exploring-claude-sessions
Exploring Claude Code Sessions
Use the narrowest read-only capability that answers the request. When the host offers Claude's native session API, use listSessions, getSessionInfo, and paginated getSessionMessages first. Newer API versions may support includeSystemMessages; feature-detect it and request those messages only when they are relevant. Hosts need not expose these capabilities or the same result depth.
Use raw storage when native retrieval cannot reach the target or does not contain the needed content, or when the user explicitly asks for raw storage-level detail. Do not use --resume merely to inspect a session. Set CLAUDE_ROOT="${CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR:-$HOME/.claude}". Claude Code stores each session as JSONL under $CLAUDE_ROOT/projects/. The project slug replaces non-alphanumeric cwd characters with - (and can be truncated with a hash); if CLAUDE_CODE_PROJECT_DIR_NAME is set or uncertain, list/search $CLAUDE_ROOT/projects instead—it cannot be derived before finding the transcript.