recall · git:20261022.c82883b · 2026-10-22 · sha256 8aa96714637a1158
recall git:20261022.c82883bA
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--- name: recall description: Find prior Claude Code and Codex sessions with an indexed local search engine, then continue the work, repeat it with fresh inputs, or distill it into a skill. Runs from Claude Code, Codex, or pi; the current index covers Claude Code and Codex transcripts. Use when the user names Recall, says "find that conversation where…", "what did we do last time about…", "continue what we did yesterday on X", "what did codex do on this branch", "turn what we did about Y into a skill", or "remember when you…". Not for searching code (use grep on the repo) or for facts already in MEMORY.md. --- # /recall: session memory engine Claude Code and Codex sessions on this machine are indexed into a local SQLite engine. Query the index and read only the best-supported session instead of searching entire transcripts. The Recall engine is distributed separately. This skill contains no executable implementation. Prefer configured Recall MCP tools. For local CLI use, the operator must set `RECALL_SCRIPT` to the absolute path of the privately installed `recall.py`. If neither interface is available, report the missing dependency and stop. Do not fetch old source commits or install an archived public package to recover it. All CLI commands use that installed script: ```bash python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" <command> # absolute path supplied by the operator ``` If Recall MCP tools are available in the current agent, immediately read [references/central-brain.md](references/central-brain.md) before running commands and use those tools directly. Do not run the local CLI as a parallel or fallback retrieval path. The same central instructions apply when `RECALL_URL` is set, `RECALL_MODE` is `remote` or `shadow`, or `~/.config/recall-brain/client.json` exists. Otherwise everything below is fully local and nothing touches a network. ## No index yet? Search anyway If `search` reports the index does not exist (or `doctor` shows `db exists=False`), search the raw JSONL transcripts immediately while the first index builds: ```bash rg -l -i "<terms>" ~/.claude/projects ~/.codex/sessions # candidate files ls -t <hits> # newest first rg -n -i -C3 "<terms>" <best-hit> # read the window ``` Choose terms and regular expressions based on the request. Exact identifiers are stronger evidence than general prose. If `rg` is unavailable, use `grep -rl`. Start the index in the background at the same time: ```bash setsid nohup python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" index >/dev/null 2>&1 & ``` The first build over a large history can take many minutes; later runs are incremental and fast. Tell the user when an answer came from a cold scan of the raw transcripts. Once `doctor` shows a healthy db, switch to indexed `search`, which ranks results, explains the `WHY` for each match, and matches identifiers exactly. ## First: pick the outcome 1. **Find / verify:** answer "did we…", "which session…", "how did we…". Search, read the best hit's relevant window, answer with the session path as the receipt. 2. **Continue:** resume in-progress work. This needs the session's tail plus its branch and worktree. 3. **Repeat:** redo the same kind of task with fresh inputs. This needs the original driving prompts, verbatim. 4. **Skill-ify:** turn the recipe into a reusable skill. This needs the steps that worked, minus one-off data. Chain into the harness's skill creator when one is installed; otherwise write the standard `SKILL.md` package directly. Ask only if the outcome is genuinely ambiguous. ## Search ```bash python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" search "<what the user said>" [filters] ``` - Pass the user's phrasing plus any identifier you have. Identifiers (job UUIDs, PR numbers, pod names, error strings, filenames) are the strongest evidence and are matched exactly, including inside tool output. - Apply filters as flags rather than approximating them in the query text: | ask | flag | |---|---| | "last 48h", "back in May" | `--since 2026-05-01 --until 2026-06-01` (UTC; both bounds include the specified instant. To cover a full local day, use the NEXT day's date as `--until`; convert the user's local day first) | | "in the other worktree/checkout" | `--cwd <any-cwd-substring>` | | "what did codex do" | `--harness codex` | | branch-scoped | `--branch <substring>` | - Output is ranked sessions with date, cwd, slot, branch, a matched snippet, and `WHY` it matched. Empty output means nothing cleared the evidence gate; it does not prove the work never happened. Retry once with a distinctive identifier or a wider window. If output is still empty, tell the user what you searched and that no supported match was found. - `--paths` prints bare file paths (for scripting); `--limit N` widens. ## Read the best-supported hit For the remote Brain, open a returned receipt with `recall_show` using only `target`, or `python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" show '<recall://receipt>'`. It opens that record, not the entire session. Use the `recall_session_context` MCP tool for neighboring events and `recall_exec` with returned `logical_document_id` values for full-document inspection. See [the central Brain guide](references/central-brain.md). The file paths and `--prompts`, `--around`, and `--tail` examples below are for local sessions. Do not append those flags to a remote Brain receipt. Check the `WHY` line on the top few results first. Matches on only generic words are weak evidence. Prefer a result whose `WHY` includes an identifier, phrase, or exact-entity match rather than selecting rank 1 automatically. ```bash python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" show <path> --prompts # user prompts only python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" show <path> --around 2026-07-03T14:20 # ±3-turn window; use the date printed in the search result python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" show <path> --tail 30 # the session's final turns (for Continue) ``` Pass the session file path from the search output. Use `show` rather than `cat`: sessions can reach 80 MB, and `show` parses and prints only the requested content. ## Related work (no query needed) ```bash python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" related --cwd "$(pwd)" --branch "$(git branch --show-current)" ``` This returns sessions that share the project, branch, or touched files, ranked by overlap and recency. Use it at session start when the user references prior work without naming it. ## Outcome playbooks These file-based playbooks are for local sessions. For the remote Brain, use receipt-only `recall_show`, then the context or document tools described above; do not treat one opened receipt as the full session's final state. **Find / verify:** search → `show --around` the matched timestamp → answer with evidence. This usually requires two commands. **Continue:** search → `show --tail 30` for the final state (last actions, tool results, open errors) → check the session's branch/slot still exists (`git -C <cwd> branch --show-current`) → summarize: "Found `<session>` in `<cwd>` on `<date>`, last action `<x>`, branch `<b>`; resume there or here?" **Repeat:** search → `show --prompts` → present the driving prompts verbatim and confirm fresh inputs (dates, scope) before re-running. **Skill-ify:** search → `show` the working window → separate the durable recipe (commands, endpoints, auth patterns) from one-off data (specific IDs, dates) → invoke the available skill creator with the recipe and a proposed name, or create a standard Agent Skills directory when none is installed. ## Export one exact session for another skill Use the machine-readable session export when `/recap` or another evidence consumer needs complete, ordered coverage rather than a human window: ```bash python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" session-export --current --limit 1000 python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" session-export --target <exact-path-or-receipt> --limit 1000 python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" session-export --cursor <opaque-next-cursor> --limit 1000 ``` Each JSON page contains stable evidence IDs, redacted text and digests, sanitized typed entities (including native tool identity when observed), native session identity, projection/privacy versions, a boundary receipt, a content-free page receipt, and `complete` plus `next_cursor`. Consume pages in sequence and accept immutable-snapshot completeness only on the final page; inspect `source_snapshot_stable` before claiming a live source did not advance. Cursors are stored owner-private under `~/.recall` and never encode transcript text or a path. `--current` resolves Codex only through exact `CODEX_THREAD_ID`, and Claude through exact `CLAUDE_SESSION_ID` when the harness exposes it. Otherwise it fails closed with content-free ranked candidate receipts; pass the exact path found by Recall rather than guessing. Child and continuation sessions are separate boundaries by default. A standalone local export stamps an explicit `local:<harness>` source. To resolve a local native relationship graph for Recap without reading transcript prose, use: ```bash python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" session-relations --current --include-children python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" session-relations --target <exact-path> --chain python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" session-relations --target <exact-path> --chain --include-children ``` The closed `recall.session-relations.v1` JSON uses Claude `sessionId`/`agentId` sidechain metadata and Codex `parent_thread_id`/`forked_from_id` metadata. It excludes merely adjacent or similar sessions and fails when a requested native link is missing or ambiguous. This command is local-only. ## Index health ```bash python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" index # incremental; run if results look stale python3 "$RECALL_SCRIPT" doctor # coverage, index age, retention watchdog ``` Never run `index --rebuild` without the user's explicit request; large session histories can require gigabytes of temporary WAL and substantial CPU time. `doctor` warning about `cleanupPeriodDays` means transcript retention got re-enabled. Surface that to the user immediately because history is being deleted. ## Gotchas - The engine indexes user text, assistant text, and tool input/output, but reasoning/thinking blocks are never stored, and secret-shaped lines are redacted at ingest. If the only trace of something was a thinking block, it is not findable. - Codex sessions are one file per rollout under a date tree; `show` handles both schemas transparently. - Running Recall from pi is supported, but pi's own session format is not yet indexed. Do not claim that a cold result proves no pi session exists. - A query about work that never happened can still return lexically-adjacent sessions. The ranked `WHY` line tells you what actually matched; read it before asserting the session answers the question. - Subagent and workflow transcripts are indexed as their own sessions and live under the parent session's directory (`<session-uuid>/subagents/…`); the path itself tells you which main session spawned them. ## Upgrade: central Recall Brain (optional) Recall can sync into a private central Brain service that provides deliberate memory writes, cross-device search, consented ChatGPT-export import, a Cowork collector, pull connectors, and MCP capture. The service is off unless explicitly configured. Setup, mode routing, and all Brain commands are in [references/central-brain.md](references/central-brain.md); `doctor` prints the current mode. ## References - [references/query-cookbook.md](references/query-cookbook.md): worked examples per stratum: identifiers, error strings, time windows, cross-worktree, cross-harness, paraphrase. - [references/central-brain.md](references/central-brain.md): optional central Brain upgrade: setup, modes, deliberate writes, connectors, privacy, export inbox, MCP capture.