Claude Code release notes: open desktop and resume sessions

Claude Code 2.1.285 adds claude --desktop, which opens the Claude desktop app on the current directory or an earlier session. The same version lets you resume a session that is already running in the background. Version 2.1.286 also fixes a bug that could lose part of the conversation history after a crash.

Sources: Claude Code 2.1.285 release notes. Claude Code 2.1.286 release notes.

Open Claude Code in the desktop app

Human step: Run this in your terminal from the directory you want to open in the Claude app:

claude --desktop

To continue a session in the app, use claude --desktop --continue. For a specific session, use claude --desktop --resume <id>, replacing the placeholder with the actual session ID.

The command arrived in 2.1.285 on September 29. The release notes describe opening the desktop app, not installing it, and do not announce support for new platforms.

Source: Anthropic's release notes: open the desktop app from the terminal.

Resume work running in the background

Previously, Claude Code could refuse to resume a session that was already running in the background. In 2.1.285, both /resume and claude --resume open that session. If you include a prompt with claude --resume <id> "prompt", the session receives it as its next turn.

Human step: Use /resume inside Claude Code or claude --resume <id> in your terminal. These are separate entry points to the same documented improvement.

Source: Claude Code 2.1.285: resume background sessions.

Version 2.1.286, published on September 30, fixes a related bug: after a crash or killed process, --resume and --continue could lose every turn following a batch of parallel tool calls. The fix concerns resuming sessions; the release notes do not promise recovery of history already lost. When checked on October 1, 2.1.286 was the latest version on both GitHub and npm.

Sources: Claude Code 2.1.286: session history fix. Current version in the npm registry.