Claude History Viewer

A powerful VS Code extension that transforms your Claude Code chat history into an intuitive, organized interface. Browse conversations, review file changes, and track your development journey with ease.

See Claude History Viewer in action - browse sessions, view diffs, and track your development workflow

🌟 Features

Smart Session Organization

• Sidepanel Interface: Clean, intuitive sidebar panel for browsing chat sessions
• Project-Based Filtering: Automatically organizes sessions by project with smart current-project detection
• Latest Chat Priority: Recent conversations are highlighted and easily accessible
• Auto-Refresh: Automatically updates recent sessions (configurable time window)

Advanced File Change Tracking

• GitHub-Style Diffs: Beautiful, readable diff views showing exactly what changed
• Multi-Diff Support: View changes across multiple files simultaneously
• Native VS Code Integration: Leverages VS Code's built-in diff viewer
• Apply Changes: One-click application of changes to your current workspace
• File Operations: Track Read, Write, Edit, and MultiEdit operations from Claude Code

Powerful Search & Navigation

• Lunr.js Search Engine: Fast, intelligent full-text search powered by Lunr.js
• Advanced Search Index: Compressed, cached search index for lightning-fast results
• Smart Query Processing: Intelligent search with relevance scoring and context awareness
• Search Highlighting: Visual highlighting of search terms in results
• Session Navigation: Jump directly to specific conversations
• Quick Access: Command palette integration for rapid access

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• VS Code 1.80.0 or later
• Claude Code CLI installed and configured
• Existing Claude Code chat history (stored in ~/.claude/projects/)

Installation

1. Install from the VS Code Extensions marketplace
2. The extension automatically detects your Claude directory
3. Click the Claude History icon in the Activity Bar to start browsing

Quick Start

1. Open the Extension: Click the Claude History icon in VS Code's Activity Bar
2. Browse Sessions: Use the "Latest Chat" tab for recent conversations or "Chat History" for all sessions
3. View Changes: Click any session to see the conversation and file changes
4. Review Diffs: Use "File Changes" to see a commit-style summary with diffs
5. Search History: Use Ctrl+Shift+P → "Claude History: Search History" to find specific conversations

📋 Main Commands

⚙️ Configuration

Settings

• claude-history.claudeDirectory: Custom path to .claude directory (auto-detected if empty)
• claude-history.autoRefreshEnabled: Enable automatic refresh for recent sessions (default: true)
• claude-history.autoRefreshInterval: Time window in hours for auto-refresh (default: 2 hours)
• claude-history.enableErrorReporting: Enable anonymous error reporting for debugging (default: true)
• claude-history.searchIndexCacheSize: Maximum size for search index cache in MB (default: 50)

Customization

Access settings via:

• File → Preferences → Settings → Extensions → Claude History Viewer
• Or search for "Claude History" in VS Code settings

🔧 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"No Claude directory found"

• Ensure Claude Code CLI is installed and has been used at least once
• Check that ~/.claude/projects/ directory exists
• Manually set the Claude directory in extension settings

Sessions not loading

• Click "Refresh Sessions" in the panel
• Check if your Claude directory path is correct in settings
• Verify that JSONL files exist in your Claude projects folders

Diffs not showing correctly

• Ensure the files exist in your current workspace
• The extension tries to match files by relative path from project root
• For missing files, you'll be prompted to create them

Performance issues with large history

• The extension loads sessions incrementally with intelligent caching
• Search index is automatically compressed and optimized for large datasets
• Use "Load More Sessions" to expand history as needed
• Clear project cache if experiencing slowdowns
• Rebuild search index if search performance degrades

Search not returning expected results

• Ensure search index has been built (automatic on first use)
• Try rebuilding the search index via "Refresh Sessions"
• Check search query syntax - supports partial matches and fuzzy search
• Clear search cache if results seem outdated

Data Privacy

• 100% Local: All data processing happens locally on your machine
• No External Calls: The extension never sends data to external servers
• Read-Only by Default: Only reads your existing Claude history files
• Workspace Integration: Only accesses your current VS Code workspace for file operations

🏗️ Architecture Overview

The extension is built with a modular architecture:

• Data Layer: JSONL parsers for reading Claude Code chat history
• UI Layer: Modern webview panels with GitHub-style interfaces
• Services: File watching, incremental parsing, and project mapping
• Utilities: Diff rendering, file operations, and search functionality

📝 Version History

See CHANGELOG.md for detailed release notes.

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and guidelines.

☕ Support the Project

If you find Claude History Viewer helpful and want to support its development, consider supporting me on Polar! You can choose your own amount and help maintain and improve this extension.

💝 Support on Polar - Choose your own amount

🎁 Supporter Benefits

• Repository Access: Supporters get access to the private development repository
• Collaborator Status: Become a collaborator and help shape the future of the extension
• Early Access: Get early access to new features and beta releases
• Direct Communication: Priority support and direct feedback channel

📄 License

Apache-2.0 © yashagldit

🔗 Links

• GitHub Repository
• VS Code Marketplace
• Claude Code CLI

Enhance your Claude Code development workflow with rich history visualization and seamless file change tracking.