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[BUG] /resume cannot load sessions created with older Claude Code versions #24290
Closed as not planned
Description
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?
/resume cannot load sessions created with older Claude Code versions
Description
Sessions created with Claude Code v2.1.12 do not appear in the /resume session list when using Claude Code v2.1.37. Only sessions created with the current version are visible.
Root Cause Investigation
After debugging, I found:
- Old session files (v2.1.12) start with
{"type":"file-history-snapshot",...}entries - New session files (v2.1.37) start with
{"type":"summary",...}entries - v2.1.37 appears to only recognize the newer format and silently skips older sessions
- The
sessions-index.jsonfile is not read by v2.1.37 — it scans.jsonlfiles directly - Deleting
sessions-index.jsondoes not trigger a rebuild - The old
.jsonlfiles are valid JSON and still exist in~/.claude/projects/
Additional Observations
- Some old session
.jsonlfiles are 20-22 MB despite having only 9-14 messages (index metadata), which may also contribute to them being skipped - Platform: Windows (MINGW64)
- Project path includes OneDrive directory (unsure if relevant; however, it had been off since before I used Claude code.)
Environment
- Current version: Claude Code v2.1.37
- Old session version: Claude Code v2.1.12
- OS: Windows 10/11 (MINGW64_NT)
Expected Behavior
/resumeshould either load sessions from older Claude Code versions or display a message indicating they are incompatible- Ideally, Claude Code should migrate older session formats automatically
Error Messages/Logs
No Previous Conversation.Steps to Reproduce
- Have existing sessions created with Claude Code v2.1.12
- Update to Claude Code v2.1.37
- Run
/resume - Old sessions do not appear in the list (only visible after pressing
Ctrl+W, and even then only newer-format sessions show)
Claude Model
Opus
Is this a regression?
Yes, this worked in a previous version
Last Working Version
v2.1.12
Claude Code Version
2.13.37
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
Windows
Terminal/Shell
Other (Git bash)
Additional Information
At first, I was receiving something like "No previous conversation." I started talking with Claude Code itself for debugging, and after a while, I started to see the following, as shown in the image.
Reacted by Dustin
Activity
github-actions commentedon Feb 9, 2026
Found 3 possible duplicate issues:
This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.
🤖 Generated with Claude Code
stuarthalloway commentedon Feb 9, 2026
Additional data point confirming this issue on macOS (Darwin 23.6.0), upgraded from ~v2.1.22 to v2.1.37 via Homebrew.
Key finding:
claude --resume <session-id>from the command line works, but/resume <session-id>within an active session does not. Both the picker (no args) and explicit session ID lookup fail within a session, while the CLI path succeeds with the same IDs. This suggests the in-session/resumeand the command-line--resumeuse different code paths for session discovery.The
sessions-index.jsonis intact (10 entries) and all.jsonlfiles exist on disk.See also #24434 (closed as duplicate of this issue).
initjsk commentedon Feb 10, 2026
Experiencing the same.
If you want the search functionality without going through the json files, previous sessions are still being listed correctly in the Claude Code VSCode Extension.
github-actions commentedon Mar 11, 2026
Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.
github-actions commentedon Mar 19, 2026
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.