Resume shows only partial conversation history due to stale sessions-index.json #22030

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1. github-actions

   added

   bugSomething isn't workingSomething isn't working

   has reproHas detailed reproduction stepsHas detailed reproduction steps

   platform:macosIssue specifically occurs on macOSIssue specifically occurs on macOS

   area:core

   memory

   on Jan 30, 2026
2. github-actions commented on Jan 30, 2026

   

   github-actionsBot

   on Jan 30, 2026 – with GitHub Actions

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   Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

   1. [BUG] /resume index suddenly missing 80% of sessions #21610
   2. [BUG] Past conversations not showing in dropdown - sessions-index.json not being updated. #18619
   3. [BUG] Sessions index has wrong path information #20102

   This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

   • If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
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   👎React with 👎2Reacted by tamasarpad and Ting Sun
3. tamasarpad commented on Feb 1, 2026

   

   tamasarpad

   on Feb 1, 2026

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   Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

   1. [BUG] /resume index suddenly missing 80% of sessions #21610
   2. [BUG] Past conversations not showing in dropdown - sessions-index.json not being updated. #18619
   3. [BUG] Sessions index has wrong path information #20102

   This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

   • If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
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   Those are about session's not showing up to resume. This is about messages/context missing from a resumed conversation.
4. shovel-kun commented on Feb 1, 2026

   

   shovel-kun

   on Feb 1, 2026

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   Occurs on Arch Linux too
5. qubitcontracting commented on Feb 3, 2026

   

   qubitcontracting

   on Feb 3, 2026

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   Quick check to verify you have this bug:

   Linux/macOS/WSL:

   LATEST_INDEX=$(ls -t ~/.claude/projects/*/sessions-index.json | head -1)
   echo "Index: $(jq '.entries[0].messageCount' "$LATEST_INDEX")"
   echo "Actual: $(wc -l < $(ls -t ~/.claude/projects/*/*.jsonl | head -1))"

   Windows PowerShell:

   $latestIndex = Get-ChildItem "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\projects\*\sessions-index.json" | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1
   $idx = (Get-Content $latestIndex.FullName | ConvertFrom-Json).entries[0].messageCount
   $actual = (Get-ChildItem "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\projects\*\*.jsonl" | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1 | Get-Content).Count
   Write-Host "Index: $idx  Actual: $actual"

   If Index is much lower than Actual, you have this bug.

   ---

   Confirming across 4 machines (all v2.1.29):

   • Linux (Ubuntu 25.10): Index 4 msgs, Actual 886 lines
   • WSL2 (Ubuntu 25.10): Index 13 msgs, Actual 4,885 lines
   • macOS 26.2 (Build 25C56): Index 2 msgs, Actual 29,048 lines
   • Windows 11 Pro (Build 26200): Index 6 msgs, Actual 55 lines

   ---

   Workaround: Create a SessionEnd hook that updates sessions-index.json on exit.

   The fix needs to:

   1. Find the most recent .jsonl session file in each project
   2. Update the matching entry in sessions-index.json with:
      • messageCount = line count of the session file
      • fileMtime = file modification time in milliseconds since epoch
      • modified = current UTC timestamp in ISO format

   You can ask Claude Code to generate this fix for your OS by describing the above requirements.
6. ByTheSeaL commented on Feb 4, 2026

   

   ByTheSeaL

   on Feb 4, 2026

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   Exact same issue here: #22960

   Solved by deleting sessions-index.json. downgrading to 2.1..29 and relaunching with "claude /resume". I'll implement the SessionEnd hook next.

   Screenshot of /resume page with bug:

   

   And then after fix:

   

   Same CC instance, same folder.
7. bcherny commented on Aug 19, 2026

   

   bcherny

   on Aug 19, 2026

   Collaborator

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   Thanks for the detailed investigation — the mechanism you identified was real at the time, but it has since been removed.

   What I tried on 2.1.233 (Linux): recreated your setup — a project with a long conversation .jsonl plus a stale sessions-index.json claiming messageCount: 3 and a wrong firstPrompt — then ran claude --resume. The full conversation history was restored (verified with /export); the stale index file is ignored entirely.

   The per-project sessions-index.json cache was replaced in 2.1.30 ("replacing the session index with lightweight stat-based loading and progressive enrichment" — see the changelog), and later releases (2.1.77, 2.1.91, 2.1.108) fixed remaining cases of --resume truncating history. Any leftover sessions-index.json on disk is now inert and safe to delete.

   Note that after resuming, the screen only renders the most recent messages — earlier history is still loaded (Ctrl+O shows the full transcript).

   Closing as fixed — reply here if you still see partial history on a current version and we'll reopen.

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8. bcherny

   closed this as completedon Aug 19, 2026
9. github-actions commented on Oct 9, 2026

   

   github-actionsBot

   on Oct 9, 2026 – with GitHub Actions

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   This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.
10. github-actions

    locked as resolved and limited conversation to collaborators on Oct 9, 2026