7.2 Continuing & Resuming Sessions

Course: Claude Code - Power User Section: Session Management Video Length: 2-5 minutes Presenter: Daniel Treasure

Opening Hook

You've set up your project memory. Now learn how to pick up where you left off—Claude Code remembers your entire conversation history and lets you continue or resume sessions instantly.

Key Talking Points

1. What Are Sessions?

Sessions store your entire conversation history with Claude Code
Each conversation is a distinct session with its own context
Sessions persist locally in ~/.claude/projects/
You can return to any past session and resume work

What to say: "Think of a session as a bookmark. You can pause at any point, work on something else, and come back to exactly where you were—Claude remembers everything from that conversation."

What to show on screen: Show the session storage directory. Point out that sessions are automatically saved with timestamps. Open Claude Code and show where past sessions are listed.

2. Continue Most Recent Session with -c

-c flag continues the most recent session automatically
No need to pick from a list—it loads the last conversation
Fast workflow for staying in the same context
Works from any directory

What to say: "If you were working on something and need to get back, just type claude -c. It's the fastest way to resume."

What to show on screen: Type claude -c in the terminal and show Claude Code opening with the previous conversation loaded. Point out the conversation context is fully restored.

3. Resume Specific Sessions with -r

-r opens an interactive picker to choose from past sessions
Shows list of available sessions with timestamps
Select from history to switch contexts
Useful when you're juggling multiple projects

What to say: "If you're switching between projects, use claude -r to browse your session history and pick the exact one you want."

What to show on screen: Type claude -r and show the session picker UI. Demonstrate clicking on a past session to load it. Show the conversation appearing in the editor.

4. Resume by Name or ID

Use claude -r "session-name" to resume by exact name
Or use --session-id UUID for machine-readable resumption
Names are generated from timestamps by default
Useful for scripting and automation

What to say: "If you want to programmatically return to a specific session—like in a script—you can target it by ID."

What to show on screen: Copy a session ID from the history, then show the command claude -r --session-id <UUID>. Demonstrate it loading the correct session.

5. /resume Slash Command

Use /resume within Claude Code to switch sessions without restarting
Available in interactive mode
Brings up the session picker mid-conversation
Keeps your current editor state

What to say: "You can also switch sessions without closing the app. Just type /resume and pick a different conversation."

What to show on screen: Type /resume in Claude Code and show the session picker appearing in the sidebar or modal. Select a past session and show the conversation switching.

Demo Plan

Create a test session (30 seconds) — Start a Claude Code conversation with a simple task (e.g., "add a feature to a file"). Work for a moment, then close.
Show -c in action (45 seconds) — Close Claude Code. Type claude -c in the terminal. Show the previous conversation loading with all context intact.
Show -r picker (1 minute) — Close again. Type claude -r. Demonstrate the session list, select a past session, and watch it load.
Demonstrate /resume (45 seconds) — Open a session, type /resume within Claude Code, show the picker, switch to a different session.
Show session IDs (30 seconds) — Display the session list with IDs. Show an example of using --session-id directly.

Code Examples & Commands

Continue Most Recent Session

claude -c

Resume Specific Session (Interactive Picker)

claude -r

Resume by Session Name

claude -r "my-project-session"

Resume by Exact Session ID

claude -r --session-id "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7g8h-9i0j-k1l2m3n4o5p6"

Resume Within Claude Code

/resume

View Session Storage Location

ls ~/.claude/projects/

Gotchas & Tips

Session names are auto-generated but memorable — Claude Code names sessions by project + timestamp, making them easy to identify at a glance. Custom naming isn't available, but the timestamp gives context.
-c always picks the absolute most recent — If you have multiple projects open, -c resumes the last one you touched across all projects. Use -r if you need a specific older session.
Session context is huge — Your entire conversation, all referenced files, and all decisions are stored. This makes resuming very fast, but older sessions use disk space.
/resume doesn't create a new session ID — When you /resume, you're switching conversation contexts but staying in the same Claude Code instance. If you want a fork, exit and use -r with a new command.
Sessions are project-local — Each project has its own session history. If you switch projects, you're switching session pools automatically.
No automatic cleanup — Old sessions are kept indefinitely. Archive or delete old sessions manually if disk space becomes an issue.

Lead-out

We've covered continuing sessions. Next, we'll explore checkpointing—how to save snapshots within a session and rewind to safe points if something goes wrong.

Reference URLs

Claude Code CLI documentation: https://claude.ai/docs
Git commit history visualization: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Basics-Viewing-the-Commit-History

Prep Reading

Understand your project structure and typical workflows
Think about which sessions you'd want to archive vs. delete
Consider how many concurrent projects you typically work on

Notes for Daniel: Keep the demo focused on the workflow benefits. Show three quick wins: "I need to get back to where I was" (-c), "I'm switching projects" (-r), "I want to jump to a session inside the app" (/resume). Don't dwell on session storage details—the beauty is that users don't have to think about it. Be enthusiastic about how this unlocks parallel work without context switching pain.

Quick Reference