Claude Code Sessions Skill Skill

Claude Code Sessions Skill

Comprehensive session management for Claude Code - search, analyze, and resume conversations from any directory.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

Search sessions by content or keywords
List all available sessions across projects
Analyze session history and patterns
Find sessions created in different directories
Get session metadata and statistics

Quick Start Checklist

When user wants to resume or find sessions:

[ ] 1. Identify request type: resume by ID, search by text, or list recent
[ ] 2. If resume by ID: use 21_universal_session_resume.py with session ID
[ ] 3. If search by text: use --text flag with search keywords
[ ] 4. If list recent: use 22_list_all_sessions.py with --days filter
[ ] 5. Verify correct working directory from session metadata
[ ] 6. Launch Claude Code with proper context

5-Second Decision Tree:

User mentions session ID? → Resume with 21_universal_session_resume.py
User describes topic/content? → Search with --text flag
User asks "what did I work on"? → List with 22_list_all_sessions.py

Practical Workflow

BEFORE attempting to resume/search:

Determine intent (resume specific vs search vs browse recent)
Choose command based on intent:
- Known ID → python 21_universal_session_resume.py [ID]
- Topic search → python 21_universal_session_resume.py --text "keyword"
- Recent work → python 22_list_all_sessions.py --days 7
Execute command and verify session found
Resume automatically (script handles directory switching)

Example rapid application:

User: "Resume my dashboard work from yesterday"

Agent thinks:
- Text search needed ("dashboard")
- Recent timeframe (yesterday)
- Use: python 21_universal_session_resume.py --text "dashboard" --all
- Filter results by date, pick most recent

Core Capabilities

1. Universal Session Resume

Resume any session from any directory - automatically handles path resolution and project switching.

CLI Usage:

# Resume by session ID (default mode)
python data_sources/claude_code/21_universal_session_resume.py c080fd31-1fea-44e2

# Resume by ID (full UUID)
python data_sources/claude_code/21_universal_session_resume.py c080fd31-1fea-44e2-8690-c58ad0f4a829

# Search by text content (requires --text flag)
python data_sources/claude_code/21_universal_session_resume.py --text "dashboard implementation"

# Resume latest session
python data_sources/claude_code/21_universal_session_resume.py --last

# Preview command without executing
python data_sources/claude_code/21_universal_session_resume.py --dry-run c080fd31

# Show all matching sessions
python data_sources/claude_code/21_universal_session_resume.py --text "dashboard" --all

Shell Alias (if configured):

# After source ~/.zshrc
rc c080fd31-1fea-44e2                 # By ID (default)
rc --text "dashboard"                  # By text search
rc --last                              # Latest session
rc --dry-run c080fd31                  # Preview only

How It Works:

Scans all projects in ~/.claude/projects/
Finds session regardless of creation directory
Determines correct working directory from session metadata
Automatically switches to project folder
Launches Claude Code with correct session context

Parameters:

session_input (positional): Session ID (default) or search text (with --text)
--text, -t: Treat input as text search instead of session ID
--last: Find most recent session across all projects
--dry-run: Show resume command without executing
--all: Show all matching sessions, not just first

2. List All Sessions

View all Claude Code sessions grouped by project with statistics.

CLI Usage:

# List all sessions
python data_sources/claude_code/22_list_all_sessions.py

# Show detailed information
python data_sources/claude_code/22_list_all_sessions.py --detailed

# Filter by project path
python data_sources/claude_code/22_list_all_sessions.py --project chrome-extension-tcs

# Show only recent sessions (last 7 days)
python data_sources/claude_code/22_list_all_sessions.py --days 7

Output Format:

📊 Summary:
  Total projects: 5
  Total sessions: 127
  Total size: 45.32 MB

📁 Projects and Sessions:

📂 ~/project
   Sessions: 89 | Size: 32.15 MB
   Period: 2024-10-01 to 2025-01-15
   • c080fd31... (2h ago) - dashboard implementation with DataTables...
   • b2435f08... (1d ago) - fix session resume script...
   • a7f3e290... (3d ago) - Notion integration analysis...
   ... and 86 more sessions

Parameters:

--detailed: Show full information for each session (first 10 per project)
--project: Filter by project path (substring match)
--days: Show only sessions modified in last N days

3. Session Search with Grep

Fast content search across all sessions using grep.

CLI Usage:

# Search for keyword in all sessions
grep -i "dashboard" ~/.claude/projects/-Users-*/*.jsonl

# List files containing keyword
grep -l "search_term" ~/.claude/projects/-Users-*/*.jsonl

# Search with context (2 lines before/after)
grep -C 2 "error message" ~/.claude/projects/-Users-*/*.jsonl

# Search in specific project
grep -i "dashboard" ~/.claude/projects/-Users-username-projects-project/*.jsonl

Why Grep:

10-100x faster than custom search tools
Works with any content
Simple and reliable
Standard Unix tool

Session Storage Structure

Storage Location

~/.claude/projects/
├── -Users-Kravtsovd-projects/
│   └── b2435f08-65e2-4b88-91c6-79f3a93ced9a.jsonl
├── -Users-username-projects-project/
│   └── c080fd31-1fea-44e2-8690-c58ad0f4a829.jsonl
└── -Users-username-projects-ai-dashboards/
    └── a7f3e290-4b3c-11ef-8901-234567890abc.jsonl

Directory Naming:

Claude Code creates unique folder for each working directory
Path format: - separated segments
Example: ~/projects → -Users-Kravtsovd-projects

Session File Format (JSONL)

Each line is a JSON object representing a message or event:

{"type":"system","cwd":"~/project","timestamp":"2025-01-15T10:30:00Z"}
{"type":"user","message":{"content":"implement dashboard"},"timestamp":"2025-01-15T10:30:15Z"}
{"type":"assistant","message":{"content":"I'll help..."},"timestamp":"2025-01-15T10:30:20Z"}

Message Types:

system: Session metadata, cwd, environment
user: User input and prompts
assistant: Claude responses
tool_use: Tool invocations and results

Python API

Session Resume

from data_sources.claude_code.session_manager import ClaudeSessionManager

# Initialize manager
manager = ClaudeSessionManager()

# Resume by ID
manager.resume_session(session_id="c080fd31-1fea-44e2-8690-c58ad0f4a829")

# Resume latest
manager.resume_latest()

# Search and resume
sessions = manager.search_sessions(text="dashboard")
if sessions:
    manager.resume_session(session_id=sessions[0]['session_id'])

Session Search

from data_sources.claude_code.session_scanner import SessionScanner

scanner = SessionScanner()

# Search by text
results = scanner.search(
    text="dashboard implementation",
    limit=10
)

# Search by date range
results = scanner.search(
    date_from="2025-01-01",
    date_to="2025-01-15"
)

# Get all sessions
all_sessions = scanner.list_all_sessions()

# Get project sessions
project_sessions = scanner.get_project_sessions(
    project_path="~/project"
)

Practical Examples

Example 1: Resume Recent Dashboard Work

User: "Resume my last session about dashboard implementation"

Agent Action:

# Search for dashboard sessions
python data_sources/claude_code/21_universal_session_resume.py --text "dashboard implementation"

# Output:
✅ Found session!
  Session ID: c080fd31-1fea-44e2-8690-c58ad0f4a829
  Created in: ~/project
  Modified: 2025-01-15 10:30:00
  Size: 2.45 MB
  Content: implement dashboard with DataTables and real-time updates...

🚀 Resuming session...
  📁 Directory: ~/project
  🔄 Launching Claude Code...

Example 2: Find All Sessions About Notion

User: "Show me all conversations about Notion integration"

Agent Action:

# Search with --all flag
python data_sources/claude_code/21_universal_session_resume.py --text "notion" --all

# Or use grep for faster search
grep -l "notion" ~/.claude/projects/-Users-*/*.jsonl

Example 3: List Recent Work

User: "What did I work on this week?"

Agent Action:

python data_sources/claude_code/22_list_all_sessions.py --days 7 --detailed

Example 4: Resume from Different Directory

User: "Resume session c080fd31 but I'm in wrong folder"

Agent Action:

# No problem - script handles it automatically
python data_sources/claude_code/21_universal_session_resume.py c080fd31

# Script will:
# 1. Find session in ~/.claude/projects/
# 2. Detect original working directory
# 3. cd to correct directory
# 4. Launch Claude Code with session

Troubleshooting

Session Not Found

Problem: ❌ No sessions found

Solutions:

Check session ID is correct: python data_sources/claude_code/22_list_all_sessions.py
Try partial ID (first 8 characters): rc c080fd31
Search by content: rc --text "keyword"
Use --last for most recent: rc --last

Wrong Directory

Problem: Session opens in wrong project folder

Solution: Script automatically handles this - finds correct directory from session metadata

If still wrong:

# Check session metadata
grep "cwd" ~/.claude/projects/-Users-*/{session_id}.jsonl

# Verify project path
python data_sources/claude_code/22_list_all_sessions.py --detailed

Duplicate Sessions

Problem: Multiple sessions for same project

Cause: Claude Code creates separate folder for each unique working directory

Solution:

# Find duplicates
python data_sources/claude_code/22_list_all_sessions.py --detailed

# Search across all
grep -l "keyword" ~/.claude/projects/-Users-*/*.jsonl

Shell Configuration (Optional)

Add to ~/.zshrc for quick access:

# Claude Code session resume
rc() {
    python ~/project/data_sources/claude_code/21_universal_session_resume.py "$@"
}

# List sessions
rc-list() {
    python ~/project/data_sources/claude_code/22_list_all_sessions.py "$@"
}

# Quick last session
rc-last() {
    rc --last
}

# Search sessions
rc-find() {
    rc --text "$1" --all
}

Usage after source ~/.zshrc:

rc c080fd31                    # Resume by ID
rc --text "dashboard"          # Search by text
rc-list                        # List all
rc-last                        # Resume latest
rc-find "notion"              # Find by keyword

Related Files

Core Scripts:

data_sources/claude_code/21_universal_session_resume.py - Universal resume
data_sources/claude_code/22_list_all_sessions.py - Session listing
data_sources/claude_code/20_find_current_session.py - Session search

Documentation:

data_sources/claude_code/16_CLAUDE_SESSION_MANAGEMENT.md - Session management guide
data_sources/claude_code/00_session_id_detection_guide.md - Session ID detection
data_sources/claude_code/CLAUDE.md - Progress summary

Python Modules:

data_sources/claude_code/claude_code_client.py - API client
data_sources/claude_code/session_manager.py - Session manager (if exists)

Best Practices

Use grep for speed - Simple keyword search is fastest
Partial IDs work - First 8 characters usually unique: rc c080fd31
Text search is fuzzy - Searches first 20 messages
--dry-run to preview - Check command before executing
--all for exploration - See all matches, not just first
Use --last daily - Quick access to recent work

Version

v1.0 (2025-01-15)

Author

Daniel Kravtsov (daniel@improvado.io)

Agent Skills: Claude Code Sessions Skill

Skill Files