---
name: read-claude-code-history
description: >-
  Reads, searches and exports local Claude Code and Kimi CLI history without resuming work:
  timelines, verbatim user input, keyword or fuzzy recall, file recovery from transcripts, and
  which session ran a given command in a known time window. Use when the user asks what was
  said, wants a session ID or original context, needs proof of what a session contained, or
  needs past-session runtime evidence about commands, tool calls and hook runs — query this
  index instead of raw-scanning transcript files. Not for Codex (use read-codex-history); with no
  platform or several named, start at local-conversation-history.
argument-hint: "[session-id | keywords | workspace-path]"
---

# Read Claude Code History

Read Claude Code evidence only. Do not resume the old process, edit its project,
or turn a read request into a continuation task. When the user later asks to act,
hand the verified evidence to `daymade-claude-code:continue-claude-code-work`.

## Route by the requested result

| User wants | Use |
|---|---|
| Recent Claude Code sessions, titles, dates, or IDs | Indexed metadata only; the bundled `list_local_history.py` currently reads all candidate bodies before date/limit filtering, so do not use it for a broad inventory |
| One known Session reconstructed as a chronological evidence briefing | `scripts/read_claude_session.py --session <ID>` |
| The exact command behind a hook audit row that records a Session ID and a command SHA-256 instead of the text | `scripts/read_claude_session.py --session <ID> --find-command-sha256 <HEX>`; see **Command behind a hook audit row** below |
| Every Agent/Task tool_use in one Session, quoted verbatim (e.g. the exact prompt handed to an independent reviewer agent) | `scripts/read_claude_session.py --session <ID> --agent-prompts` (optionally `--agent-description-prefix TEXT`); a prompt dispatched twice is listed twice |
| Which session launched a program in a known time window, across sessions | `scripts/analyze_sessions.py tool-calls --from <ISO> --to <ISO> --pattern <REGEX> [--tool NAME]`; candidates are selected by filesystem metadata before any body is read, then grouped by session; Codex rollouts are out of scope and the gap is stated in the output |
| When hook runs happened across sessions — outcome, duration, exit code per run (e.g. "why was session startup slow", "did this guard fire today") | `scripts/analyze_sessions.py hook-events --from <ISO> --to <ISO> [--pattern <REGEX>] [--event NAME]`; same candidate-first narrowing as tool-calls; forked-session copies of a run collapse to one; Codex rollouts are out of scope and the gap is stated in the output |
| The user's recent words, including human queued prompts | `scripts/extract_user_messages.py` |
| A conversation or quote by keyword | `scripts/history_index.py recall --mode bm25`, then the exact-session reader |
| Prior work whose wording may have changed | `scripts/history_index.py recall` after checking index status |
| A topic with no known Session ID | `scripts/history_index.py status`, then `recall`; state index coverage and freshness |
| How identified sessions or a physically bounded project ended | Follow **Inspect session endings** in `references/workflow_examples.md` |
| A deleted/overwritten file preserved in Claude file-history records | `scripts/recover_content.py` |
| How often each Skill ran and who started it (user command, model after the user named it, model unprompted), e.g. to decide model-visible vs user-invocable-only | `scripts/skill_usage_ledger.py index`, then `report` (Claude and Codex together); see **Skill usage ledger** below |
| Kimi CLI sessions | `history_index.py recall --provider kimi`, then read the named session's `wire.jsonl`; see **Kimi CLI** below |
| Continue a verified Claude session | Stop reading and invoke `daymade-claude-code:continue-claude-code-work` |

## 找「我们之前做的那个 X」（产物类目标）的三个判据

按词搜不到时换这三个判据，别扩词硬搜：

1. **时间约束是第一筛子**。用户给了时间窗（「前两天」「本周」）→ 先按 mtime 筛文件系统（`find <root> -newermt '<日期>' -name '*.html'`），候选面缩到几十条再按形态排。全库关键词搜索应该在时间筛之后，不是之前。
2. **session scratchpad 必须在搜索面内**（`/private/tmp/claude-$(id -u)/**/scratchpad/`，macOS 单用户通常是 `claude-501`）。Claude session 的默认产物落点在那，不在 workspace——「我们之前写的 X」有相当概率躺在 scratchpad。找产物类目标时显式包含它。
3. **恢复出的版本 ≠ 最终版**。从 session jsonl 恢复文件（取 Write 的 content）只拿到某次全量写，后续增量 Edit 不会自动合入——恢复产物可能只有真实文件的零头（实测：28KB 恢复片段 vs 2.45MB 完整版）。打开/渲染后觉得「不像目标」时，先怀疑「我拿到的不是完整版」（原路径文件还在不在、session 里还有没有后续 Edit），不要直接排除目标。

战例（2026-09-18）：找「之前做的聚类网页」，十几轮全库关键词搜索无果；目标一直在 9-13 的 session scratchpad（favorites-ledger.html，2.45MB），恢复的 28KB 片段渲染成裸样式被误判排除，用户给出精确路径后才定位。

The requested output wins over the background story. If the user asks for a
chronological table of their raw inputs, return that table; do not replace it
with a topic analysis because their motivation mentions an incident.

## Evidence surface and completeness

By default, discover every active Claude config home and every archive registered
in `~/.claude/history-sources.json`. De-duplicate physical copies by Session ID and
content identity, and use record timestamps rather than file mtime. A result scoped
to one explicit `--home` is a diagnostic slice, not a completeness claim.

Treat Claude's record labels as storage metadata, not authorship proof. A top-level
`type: user` record can contain a command envelope, hook boilerplate, a whole pasted
document, agent-voiced text, or a system placeholder. Human text typed while the
assistant was busy can live in `attachment.queued_command.prompt` with
`origin.kind: human`; do not lose those corrections by reading only user records.

Read [references/session_file_format.md](references/session_file_format.md) when
interpreting schemas, authorship, sidechains, attachment records, compaction, or
file-history snapshots. Read
[references/hybrid_history_recall.md](references/hybrid_history_recall.md) before
building or repairing the optional BM25/vector index. Read
[references/workflow_examples.md](references/workflow_examples.md) for indexed discovery,
triage, and recovery examples. Read
[references/claude_session_format.md](references/claude_session_format.md) when you
need the layout rather than the message schema — where sessions live on disk, how
project paths are normalized into directory names, the `sessions-index.json` fields,
and the `compact_boundary` markers that tell you a transcript was summarized rather
than truncated.

## Commands

Resolve every script relative to this SKILL.md; do not search the machine for a
same-named helper or recreate a JSONL parser inline.

### Indexed discovery

```text
<skill-dir>/scripts/history_index.py status
<skill-dir>/scripts/history_index.py recall '<topic>' --provider claude --mode bm25
```

Expected output: candidate Session IDs and index coverage. This is topic
discovery, not a complete recent-session inventory. If a complete list is
needed, report that the current bundled inventory would scan raw bodies.

### Exact Session evidence

```text
<skill-dir>/scripts/read_claude_session.py --session <SESSION_ID>

# Add this only when the caller intentionally wants to restrict lookup to one workspace.
<skill-dir>/scripts/read_claude_session.py --session <SESSION_ID> --project <workspace>
```

Expected output: `# Claude Code Session Evidence Briefing`, session identity,
compaction boundary, chronological user/assistant handoff, queued human prompts,
end reason, unresolved calls, subagent state, files touched, memory, and current
workspace state. The exact reader always parses every physical Session record,
including records before compaction; `--full` only removes output character
clipping. It checks active and registered-archive copies, accepts only identical
or strict append-only supersets, and fails visibly on divergent copies, multiple
Session identities, a missing record-level Session identity, malformed JSONL, or
unreadable bytes. With an exact Session ID and no `--project`, it searches every
project across the discovered active homes and registered archives; an explicit
`--project` remains a strict scope. A filename alone never proves Session identity.
Read [Local runtime and working-directory evidence](references/session_file_format.md#local-runtime-and-working-directory-evidence)
before interpreting task endings, local-command output, or cwd receipts.

### Command behind a hook audit row

Hook audit logs often store `sid=<SESSION_ID> cmd_sha256=<HEX>` rather than the
command text. Resolve a row to the tool call that produced it:

```text
<skill-dir>/scripts/read_claude_session.py --session <SESSION_ID> --find-command-sha256 <HEX>
```

Expected output: a `# Tool calls whose command has SHA-256 …` heading, the number
of transcript files and tool calls examined, the match count, and for each match
the file and line, timestamp, record uuid, tool name and id, cwd, and the full
command in a fence. Exit 0 means at least one match, 1 no match, 2 a malformed
digest or missing `--session`. The digest is SHA-256 over `tool_input.command`
as UTF-8. A hook event raised inside a subagent carries the parent Session ID,
so the lookup also searches `<SESSION_ID>/subagents/*.jsonl`; a main-transcript-only
search misses those calls. Unlike the briefing, the lookup skips and counts
unparseable lines so it still works on a Session that is being written; a zero
with skipped lines does not prove the call is absent.

### Indexed content search

```text
<skill-dir>/scripts/history_index.py status
<skill-dir>/scripts/history_index.py recall '<keyword>' \
  --mode bm25 --provider claude --exclude-session <CURRENT_ID>
```

Inspect the index's provider coverage and last indexed time. Open only matching
Session IDs with the exact-session reader to verify original records. Indexed
recall returns ranked prose candidates, not a census of thinking, tool results,
attachments, or unindexed records. The raw `analyze_sessions.py search` entry
is disabled for live stores: its date flags filter after reading the files.

Use `--role user` or `--role assistant` to narrow the stored role, and repeat
`--phrase '<literal text>'` to require exact substrings. These filters constrain
both BM25 and vector candidates; `--terms` constrains only the FTS leg. Returned
`record_key`, `source_kind`, and `human_authorship` describe provenance, not an
authenticated human speaker. Inspect the original record before saying “you said”.
Codex tool results are outside this prose index; hand a selected Codex candidate
to `read-codex-history`'s original tool/record evidence route. Export original
values without automatic content redaction. A result about a neighboring fact
does not answer the requested proposition.

### Human-input export

```text
<skill-dir>/scripts/extract_user_messages.py \
  <persistent-output-base> --days 7 --group-by session
```

This produces Markdown and HTML. It separates storage pollution from human prose
and recovers queued prompts. Preserve timestamps, duplicates, and Session boundaries;
do not add a second thematic classification unless asked.

### Deleted-content recovery

Recovery writes files, so keep it separate from ordinary reading. First run the
recovery report against the exact Session file, review every proposed destination,
then write only after the user asked to recover content. Never restore directly
over the current project tree.

### Skill usage ledger

Answers "which Skills do we actually use, and who starts them". It is an
incremental index (`~/.claude-history-index/skill-usage-v1.db`): the first
`index` parses every Claude and Codex session once, later runs re-parse only
files whose size or mtime changed. Reports read the ledger, never raw history.

```bash
python3 scripts/skill_usage_ledger.py index            # --no-codex to skip Codex
python3 scripts/skill_usage_ledger.py report --override user-invocable-only
python3 scripts/skill_usage_ledger.py report <skill> [<skill> ...] --since 2026-06-01 --until 2026-09-24
python3 scripts/skill_usage_ledger.py status           # freshness + what is not covered
```

Columns: `user_command` (user typed `/X`, or Codex `$X`), `model_named` (the
model invoked X and the latest human prompt contained X's name), `model_auto`
(the model invoked X unprompted), `last_model_use`, `blocked` (Claude refused a
model call because X is not model-invocable — the model reached for it and
could not use it; not counted as use), and the Skill's current `skillOverrides`
value. `--override STATE` also lists Skills in that state with zero recorded use.
Rows group by bare name, which is what `skillOverrides` keys on; `identities`
lists the qualified forms merged into a row. More than one namespace there
(`review`, `suite:review`) means same-named Skills were counted together — rerun
with `--exact` to split them.

Read these limits into every conclusion:

- A Skill that is user-invocable-only cannot be model-invoked, so its
  `model_auto` count stops at the day it was hidden. Compare use before and after
  that date, not the lifetime total.
- Codex model use is inferred from the model reading one `.../X/SKILL.md`; a
  session that edits or audits X's SKILL.md with plain shell reads looks the
  same. Several SKILL.md files read by one command are recorded as `bulk_read`
  and excluded.
- Not covered: Skills invoked inside Claude subagents, Kimi CLI, and Codex
  Skills followed from memory without a read. Zero recorded use means "not seen
  in the covered stores", not "never used".

## Read-result contract

Every answer must state:

1. **Sources read** — active homes, registered archives, exact Session files.
2. **Coverage** — Session IDs and internal time window.
3. **Result** — raw chronology or matching evidence, in the requested format.
4. **Gaps** — unreadable files, missing parent/attachment bytes, excluded sidechains,
   or any scope that was not searched.

“Not found” means “not found in the stated coverage,” never “never happened.”
Indexed recall omits some record types. State that limit and the index frontier;
do not present zero ranked hits as a complete label census.
Do not call a compact summary verbatim history; it is a continuation aid and must
be checked against raw records and the current workspace for load-bearing claims.

Before writing any negative or absolute claim ("never said," "never appears,"
"could not have happened," "impossible to satisfy"), clear all three:

1. **Every record type, not only user/assistant text.** A grep for the literal
   string must also cover `attachment` (`queued_command.prompt`), `tool_result`,
   and `thinking` — a record's top-level `type`/`isMeta` alone does not prove or
   disprove human authorship. Classifying hits by `type:user vs assistant` while
   skipping `attachment` is exactly how a real mid-turn human command gets
   reported as never having been said.
2. **The cheap next step before "unrecoverable."** Use indexed recall or re-read
   an already identified Session if that can close the gap. A boundary you have
   not tested is not evidence of a boundary.
3. **A contradicting firsthand account reopens the question; it does not lose to
   your reading.** If the user states they did something and your evidence says
   otherwise, treat the conflict as a signal to redo (1) and (2), not as a
   result to defend.

If a tool result states it was truncated or paginated ("showing lines X-Y of
Z... do not answer from this page alone"), that warning is binding: read the
remainder before any conclusion that depends on it.

## Guardrails

- Keep ordinary read modes read-only.
- Do not run `claude --resume` or `claude --continue`.
- Do not use file mtime as conversation chronology.
- Do not run a raw whole-history scan. Use the index, or first select an exact
  Session. A date filter applied after reading every file does not bound work.
  If index coverage is incomplete, report the gap instead of scanning it.
- Do not share raw history outside the local machine without explicit user approval;
  it can contain credentials and private business context.
- Do not report a search as complete after a timeout or malformed source.
- Do not assert a negative ("never said," "never appears," "impossible to
  satisfy") without clearing the checklist in Read-result contract.

## Surface contract

First use in a session: run `python3 scripts/surface_version.py` once and note
the 12-char fingerprint — the sha256 of this skill's `scripts/**/*.py` code
surface. If it differs from the fingerprint you last saw for this skill, the
code changed under you: re-read this SKILL.md and the references from disk
before acting on in-context echoes of them. The fingerprint covers code only;
documentation edits do not change it.

## CC behavior claims

`references/cc-behavior-claims.json` is the per-release ledger of every
"Claude Code behaves like X" assertion this skill depends on (Read row
numbering, tool_use/tool_result ordering, AUQ answer shape, interrupt markers,
plan bindings, sidechain semantics). `python3 scripts/verify_cc_claims.py
--fixtures` is the CI gate — exit 1 means the implementation, a fixture, or
the ledger broke a claimed shape. `--corpus <dir>` re-verifies the ledger
against live transcripts: exit 2 means the schema drifted, which is a
correctness task, not a test failure — update `observed`/`last_verified`/
`evidence` or fix the implementation, and name the drifted claim(s) in the
CHANGELOG.

## Router and legacy compatibility

`daymade-claude-code:local-conversation-history` is the cross-provider router. It
sends Claude reads and every Kimi CLI request here, and does not replace this
Skill's identity or evidence contract. New Codex requests route to
`daymade-claude-code:read-codex-history`.

**Kimi CLI is a live surface of this Skill, not a legacy one.** It has no reader
of its own. Use indexed recall for discovery, then inspect the named session's
wire records. A Kimi question answered from Claude data alone produces a false
"never happened". Home resolution order is `--kimi-home` > `KIMI_HOME` > `~/.kimi-code`.

**When that default home does not exist, the store is not missing — it is
somewhere else, and the tools say so.** The Kimi desktop client bundles the CLI
inside its own Electron runtime and keeps sessions under that runtime rather than
in the home directory, so a machine with hundreds of real conversations answers
the default path with nothing at all. The inventory prints the home it tried as a
diagnostic line; read that line before reporting an empty Kimi result, because
"no home found" and "no conversations" are different findings.

Locate the real home instead of guessing, in this order:

1. **Ask the recall index, if one was ever built with Kimi in scope.**
   `scripts/history_index.py status` prints `scope.sources`, and a `provider:
   kimi` entry there carries the absolute `home` it was indexed from. One
   command, no searching. It only answers after Kimi has been indexed once, so
   it is the fastest path on a configured machine and silent on a fresh one.
2. **Read the desktop client's user-data directory off its running process.**
   An Electron app carries `--user-data-dir` on its command line
   (`ps ax | grep -i <client>`). The bundled CLI is **not** directly beneath it:
   the home is `<user-data-dir>/daimon-share/daimon/runtime/kimi-code/home`.
   Note the final `home` segment — `.../runtime/kimi-code` is the CLI install and
   fails the step-4 test, while its `home/` child is the store.
3. **Follow a transcript record's `meta.sourcePath`.** The client mirrors
   conversations to
   `<user-data-dir>/daimon-share/daimon/agents/<agent>/memory/transcripts/days/<YYYY-MM-DD>/conv-*.jsonl`,
   and each record's `meta.sourcePath` is the absolute wire path it came from,
   which contains the home. Do not look in `kimi-agent/conversation-archive.json`
   — that file holds titles and timestamps only, with no path of any kind.
4. **Confirm before using it.** A real Kimi home contains `session_index.jsonl`
   and a `sessions/wd_<workspace>_<hash>/` tree; pass it as `--kimi-home` once
   both are present. This test is what tells the store apart from the CLI
   install directory one level up.

Two schema facts that decide whether a located store reads correctly. Newer
builds drop `id` and `cwd` from each session's `state.json` and keep the working
directory only in `session_index.jsonl`, so a session's project must come from
that map rather than from its own state file. And the same `sessions/` tree holds
internal agent runs alongside real conversations, separated only by a directory
prefix — title generation, vault maintenance, and skill summarization are machine
chatter, not history, and on a real store they outnumbered the genuine
conversations.

**Kimi coverage check.** Confirm that
  `history_index.py status` includes Kimi and read its freshness boundary.
  An unindexed or newer Kimi session remains unknown to recall.

**Reading one located Kimi session has no bundled command.** `read_claude_session.py`
resolves Claude session files only and exits non-zero on a Kimi session ID. The Kimi
surface is inventory plus indexed recall; to show a conversation's contents, read the
session's `agents/<agent>/wire.jsonl` directly and interpret it with the record types
above. Say that this is a direct file read rather than presenting it as the same
verified reconstruction the Claude reader produces.

The former `claude-code-history-files-finder` also exposed optional Codex and Kimi
branches. Its original instructions are retained in
[references/legacy_cross_provider_workflow.md](references/legacy_cross_provider_workflow.md)
as a frozen snapshot for migration and regression evidence only — read it for what
the old contract said, never as a description of what ships today.