---

name: thread-search description: Search Claude Code conversation history. Use when user asks "where did I discuss X", "when did we talk about X", "find the conversation about X", or wants to continue previous work.

Thread Search

Search and analyze Claude Code conversation history.

For storage internals (sessions-index.json, /rename scope, path encoding): See cc-internals skill.

Quick Reference

Tool Selection

Why CC tools: Better permissions, structured output, error handling. Why Bash for jq: No native JSONL parsing in CC.

JSONL Message Structure

Copy{
  "type": "user" | "assistant" | "summary",
  "timestamp": "<ISO-8601>",
  "message": { "content": [{ "type": "text", "text": "..." }] },
  "uuid": "<uuid>",
  "sessionId": "<uuid>"
}

Search Approach

Step 1: Use CC Grep tool to find matching threads

CopyGrep pattern="X" path="~/.claude/projects/" output_mode="files_with_matches"

Step 2: Use Bash + jq for JSON extraction

Copyjq -c 'select(.type=="user") | select(.message.content[].text | test("pattern";"i"))' file.jsonl

Step 3: Use CC Read tool to examine specific thread content

Query Workflows

"Where did I discuss X?"

1. Grep tool → find matching thread files
2. Decode paths to project names
3. Bash + jq → extract first timestamp + context
4. Report: project, thread ID, date range, snippet

"When did we discuss X?"

1. Grep tool → find matching files
2. Bash + jq → extract timestamps from matches
3. Report: timeline grouped by date/project

"Continue work on X"

1. Grep tool → find threads mentioning X
2. Read tool → examine most relevant thread
3. Analyze: goal, accomplishments, pending items, decisions
4. Generate continuation prompt (see template below)

Continuation Prompt Template

CopyContinuing work from [date] on [project]:

## Original Goal
[from first user message]

## What Was Done
- [accomplishments]
- [files changed]

## Pending
- [incomplete items]

## Key Decisions
- [choices that carry forward]

## Resume Point
[specific next task]

jq Patterns

Copy# Decode project path (inline)
echo "-Users-foo-bar" | sed 's/^-/\//; s/-/\//g'

# Extract timestamps from thread
jq -r '.timestamp // empty' file.jsonl | sort

# User messages only
jq -c 'select(.type=="user")' file.jsonl

# Filter by text content
jq -c 'select(.message.content[].text | test("pattern";"i"))' file.jsonl

# Get first/last timestamp
jq -rs '[.[].timestamp | select(.)] | sort | .[0], .[-1]' file.jsonl

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