session-recovery

---
name: session-recovery
description: Diagnose and recover Claude Code session issues including missing conversations, corrupted sessions, and session file problems. Use whenever the.
allowed-tools: Read, Bash
---

# Claude Code Session Recovery Skill

> **Self-Evolving Skill**: This skill improves through use. If instructions are wrong, parameters drifted, or a workaround was needed — fix this file immediately, don't defer. Only update for real, reproducible issues.

## When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

- "No conversations found to resume" when running `claude -r`
- New conversations not creating session files
- Sessions appearing in wrong locations (`/tmp/` instead of `~/.claude/projects/`)
- Session history missing after environment changes
- IDE/terminal settings affecting session creation
- Need to migrate or recover 600+ legacy sessions

## Quick Reference

## Official Session Storage

**Standard Location:** `~/.claude/projects/`

**Structure:**

```
~/.claude/projects/
├── -home-username-my-project/     # Encoded absolute path
│   └── 364695f1-13e7-4cbb-ad4b-0eb416feb95d.jsonl
└── -tmp-another-project/
    └── a8e39846-ceca-421d-b4bd-3ba0eb1b3145.jsonl
```

**Format:** One JSON event per line (JSONL), UUID-based filenames

## Critical Pitfall: HOME Variable

### Problem

Claude Code uses `$HOME` environment variable to determine session storage location. If `$HOME` is incorrect, sessions go to wrong directory or disappear.

### Symptoms

- `claude -r` shows "No conversations found to resume"
- New conversations work but files don't appear in expected location
- Sessions found in `/tmp/` or other unexpected paths
- Works on one machine but not another

### Diagnosis

```bash
/usr/bin/env bash << 'PREFLIGHT_EOF'
# Step 1: Check current HOME
echo "Current HOME: $HOME"

# Step 2: Check system expectation
echo "Expected HOME: $(getent passwd $(whoami) | cut -d: -f6)"

# Step 3: Find where Claude is actually writing
find /tmp -name "*.jsonl" -path "*/.claude/projects/*" 2>/dev/null
PREFLIGHT_EOF
```

---

## Reference Documentation

For detailed diagnostic steps and solutions, see:

- [Troubleshooting Guide](./TROUBLESHOOTING.md) - Detailed diagnostic procedures and fixes

---

## Troubleshooting

| Issue                        | Cause                          | Solution                                             |
| ---------------------------- | ------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| "No conversations found"     | Wrong HOME variable            | Verify `$HOME` matches expected user directory       |
| Sessions in /tmp/            | HOME set incorrectly           | Fix HOME in shell profile, restart terminal          |
| Session files missing        | Disk space or permissions      | Check `~/.claude/projects/` permissions and disk     |
| Wrong project sessions shown | Path encoding mismatch         | Check encoded path matches current working directory |
| Sessions not persisting      | File system issues             | Verify write permissions to `~/.claude/projects/`    |
| IDE sessions separate        | Different HOME per environment | Ensure consistent HOME across terminal and IDE       |
| Legacy sessions not visible  | Migration not complete         | See migration section in TROUBLESHOOTING.md          |
| UUID filename corruption     | Incomplete writes              | Check for partial .jsonl files, remove corrupt ones  |

## Post-Execution Reflection

After this skill completes, check before closing:

1. **Did the command succeed?** — If not, fix the instruction or error table that caused the failure.
2. **Did parameters or output change?** — If the underlying tool's interface drifted, update Usage examples and Parameters table to match.
3. **Was a workaround needed?** — If you had to improvise (different flags, extra steps), update this SKILL.md so the next invocation doesn't need the same workaround.

Only update if the issue is real and reproducible — not speculative.