Session Continuation and Resume

Claude Code allows you to continue previous conversations across terminal sessions, maintaining full context and conversation history.

Two ways to resume:

1. Continue last session (--continue or -c):

   # Automatically resumes your most recent conversation
   claude --continue
   # Short form
   claude -c

2. Resume specific session (--resume <id> or -r <id>):

   # Resume a specific session by ID
   claude --resume abc123def
   # Short form
   claude -r abc123def

3. Link to a GitHub PR (--from-pr <number>, v2.1.49+):

   # Start a session linked to a specific PR
   claude --from-pr 123
   
   # Sessions created via gh pr create during a Claude session
   # are auto-linked to that PR — use --from-pr to resume them
   gh pr create --title "Add auth" --body "..."
   # Later:
   claude --from-pr 123  # Resumes the session context for this PR

   Useful for continuing work on a feature exactly where you left off relative to a specific PR, with no need to remember session IDs.

Finding session IDs:

# Native: Interactive session picker
claude --resume

# Native: List via Serena MCP (if configured)
claude mcp call serena list_sessions

# Recommended: Fast search with ready-to-use resume commands
# See examples/scripts/session-search.sh (bash, zero dependencies, 15ms list, 400ms search)
# See examples/scripts/cc-sessions.py (Python, incremental index, partial resume, branch filter)
cs                    # List 10 most recent sessions
cs "authentication"   # Full-text search across all sessions

# Sessions are also shown when you exit
You: /exit
Session ID: abc123def (saved for resume)

Session Search Tools: For fast session search, see session-search.sh (bash, lightweight) and cc-sessions.py (Python, advanced features: incremental index, partial ID resume, branch filter, and discover for automated pattern analysis, GitHub). Also: Observability Guide.

Common use cases:

Scenario	Command	Why
Interrupted work	claude -c	Pick up exactly where you left off
Multi-day feature	claude -r abc123	Continue complex task across days
After break/meeting	claude -c	Resume without losing context
Parallel projects	claude -r <id>	Switch between different project contexts
Code review follow-up	claude -r <id>	Address review comments in original context

Example workflow:

# Day 1: Start implementing authentication
cd ~/project
claude
You: Implement JWT authentication with refresh tokens
Claude: [Analysis and initial implementation]
You: /exit
Session ID: auth-feature-xyz (27% context used)

# Day 2: Continue the work
cd ~/project
claude --continue
Claude: Resuming session auth-feature-xyz...
You: Add rate limiting to the auth endpoints
Claude: [Continues with full context of Day 1 work]

Best practices:

• Use /exit properly: Always exit with /exit or Ctrl+D (not force-kill) to ensure session is saved
• Descriptive final messages: End sessions with context ("Ready for testing") so you remember the state when resuming
• Proactive context management: Monitor with /status and use research-backed thresholds:
  • < 70%: Optimal, full reasoning capacity
  • 75%: Good time to /compact manually, before quality degrades
  • 85%: Auto-compact territory. Claude Code will compress automatically once remaining context drops below its fixed buffer (~6-7% of window). Manual handoff recommended before this point (research-backed)
  • 95%: Force handoff, severe quality degradation, reset immediately
• Session naming: Use /rename to give sessions descriptive names, critical when running multiple sessions in parallel (see Auto-Rename Pattern below)

Resume vs. fresh start:

Use Resume When...	Start Fresh When...
Continuing a specific feature/task	Switching to unrelated work
Building on previous decisions	Previous session went off track
Context is still relevant (< 75%)	Context is bloated (> 85%)
Multi-step implementation in progress	Quick one-off questions

Limitations:

• Sessions are stored locally (not synced across machines)
• Very old sessions may be pruned (depends on local storage limits)
• Corrupted sessions can't be resumed (start fresh with /clear)
• Cannot resume sessions started with different model or MCP config

Context preservation:

When you resume, Claude retains:

• ✅ Full conversation history
• ✅ Files previously read/edited
• ✅ CLAUDE.md and project settings
• ✅ MCP server state (if Serena is used)
• ✅ Uncommitted code changes awareness

Combining with MCP Serena:

For advanced session management with project memory and symbol tracking:

# Initialize Serena memory for the project
claude mcp call serena initialize_session

# Work with full session persistence
You: Implement user authentication
Claude: [Works with Serena tracking symbols and context]

# Exit and resume later with full project memory
claude -c
Claude: [Resumes with Serena's persistent project understanding]

💡 Pro tip: Use claude -c as your default way to start Claude Code in active projects. This ensures you never lose context from previous sessions unless you explicitly want a fresh start with claude (no flags).

Source: DeepTo Claude Code Guide - Context Resume Functions

Session Pattern Discovery (cc-sessions discover) {#session-pattern-discovery}

Your session history is a data source. Every time you ask Claude to do the same kind of thing across multiple sessions, that's a signal: extract it as a skill, command, or CLAUDE.md rule and stop paying the context tax on every request.

cc-sessions discover automates this analysis. It reads your session history, finds recurring patterns in user messages, and tells you what to extract.

Install:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FlorianBruniaux/cc-sessions/main/cc-sessions \
  -o ~/.local/bin/cc-sessions && chmod +x ~/.local/bin/cc-sessions

Two modes:

Mode	How	Cost	Speed
N-gram (default)	Tokenizes messages, builds frequency index of 3-6 word phrases	Free, local	~3s for 12 projects
--llm	Deduplicates messages, sends batch to claude --print	Uses your subscription	~15s

# N-gram mode: all projects, last 90 days
cc-sessions --all discover

# Lower threshold, narrower window
cc-sessions --all discover --since 60d --min-count 2 --top 15

# Semantic analysis via claude --print
cc-sessions --all discover --llm

# JSON output for scripting
cc-sessions --all discover --json | jq '.[] | select(.category == "skill")'

Example output:

  cc-sessions discover — 847 sessions · 12 project(s) · since 90d

  📋  CLAUDE.md RULE
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  write tests before implementation
    234 sessions (28%) · 891 occurrences · score 0.416
    → 3a72f1c4-...

  🧩  SKILL
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  security review authentication flow
    71 sessions (8%) · 203 occurrences · score 0.084
    → 9f1c3a22-...

  ⚡  COMMAND
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  generate prisma migration rollback script
    18 sessions (2%) · 44 occurrences · score 0.021
    → 44aab71c-...

The 20% rule built into scoring: patterns above 20% of sessions become CLAUDE.md rule suggestions (always load), 5-20% become skill suggestions (load on demand), below 5% become command suggestions (explicit invocation). The cross-project bonus (1.5×) prioritizes patterns that recur across different codebases. Those are worth extracting even at lower frequency.

See also: §5.1 Understanding Skills for the distinction between CLAUDE.md rules, skills, and commands, and the 20% rule for the decision framework.

GitHub: FlorianBruniaux/cc-sessions

Session Auto-Rename

When running multiple Claude Code sessions in parallel (split terminals, WebStorm tabs, parallel workstreams), the /resume picker shows sessions by timestamp or truncated first prompt, impossible to distinguish at a glance.

Two complementary approaches solve this. Use one or both together.