[BUG] No Way to Access Past Conversions in VS Code Extension #16290

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Bug Report: No Way to Access Past Conversations in VS Code Extension
Environment:
Claude Code Version: 2.0.75 (VS Code extension)
OS: macOS Darwin 25.2.0
VS Code Version: [You'll need to add this - check Help > About]
Issue Summary: The VS Code extension has no UI or commands to access past conversations, despite conversations being saved to disk. The documented claude --resume command shows an empty list even though conversation files exist. Expected Behavior: Based on the Claude Code documentation, users should be able to:
Use claude --resume to browse and resume past conversations
Access conversation history through VS Code Command Palette
See past conversations in the chat panel UI
Actual Behavior:
Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P → "Claude") shows NO commands for:
Resume Conversation
Past Conversations
Conversation History
Switch Conversation
Available commands are only:
Focus input
Insert @-Mention Reference
Logout
Open in New Tab
Open in New Window
Open in Side Bar
Open in Terminal
Show Logs
Chat Panel UI has no visible history/resume buttons or UI elements
CLI command claude --resume returns completely empty list
Evidence That Conversations ARE Being Saved:

$ ls -lh ~/.claude/projects/-Users-dennismajor-Documents-Antigravity-my-math-study-web-site/*.jsonl | grep -v "agent-" | grep -v " 0B "

-rw-------@ 1 user staff 13K Jan 4 12:46 8ee6ba5f-5d90-4653-a572-35c1b82ffa52.jsonl
-rw-------@ 1 user staff 5.0K Jan 4 12:50 a2aafac4-a63a-46fc-9e6a-af7611a25687.jsonl
-rw-------@ 1 user staff 44K Jan 4 13:09 c13a8dfe-479b-4875-958c-3487fb222f4c.jsonl
-rw-------@ 1 user staff 13K Jan 4 12:48 c44d23de-9d7a-4760-badd-dcc24fde252a.jsonl
-rw-------@ 1 user staff 322K Jan 4 12:43 ca1fd245-17c6-4fab-a80d-4b373863f066.jsonl
-rw-------@ 1 user staff 356K Jan 4 15:37 d17d73d0-fca9-4c7f-91cf-510c70e429e9.jsonl
-rw-------@ 1 user staff 82K Jan 4 15:55 f237ddc0-92e3-4237-af78-68a087d192c7.jsonl
-rw-------@ 1 user staff 939K Jan 4 15:35 fbf65b0f-f16e-45a9-b1b3-77fb0f346201.jsonl
8 conversation files with substantial content exist, but there's no way to access them through the UI. Steps to Reproduce:
Have multiple conversations with Claude Code in VS Code
Close conversations
Try to access past conversations via:
Command Palette → type "Claude" (no history commands)
claude --resume in terminal (empty list)
Look for UI elements in chat panel (none exist)
Impact: Users cannot resume previous work sessions or reference past conversations, making the tool significantly less useful for ongoing projects. Screenshots: [Attach the screenshot at ~/Downloads/Screenshot 2026-01-04 at 16.08.57.png showing Command Palette] Workaround: None available through UI. Manual access to JSONL files is possible but not user-friendly.

What Should Happen?

VS Extension should show me past conversions via P shift + cmd on iMac. and upon entering Claude: - while there are some matches there is no resume action

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

P + shift + command (Imac)
enter claude --resume

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

Claude Code Version: 2.0.75 (VS Code extension)

Platform

Other

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information