| name | session-search |
| description | For CLI agents WITHOUT subagent support (e.g., Codex CLI). Search previous code agent sessions for specific work, decisions, or code patterns. |
If you are Claude Code: Do NOT use this skill directly. Use the
session-searchersubagent via the Task tool instead - it handles this more efficiently without polluting your context.
session-search
Search and find previous code agent sessions (Claude-Code or Codex-CLI) for specific work, decisions, or code patterns.
Workflow
- Understand the query: Identify what the user is looking for (code patterns, decisions, specific work, design direction)
- Search with aichat: Run
aichat search --json -n 10 "[query]"(use-g "project"to filter by project) - Parse results: Use
jqto extract fields from JSONL output (session_id, project, created, snippet, file_path) - Deep dive if needed: Read session files at
~/.claude/projects/*/[session-id].jsonl(max 3 files) - Summarize: Return a focused summary with key findings and references
Run aichat search --help to see all options (date filters, branch filters, etc.)
and JSONL field names.
Output Format
Return a concise summary containing:
- Key Findings: 2-3 bullet points answering the query
- Relevant Sessions: Session IDs and dates for reference
- Specific Content: Code snippets or quotes if directly relevant
Format as clean markdown, not raw JSON.
Example
Query: "Find sessions where we discussed authentication design"
aichat search --json -n 10 "authentication design"
Summary:
- Session abc123 (Dec 10): Discussed JWT vs session-based auth, decided on JWT
- Session def456 (Dec 8): Implemented refresh token rotation pattern
Constraints
- ALWAYS use
--jsonflag with aichat search (otherwise it spawns interactive UI) - NEVER return raw JSON output to the user - summarize and distill findings
- NEVER read more than 3 session files per query
- If no results found, suggest alternative search terms
- ONLY report information directly observed in files - never infer or extrapolate
Error Handling
If aichat search command fails or is not found, ask user to install:
uv tool install claude-code-tools # Python package
cargo install aichat-search # Rust search TUI
Prerequisites:
- Node.js 16+ (for action menus)
- Rust/Cargo (for aichat-search)
If user doesn't have uv or cargo:
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh # uv
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh # Rust