "Last activity" filter hidden for all Group by modes except State

[Coamithra]

Summary

In the Claude Desktop app's Code tab, the sidebar filter menu (funnel icon next to the "Sessions" heading) used to always show a "Last activity" filter (1d / 3d / 7d / 30d / All) in Code mode. After a recent UI update, that row only renders when Group by = State. With any other grouping the row silently disappears (when grouping by Project it is replaced by "Show empty projects"). This is a regression: the filter was previously available regardless of grouping.

For users who organize their sessions any other way, there is now no way to filter sessions by recency at all — and because the option vanishes rather than being disabled, it looks like the feature was removed entirely.

Environment

• Claude Desktop 1.22209.3 (Windows 11, MSIX install), Code tab
• The sidebar UI is served remotely, so this reproduces regardless of local app version

Steps to reproduce

1. Open the Code tab and click the filter (funnel) icon at the top of the Sessions sidebar.
2. Set Group by → Project.
3. Reopen the filter menu: it now shows Status / Environment / Show empty projects / Group by / Sort by — the "Last activity" row is gone. The same applies to every Group by mode other than State.
4. Set Group by → State: the "Last activity" row reappears.

What the code does

In the current claude.ai bundle (c1e971a2a-DOzjNyvk.js), the row is gated on the grouping mode:

R = "state" === t   // t = group-by mode
...
R && jsx(c3, { label: "Last activity", options: n3, ... })
P = "code" === e && "project" === t
P && jsx(Item, { ..., children: "Show empty projects" })

The desktop app's locally shipped bundle from a few days earlier (1.22209.0, ion-dist/assets/index-*.js) rendered the "Last activity" row unconditionally in Code mode, so this is a recent regression/behavior change.

Request

Restore the previous behavior: show the "Last activity" filter in Code mode for all Group by modes, as it was before this change. Filtering by recency is just as useful when sessions are grouped by project (or any other grouping) — large project groups accumulate months of stale sessions.
If the filter genuinely cannot apply in some mode, prefer showing it disabled (with a hint) over removing it, so users don't conclude the feature was dropped.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[SebastianWiercinski]

Confirming on macOS. Claude Desktop 1.22209.3, macOS 26.3.1 (25D771280a), Code tab.

Same regression: after the recent app update the Last activity filter (1d/3d/7d/30d/All) vanished from the Sessions sidebar. It only reappears when Group by = State; with any other grouping the row is gone entirely, so it looks like the feature was removed. With a large session history this makes finding recent sessions very hard.

+1 for restoring the Last activity filter across all Group by modes (as requested in #79252).

[Coamithra]

This was closed as duplicate on 2026-07-23, but no canonical issue was linked, so the thread ends without pointing anywhere. I assume the intended target is #79252 — could that link be added? As it stands neither issue references the other, and #79252 is filed as an enhancement, which loses the fact that this is a regression of behaviour that previously shipped.

Still present three weeks and several releases later. Verified in Claude Desktop 1.24012.9.0 (Windows 11, MSIX) — the gate is unchanged in app/resources/ion-dist/assets/v1/shared-17-YFu3JFq7.js:

,R="state"===t          // t = group-by mode
R && jsx(yw,{label:"Last activity", options:xw, value:String(M), ...})
,E="code"===e&&"project"===t

New detail since the original report: the row is not just hidden, the filter is disabled. Downstream:

q = useMemo(() => ({...j, activityDays: "state" === V ? j.stateActivityDays : 0}), [j, V])

activityDays is coerced to 0 (= All) in every grouping except State, so the obvious workaround — set the window under Group by = State, then switch grouping — silently discards the value. There is no way to get a recency window in any other grouping.

Minimal fix remains two lines: drop the "state"===t gate on the row, and use the stored value unconditionally in the activityDays memo. Failing that, render the row disabled with a hint rather than removing it — a control that vanishes reads as "feature removed", which is how this report started.

I have copied the technical detail to #79252 so it is not lost on a closed thread.