Session Search

Session Search

Search Claude Code session transcripts by combining keyword pre-filtering with semantic evaluation. Finds previous sessions about specific topics, debugging conversations, research tasks, or any past work.

Workflow

Step 1: Run the search script

Execute scripts/search.py with the user's query:

python3 scripts/search.py "<query>" [max_results] [max_age_days]

• query (required): Natural language search query
• max_results (optional, default 10): Maximum results to return
• max_age_days (optional, default 90): How far back to search

The script performs keyword pre-filtering across all sessions, then extracts meaningful excerpts from top candidates. Output contains a SESSIONS_DATA JSON block.

Step 2: Evaluate results semantically

After receiving the script output, evaluate each session's relevance to the query. Consider:

• Synonym matching: "bug" matches "error", "issue", "problem", "fix"
• Related concepts: "debugging" matches sessions with test failures or error messages
• Tool patterns: "refactoring" matches Edit-heavy sessions
• Domain context: "obsidian" matches vault-related work

Assign a relevance score (0-10) to each session based on excerpt content and query intent.

Step 3: Present results

Display the top results (up to max_results) sorted by relevance, formatted as:

### [Relevance: N/10] Project — Date
Summary of what the session was about (1-2 sentences based on excerpts)
`claude --resume <session-id>`

If no relevant results are found, report that and suggest alternative queries.

Session Storage

Sessions are stored as JSONL files in ~/.claude/projects/. Each file contains events with user/assistant messages and tool calls. The search script handles file discovery and text extraction automatically.

Customization

To search older sessions or get more results:

/session-search "query" 20 180

(20 results, 180 days lookback)