Claude Code desktop lacks local projects and permission modes, stalling unattended orchestration for hours

DCS-Rob · ghdev · 2026-10-17

The author runs unattended overnight multi-session orchestration on Windows: a coordinator session launches parallel sessions via local routines, handing a licensed desktop CAD app back and forth through a lock file.
Cloud-only Projects can't handle this (local hardware, licensed desktop software, local files), so the request is local Projects in the desktop app with project-level settings — most importantly permission mode.
Pain points from a real overnight run:
Routines created by the coordinator don't inherit its permission mode and start in default mode;
At 03:40 a permission-mode switch triggered an approval card; with nobody awake the coordinator's whole turn blocked 5.5 hours, queueing all cross-session messages and delaying the scheduled morning summary;
permissions.defaultMode in .claude/settings.json can't set bypass/auto per folder, so unattended runs must be hand-configured per task in advance;
A tool call waiting on approval blocks the session's entire turn — two other sessions hung 6 hours each that night.

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