Can my employer read my Claude Code sessions?

If you are in a Claude Enterprise organisation, yes — from August 11, 2026 the Compliance API can return the full transcript of Cowork and Claude Code sessions, including ones that ran on your own machine. It requires the organisation's Compliance Access Key and the read:compliance_user_data scope.

Does this apply to personal Claude Code use?

It applies to Claude Enterprise organisations. The notable part is that it covers sessions running locally on users' machines rather than only sessions in a managed environment.

Did admins need to enable anything new?

No new provisioning is described. The endpoints use the existing Compliance Access Key and the existing read:compliance_user_data scope, so anyone who already held that access gained this capability without a separate step.

Your Local Claude Code Sessions Aren't Private

A home office late at night, one person at a laptop with a compliance notice across the terminal — PrivacyAugust 11, 2026·2 min read·By the Automation Squad Research
Your Local Claude Code Sessions Aren't Private
Three endpoints, an existing access key, and no announcement. Worth knowing whichever side of it you're on.

By Robert MacKelfresh

Founder, Automation Squad · August 11, 2026

The short answer

From August 11, 2026, Anthropic's Compliance API returns transcripts of Cowork and Claude Code sessions that run on users' own machines, in beta for Claude Enterprise organisations. Three endpoints list sessions org-wide, return one session's metadata, and return its full transcript — using the existing Compliance Access Key and the read:compliance_user_data scope.

Access map

What is now retrievable, by whom, using what

Straight from Anthropic's release notes. Read it once whether you are a developer or the admin holding the key.

If you use Claude Code inside an Enterprise org, assume the transcript is retrievable
Running on your own machine no longer implies the session is private to you. That is the whole change, and it is worth internalising before it matters rather than after.
Think about what goes into a session that isn't work
People paste more than code into a coding assistant — half-formed complaints, personal notes, an unrelated document they needed reformatted. None of that was ever private, technically. It is just newly retrievable in bulk.
If you are an admin, decide the policy before you use the capability
A capability that exists and has no stated policy will eventually be used ad hoc, in a moment of suspicion, by someone under pressure. Write down what constitutes a legitimate reason to pull a transcript, and who approves it.
Check who holds the Compliance Access Key and the scope
It uses your existing key and the read:compliance_user_data scope. Nothing new needed to be provisioned, which means whoever already had that access silently gained this capability.
Tell your people, even though you are not obliged to
The cost of them discovering it independently is much higher than the cost of saying it. Quiet monitoring capability found by accident is how trust goes, and it will be found.

Endpoint	Returns
GET /v1/compliance/apps/sessions/local	Lists sessions across your organisation
GET /v1/compliance/apps/sessions/local/{session_id}	One session's metadata
GET /v1/compliance/apps/sessions/local/{session_id}/messages	That session's full transcript
Auth required	Existing Compliance Access Key
Scope required	read:compliance_user_data
Applies to	Claude Enterprise organisations, in beta
Covers	Cowork and Claude Code sessions on users' own machines

Take it with you

ANTHROPIC COMPLIANCE API — local session transcripts
Beta for Claude Enterprise · Aug 11, 2026
Source: https://automationsquad.com/news/anthropic-compliance-api-local-sessions/

WHAT CHANGED
The Compliance API now returns transcripts of Cowork and Claude Code
sessions that run on your USERS' OWN MACHINES.

THREE ENDPOINTS
  GET /v1/compliance/apps/sessions/local
      -> lists sessions across the organisation
  GET /v1/compliance/apps/sessions/local/{session_id}
      -> one session's metadata
  GET /v1/compliance/apps/sessions/local/{session_id}/messages
      -> that session's FULL TRANSCRIPT

AUTH
  Existing Compliance Access Key
  Scope: read:compliance_user_data
  (nothing new to provision — whoever had this already, has this)

IF YOU'RE A DEVELOPER
[ ] Assume sessions are retrievable, even local ones
[ ] Consider what you paste in that isn't code

IF YOU'RE AN ADMIN
[ ] Write the policy BEFORE using the capability
      - what counts as a legitimate reason to pull a transcript?
      - who approves it?
[ ] Confirm who currently holds the key + scope
[ ] Tell your people. They will find out anyway, and finding out
    by accident is how trust goes.

Anthropic's Claude Platform release notes for August 11, 2026 record a change to the Compliance API that received no press coverage at all: it now returns transcripts of Cowork and Claude Code sessions that run on users' own machines, in beta for Claude Enterprise organisations.

The facts, quoting the release note: `GET /v1/compliance/apps/sessions/local` lists sessions across your organisation, `GET /v1/compliance/apps/sessions/local/{session_id}` retrieves one session's metadata, and `GET /v1/compliance/apps/sessions/local/{session_id}/messages` returns its transcript — "all with your existing Compliance Access Key and the `read:compliance_user_data` scope." The same day's notes add an `anthropic-workspace-id` response header to the Claude API, carrying the `wrkspc_`-prefixed ID that a request's key or token resolved to.

Automation Squad's take: this is a significant change communicated as a documentation entry, which is increasingly how significant changes are communicated. The substance is defensible — enterprises with compliance obligations need to be able to produce records, and an assistant that writes code touching production is squarely inside that remit. What is worth noticing is the shape: it required no new provisioning, so every organisation whose admin already held the Compliance Access Key acquired the capability without anyone deciding to acquire it. Capabilities that arrive without a decision tend to get used without a policy, usually for the first time in a moment of suspicion. That is the failure mode to pre-empt, and it costs one paragraph in a handbook.

Run this now: if you administer a Claude Enterprise organisation, write down two sentences before you ever call these endpoints — what constitutes a legitimate reason to retrieve a transcript, and who signs off. Then check who currently holds the Compliance Access Key, because that list may be longer than you remember. If you are a developer rather than an admin, the useful adjustment is smaller: assume a local session is retrievable, and be deliberate about what you paste into it that was never really about work.

Questions people are asking

Can my employer read my Claude Code sessions?: If you are in a Claude Enterprise organisation, yes — from August 11, 2026 the Compliance API can return the full transcript of Cowork and Claude Code sessions, including ones that ran on your own machine. It requires the organisation's Compliance Access Key and the read:compliance_user_data scope.
Does this apply to personal Claude Code use?: It applies to Claude Enterprise organisations. The notable part is that it covers sessions running locally on users' machines rather than only sessions in a managed environment.
Did admins need to enable anything new?: No new provisioning is described. The endpoints use the existing Compliance Access Key and the existing read:compliance_user_data scope, so anyone who already held that access gained this capability without a separate step.