Not using CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR env var for picking up configs, and even much more less standard claude config dir

[ramarivera]

this means all the configs, skills, plugins are not picked up.

There is no reason for this, 1code should honor the default settings.

[1code-async]

Task completed.

I've posted the enrichment comment on issue #164. Here's a summary of the analysis:

The core problem: 1Code unconditionally overrides CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR with a per-session isolated directory ({userData}/claude-sessions/{subChatId}/) at src/main/lib/trpc/routers/claude.ts:1189. It also hardcodes ~/.claude as the source for skills/agents symlinks, ignoring any custom CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR the user may have set.

What partially works: Skills and agents from ~/.claude/ are symlinked into the isolated dir, and MCP servers are read from ~/.claude.json.

What's broken: If a user has CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR set to a non-default path, none of their configs, skills, or plugins will be picked up.

The comment includes the specific file locations, related issues (#48, #12), and a suggested fix approach that maintains the session isolation while properly reading from the user's configured source directory.

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Issue Analysis

Root Cause

1Code intentionally overrides CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR to an isolated, per-session directory rather than honoring the user's existing value (or the default ~/.claude). This is done to prevent session cross-contamination when multiple chats target the same project folder.

Where it happens: src/main/lib/trpc/routers/claude.ts:997-1001 and line 1189

// Per-session isolated directory (always overrides user's CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR)
const isolatedConfigDir = path.join(
  app.getPath("userData"),
  "claude-sessions",
  isUsingOllama ? input.chatId : input.subChatId,
)

// ...later, unconditionally set as env var:
CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR: isolatedConfigDir,

This resolves to something like:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Agents/claude-sessions/<subChatId>/
• Linux: ~/.config/Agents/claude-sessions/<subChatId>/

What gets carried over (partially)

The code does attempt to symlink skills/ and agents/ from ~/.claude/ into the isolated directory (lines 1015-1053):

const homeClaudeDir = path.join(os.homedir(), ".claude")  // hardcoded to ~/.claude
const skillsSource = path.join(homeClaudeDir, "skills")
const agentsSource = path.join(homeClaudeDir, "agents")
// symlinked into isolatedConfigDir

And MCP servers are read from ~/.claude.json (lines 1061-1088).

What does NOT work

1. CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR env var is ignored — If a user has set CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR to a custom path (e.g., ~/.config/claude), 1Code will still hardcode ~/.claude as the source for skills/agents and always override the env var.

2. Hardcoded ~/.claude path — The symlink source is hardcoded to os.homedir() + "/.claude" rather than reading from CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR. The CLAUDE_CONFIG_PATH constant in src/main/lib/claude-config.ts:20 is similarly hardcoded:

   export const CLAUDE_CONFIG_PATH = path.join(os.homedir(), ".claude.json")

3. Other config subdirectories not symlinked — Only skills/ and agents/ are symlinked. Any other config under CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR (e.g., custom settings, other plugins) won't be available.

Related Issues

• MCP are not authenticated. #48 — MCP servers not being authenticated (related to config handling)
• [Question] where can we edit config file to add MCP servers? #12 — Where to edit config for MCP servers (user confusion about config location)

Suggested Fix

The fix would involve:

1. Read the user's CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR from the shell environment (already available in claudeEnv from buildClaudeEnv()) and use that as the source directory instead of hardcoding ~/.claude:

   const homeClaudeDir = claudeEnv.CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR || path.join(os.homedir(), ".claude")

2. Similarly for ~/.claude.json — respect CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR when determining where to read the config file, or at minimum fall back correctly:

   const claudeJsonSource = claudeEnv.CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR
     ? path.join(claudeEnv.CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR, ".claude.json")  // or however the SDK resolves it
     : path.join(os.homedir(), ".claude.json")

3. Update CLAUDE_CONFIG_PATH in src/main/lib/claude-config.ts to be a function that respects CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR.

Note: The isolation approach (per-session config dir) is needed to prevent cross-chat contamination, so the symlink-based approach is reasonable — it just needs to read from the correct source directory.