Skip to content

[BUG] Did 2.1.1 delete all of your *local* chat logs > 30 days old without asking? #16978

New issue
New issue
Closed as not planned
Closed as not planned
[BUG] Did 2.1.1 delete all of your *local* chat logs > 30 days old without asking?#16978
Labels
area:corebugSomething isn't workinghas reproHas detailed reproduction stepsmemoryplatform:macosIssue specifically occurs on macOSstaleIssue is inactive

Description

@knksmith57
knksmith57
opened on Jan 9, 2026

Preflight Checklist

  • I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
  • This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
  • I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

I had (and regularly reference) 4+ months of chat logs (.jsonl) under ~/.claude/projects/; just now, after starting a new session, everything before December 4th has been deleted. I have explicitly configured cleanupPeriodDays to 99999:

jq '.cleanupPeriodDays' ~/.claude/settings.json
99999

Did Anthropic unilaterally decide that until I opt-into data sharing, that they'd bulk delete files from my local machine? Because I'm pretty sure that's what just happened.

Here's the prompt I was presented in the new session:

Image

All of my history was deleted and I haven't even selected a choice yet.

Is this intentional behavior? Does the latest release of Claude Code preemptively delete our local chat logs without authorization?

What Should Happen?

Claude Code should not delete chat logs fresher than cleanupPeriodDays.

Error Messages/Logs



Steps to Reproduce


    

  1. Upgrade Claude Code to latest
    2. 



Claude Model


None


Is this a regression?


Yes, this worked in a previous version


Last Working Version


~2.0.76


Claude Code Version


2.1.1


Platform


Anthropic API


Operating System


macOS


Terminal/Shell


iTerm2


Additional Information


No response
Activity
  1. knksmith57
    added 
    bugSomething isn't working
     on Jan 9, 2026
  2. knksmith57 commented on Jan 9, 2026 
    @knksmith57
    knksmith57
    on Jan 9, 2026
    Author
    x-referencing #16970 (comment)
  3. github-actions
    added 
    has reproHas detailed reproduction steps
     
    platform:macosIssue specifically occurs on macOS
     
    area:core
     
    memory
     on Jan 9, 2026
  4. github-actions commented on Jan 9, 2026 
    @github-actions
    github-actionsBot
    on Jan 9, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Found 2 possible duplicate issues:
    

      

    1. [Bug] Project files deleted despite cleanupPeriodDays set to 1825 #15935
      2. 

    2. [BUG] claude is losing chat history #16970
      3. 

    

    This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.
    

      

    • If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
      • 

    • To prevent auto-closure, add a comment or 👎 this comment
      • 

    

    🤖 Generated with Claude Code
  5. knksmith57 commented on Jan 9, 2026 
    @knksmith57
    knksmith57
    on Jan 9, 2026
    Author
    x-referencing evidence that this contradicts the documented behavior and contract promised by the official docs: #4172 (comment)
    
Image

    See https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settings#available-settings
  6. dicksontsai commented on Jan 9, 2026 
    @dicksontsai
    dicksontsai
    on Jan 9, 2026
    Collaborator
    There are two issues going on in this report that could be happening independently.
    

    Why your chat logs > 30 days got deleted
    

    It's possible that the new version detected your settings file containing cleanupPeriodDays as invalid. You should use claude doctor to see why. Version 2.1.0/2.1.1 introduced potentially stricter validation. The current behavior for invalid settings (which I would say is not ideal) is to use the default setting (30 days) when the file gets invalidated.
    

      

    • CC fix: Skip cleanup if cleanupPeriodDays is mentioned in an invalid settings file. The change is under review.
      • 

    

    Why the Consumer Terms modal shows up
    

    Consumer terms acceptance are tracked server-side. Version 2.1.1 introduced timeouts for server requests that could lead to silent failures.
    

      

    • CC fix: I have reverted the timeouts that were introduced, will come out in the next release.
      • 

    

    Unfortunately, there isn't a way to recover the history apart from any backups you maintain of the transcript files.
  7. knksmith57 commented on Jan 9, 2026 
    @knksmith57
    knksmith57
    on Jan 9, 2026
    Author
    Appreciate the context, @dicksontsai.
    

    My best guess, then, is that the described fallback behavior triggered as a result of the settings filewatcher (TIL that was a thing) firing while I was mid-way through modifying my ~/.claude/settings.json file to disable autoupdates during the botched 2.1.x rollout.
    

    To the very best of my knowledge and recollection, I did not start a new CC session/tty while the file was in a transient state. So I believe that implies one of two things:
    

      

    1. I'm wrong and I did start a new CC session while my ~/.claude/settings.json file was in a malformed state.
      2. 

    2. Modifying ~/.claude/settings.json while a CC session is running can trigger cleanup to run.
      3. 

    

    Iff the latter, then CC is breaking the contract promised by cleanupPeriodDays to only run at startup. And that's extremely dangerous.
    

    I always start CC with the --debug flag and here's what I see:
    

    Details

    2026-01-07T21:04:37.732Z [DEBUG] Checking for native installer update to version 2.0.76
2026-01-07T21:04:37.733Z [DEBUG] Already running version 2.0.76 - no update needed
2026-01-07T21:34:37.731Z [DEBUG] Checking for native installer update to version 2.1.1
2026-01-07T21:34:37.739Z [DEBUG] Downloading native installer version 2.1.1
2026-01-07T21:34:41.264Z [DEBUG] Atomically installed binary to /Users/kyle/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.1
2026-01-07T21:34:41.270Z [DEBUG] Atomically updated symlink /Users/kyle/.local/bin/claude -> /Users/kyle/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.1
2026-01-07T21:34:41.276Z [DEBUG] Successfully updated to version 2.1.1
2026-01-07T21:34:41.667Z [DEBUG] CDN dark read succeeded for 2.1.1
2026-01-07T22:04:37.767Z [DEBUG] Checking for native installer update to version 2.1.1
2026-01-07T22:04:37.769Z [DEBUG] Version 2.1.1 already installed, updating symlink
2026-01-07T22:04:37.769Z [DEBUG] Successfully updated to version 2.1.1
2026-01-07T22:34:37.779Z [DEBUG] Checking for native installer update to version 2.1.1
2026-01-07T22:34:37.787Z [DEBUG] Version 2.1.1 already installed, updating symlink
2026-01-07T22:34:37.789Z [DEBUG] Successfully updated to version 2.1.1
2026-01-07T23:04:37.729Z [DEBUG] Checking for native installer update to version 2.1.1
2026-01-07T23:04:37.739Z [DEBUG] Version 2.1.1 already installed, updating symlink
2026-01-07T23:04:37.742Z [DEBUG] Successfully updated to version 2.1.1
2026-01-07T23:34:37.703Z [DEBUG] Checking for native installer update to version 2.1.1
2026-01-07T23:34:44.717Z [ERROR] Error: Error: NON-FATAL: Lock acquisition failed for /Users/kyle/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.1 (expected in multi-process scenarios)
    at XZR (/$bunfs/root/claude:2430:2165)
    at GEB (/$bunfs/root/claude:2428:8637)
    at async R_1 (/$bunfs/root/claude:2428:11835)
    at async wx (/$bunfs/root/claude:2430:236)
    at async <anonymous> (/$bunfs/root/claude:2430:14362)
    at processTicksAndRejections (native:7:39)
2026-01-08T00:04:37.647Z [DEBUG] Checking for native installer update to version 2.1.1
2026-01-08T00:04:44.658Z [ERROR] Error: Error: NON-FATAL: Lock acquisition failed for /Users/kyle/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.1 (expected in multi-process scenarios)
    at XZR (/$bunfs/root/claude:2430:2165)
    at GEB (/$bunfs/root/claude:2428:8637)
    at async R_1 (/$bunfs/root/claude:2428:11835)
    at async wx (/$bunfs/root/claude:2430:236)
    at async <anonymous> (/$bunfs/root/claude:2430:14362)
    at processTicksAndRejections (native:7:39)
2026-01-08T00:34:37.662Z [DEBUG] Checking for native installer update to version 2.1.1
2026-01-08T00:34:44.674Z [ERROR] Error: Error: NON-FATAL: Lock acquisition failed for /Users/kyle/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.1 (expected in multi-process scenarios)
    at XZR (/$bunfs/root/claude:2430:2165)
    at GEB (/$bunfs/root/claude:2428:8637)
    at async R_1 (/$bunfs/root/claude:2428:11835)
    at async wx (/$bunfs/root/claude:2430:236)
    at async <anonymous> (/$bunfs/root/claude:2430:14362)
    at processTicksAndRejections (native:7:39)
2026-01-08T01:04:37.725Z [DEBUG] Checking for native installer update to version 2.1.1
2026-01-08T01:04:44.737Z [ERROR] Error: Error: NON-FATAL: Lock acquisition failed for /Users/kyle/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.1 (expected in multi-process scenarios)
    at XZR (/$bunfs/root/claude:2430:2165)
    at GEB (/$bunfs/root/claude:2428:8637)
    at async R_1 (/$bunfs/root/claude:2428:11835)
    at async wx (/$bunfs/root/claude:2430:236)
    at async <anonymous> (/$bunfs/root/claude:2430:14362)
    at processTicksAndRejections (native:7:39)
2026-01-08T01:05:31.092Z [DEBUG] Detected deletion of /Users/kyle/.claude/settings.json
2026-01-08T01:05:31.101Z [DEBUG] Settings changed from userSettings, updating AppState
2026-01-08T01:06:10.190Z [DEBUG] Detected change to /Users/kyle/.claude/settings.json
2026-01-08T01:06:10.197Z [DEBUG] Settings changed from userSettings, updating AppState
2026-01-08T02:22:58.935Z [DEBUG] AutoUpdaterWrapper: Installation type: native

    

    At no point did I delete my ~/.claude/settings.json; I'll defer speculating about why that message might have fired for now.
    

    

    

    Obviously we can't get back what's lost, so I'll try and wrap this with some constructive feedback: permanent customer data loss isn't an acceptable default.
  8. MarcosRodrigoT commented on Jan 19, 2026 
    @MarcosRodrigoT
    MarcosRodrigoT
    on Jan 19, 2026
    I just opened a VS Code project I have been working on for the past few months and saw that the conversation history was empty.
    

    I checked on the terminal and not only the conversation history of this project, but all the other projects' conversations I had were deleted. Yesterday they were all there. The same thing happened to one of my co-workers.
    

    I did not set any cleanupPeriodDays (running jq '.cleanupPeriodDays' ~/.claude/settings.json returns null). I also did not manually update Claude. I wasn't prompted for any "data sharing" or anything else. All chats simply dissapeared without any warning or prompt.
    

    I tried recovering previous conversations from ~/.claude but there are only log files from today, everything previous to today has been permanently deleted.
    

    This is a serious issue, if at any point I can lose all chats without warning I will seriously reconsider my Claude subscription.
  9. knksmith57
    changed the title [-][BUG] Did `2.1.1` delete all of your *local* chat logs > 30 days without asking?[/-] [+][BUG] Did `2.1.1` delete all of your *local* chat logs > 30 days old without asking?[/+] on Jan 21, 2026
  10. github-actions
    added 
    staleIssue is inactive
     on Feb 13, 2026
  11. github-actions commented on Feb 28, 2026 
    @github-actions
    github-actionsBot
    on Feb 28, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.
  12. github-actions
    closed this as not plannedon Feb 28, 2026
  13. github-actions commented on Mar 9, 2026 
    @github-actions
    github-actionsBot
    on Mar 9, 2026 – with 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.
  14. github-actions
    locked as resolved and limited conversation to collaborators on Mar 9, 2026
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment
Metadata
Metadata
Assignees
No one assigned
    Labels
    area:corebugSomething isn't workinghas reproHas detailed reproduction stepsmemoryplatform:macosIssue specifically occurs on macOSstaleIssue is inactive
    Type
    No type
    Projects
    No projects
      Milestone
      No milestone
      Relationships
      None yet
      Development
      No branches or pull requests
      Issue actions