---
name: session-recovery
description: "Diagnose and recover Claude Code session issues including missing conversations, corrupted sessions, and session file problems. Use whenever the user sees 'No conversations found to resume', sessions appear in wrong locations, or session files are missing or corrupted. Do NOT use for general Claude Code configuration or for issues unrelated to session persistence and recovery."
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.