Codex History Viewer

A VS Code extension to browse, search, tag, import/export, and manage local Codex CLI / Claude Code session history, then resume selected sessions directly in the related VS Code extension. Latest release: 1.1.2 (2026-03-06).

Features

• Five views: Control, Pinned, History, Search, and Status
• Control view for settings, import, rebuild cache, empty trash, bulk tag maintenance, undo, and debug info
• Per-pane refresh actions plus global refresh from the Control view
• Optional multi-source history support (Codex / Claude) with source-aware filtering
• History tree view (year/month/day) with filters for date scope, project/CWD, source, and tags
• One-click "Filter by Current Project" action in the History view header (toggle on/off)
• Tag filters in Pinned and Search views (separate from History filters)
• Chat-like viewer (Webview) with Markdown rendering, copy actions, and "Open Markdown transcript"
• Chat toolbar quick actions: resume in OpenAI Codex, toggle pin/unpin, open Markdown transcript, and copy prompt excerpt
• Chat tab icon switches by source (Codex / Claude)
• Chat header annotation block (tags + note), including quick actions (filter/remove/edit)
• Time zone-aware timestamps (chat view and transcripts)
• Language-aware command labels (Japanese/English) based on codexHistoryViewer.ui.language
• Open any session as a Markdown transcript (easy to search, share, and export)
• Copy Prompt Excerpt: copy a compact excerpt to the clipboard for handoff to OpenAI Codex
• Resume directly in the official OpenAI Codex VS Code extension (Resume in OpenAI Codex)
• Resume Claude sessions directly in Claude Code (Resume in Claude Code)
• Full-text search across sessions (cancellable, configurable max results, optional case sensitivity)
• Incremental local search index for faster repeated searches (tracks file updates/deletions)
• Search roles filter (default: user/assistant, optional developer/tool) with configurable defaults from the Search header or Control view
• Search rerun (current conditions), search pane reset, and saved search presets (run/save/delete)
• Search hits include session annotations (tag / note) in addition to message/tool text
• Advanced query syntax: /regex/, re:..., exact:..., and AND / OR / NOT
• Session tags/notes annotations (editable from tree context menus and chat view)
• Global tag operations: bulk rename tag and bulk delete tags
• Undo last action (pin/unpin/promote/delete/annotation/tag operations)
• Cleanup Missing Pins action for stale pinned entries
• Search scope follows the active History filters (date scope, project/CWD, and source)
• Promote: copy a past session into "today" without modifying the original file
• Safe deletion: moves files to the OS trash/recycle bin by default (falls back to an internal quarantine folder if trash fails)
• Manual trash cleanup: Empty Trash clears internal trash/quarantine files and legacy cache/index generations on demand
• Multi-select support for open/pin/promote/delete
• Drag & drop pinning: drag sessions from History or Search into Pinned
• Import/Export sessions: export raw JSONL or sanitized Markdown transcripts, and import with duplicate session ID handling (skip or overwrite)
• Status view metrics, including current filters/roles/tags, total tag count, cache folder size, and trash file count
• Status view paths for the current project and session roots can be copied via inline copy icons

Quick start

1. Open the Activity Bar and select Codex History.
2. Use Control for global actions (settings/import/rebuild cache/empty trash/search defaults).
3. Browse sessions under History and apply filters (date/project/source/tag) as needed.
4. Select a session to open a preview, or run Open Session (Chat) to open it normally.
5. Run Search... and refine with roles, query syntax, presets, and search tag filters.
6. Use context menus or chat header actions to edit tags/notes and run bulk tag operations when needed.

Commands

Most actions are available from view title buttons and tree context menus.

For the full command list with per-command descriptions, see:

• Command Reference

Configuration

• codexHistoryViewer.sessionsRoot: Root folder of Codex sessions. Leave empty to use the default (~/.codex/sessions).
• codexHistoryViewer.claude.sessionsRoot: Root folder of Claude Code sessions. Leave empty to use the default (~/.claude/projects).
• codexHistoryViewer.sources.enabled: Enabled history sources. Default is ["codex"]. Add claude to load Claude history too.
• codexHistoryViewer.preview.openOnSelection: Open a preview when selecting an item
• codexHistoryViewer.preview.maxMessages: Max number of user/assistant messages to include in tooltips and quick previews
• codexHistoryViewer.search.maxResults: Max number of search hits to collect
• codexHistoryViewer.search.caseSensitive: Whether search is case-sensitive
• codexHistoryViewer.search.defaultRoles: Default roles used when running Search
• codexHistoryViewer.delete.useTrash: When deleting, move files to the OS trash/recycle bin (recommended)
• codexHistoryViewer.resume.openTarget: Where Resume in OpenAI Codex opens the conversation (sidebar by default, or panel)
• codexHistoryViewer.ui.language: UI language for this extension (auto / en / ja). This setting also affects timestamps: ja uses Asia/Tokyo (JST), while auto/en use your system time zone (falls back to UTC if unavailable).
• codexHistoryViewer.ui.alwaysShowHeaderActions: Always show view header action icons (enables VS Code setting workbench.view.alwaysShowHeaderActions)

Enable Claude Source (Optional)

• Open Settings and add claude to Codex History Viewer › Sources: Enabled.
• If needed, set Codex History Viewer › Claude: Sessions Root.

Maintenance Tip (All Sources)

• If history or search results look incorrect or stale, run Control → Rebuild Cache. It recreates both the history cache and the search index after confirmation.
• To prevent the cache folder from growing over time, regularly run Control → Empty Trash. Trash files are not deleted automatically, and this also removes legacy cache/index generations.

OpenAI Codex Integration Notes

• When you run Resume in OpenAI Codex for the first time, VS Code may show a security prompt asking whether the target extension can open the URI.
• This is expected VS Code behavior for extension URI handlers (vscode://...).
• If you click Cancel, resume will not proceed. Click Open to allow the handoff.
• If you check "Do not ask me again for this extension", future resumes will not show the same prompt.
• You can manage previously authorized extension URIs from Command Palette: Extensions: Manage Authorized Extension URIs...

Import/Export behavior

• Export supports session/day/month/year selections and uses one timestamped output root per operation.
• Selecting a folder-level node exports all sessions under that node.
• Multi-select export preserves YYYY/MM/DD hierarchy for each source session.
• Import recursively scans the selected source folder for .jsonl files.
• Import duplicate session IDs can be handled as skip or overwrite at runtime.
• After successful import or promote (copy-to-today), a hint is shown to reload Codex CLI history if Codex is running.

What's New in 1.1.2

• Added Empty Trash in the Control view for manual cleanup of internal trash/quarantine files.
• Status now shows cache folder size and trash file count.
• Status now provides inline copy icons for the current project and session root paths.
• Rebuild Cache now rebuilds both the history cache and the search index after confirmation.
• Search index cache files are now saved in compact JSON form to reduce size.
• Control view actions were cleaned up to focus on maintenance/global operations.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.

Privacy

This extension reads local session files and renders them inside VS Code. It does not implement any network communication and does not send session content anywhere.

If you use Copy Prompt Excerpt, this extension copies a compact session excerpt to your clipboard. Data is only sent externally if you paste it into another tool or extension.

When you open a session as a Markdown transcript, the generated transcript includes local paths (e.g., the session file path and CWD). Review before sharing.