Claude Persist

Persistent Claude Code sessions that survive window reloads — chat tabs backed by a server-side daemon. Built for code-server (VS Code in the browser), where a page refresh normally kills any in-flight Claude session.

Refresh the page mid-generation and the turn keeps running in the daemon; the tab replays everything it missed when it comes back.

Install from the VS Code Marketplace · Open VSX (code-server, VSCodium)

Getting started

1. Nothing to install first, on Linux, macOS or Windows — the runtime is bundled. On other platforms see Requirements below.
2. Open the panel. Click the Claude Persist icon in the activity bar, or the "Claude Persist" item in the status bar, or run Claude Persist: New Session from the Command Palette.
3. Pick a folder when asked. That is the working directory for the session.
4. Sign in, if you have never used Claude Code on this machine: open the model pill at the bottom of the chat and choose Log in to another account…. The panel walks you through it — no terminal needed. If you already use Claude Code here, your existing login is picked up automatically.
5. Type a message. The session now survives reloads, disconnects, and closing the tab.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.85+, or any code-server built on it.
• A Claude account, or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY.
• Claude Code — only on platforms without a bundled build. Builds for Linux (x64, arm64), macOS (Intel, Apple silicon) and Windows (x64) carry the Claude Code runtime and need nothing installed; your marketplace picks the right one automatically. Anywhere else — Alpine, ARM Windows, 32-bit — you get the universal build, which drives the Claude Code you already have. Install it from https://claude.com/download or with npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code, then reload the window.
• A trusted folder. The extension runs Claude against your files, so it stays disabled in Restricted Mode.

Features

Sessions

• Reload-proof. Turns keep executing with no client attached. Reload the window mid-generation and the tab replays everything it missed, tool calls included.
• Native editor tabs, restored after a window reload, plus an activity-bar sidebar listing every session grouped by folder, with live running/idle state and unread markers.
• Any session, from any window. The daemon is per-user, not per-window.
• Survives its own upgrades. A turn in flight when the daemon restarts is queued and resumed rather than lost.
• Import existing Claude Code sessions from ~/.claude and continue them with their full context.
• Rename and delete sessions; long histories load a window at a time with "load earlier".

The chat

• Claude Code look and feel — streaming markdown, collapsible tool cards with IN/OUT, inline diffs for Edit and Write, todo checklists, and clickable file paths that open in the editor.
• Permissions — Allow/Deny cards that survive a reload, plus a bypass-permissions toggle you can flip mid-turn.
• Questions — AskUserQuestion renders as option cards with a free-text fallback.
• Nothing gets lost. An unanswered question or permission request stays pinned beside the composer while the conversation keeps scrolling.
• Jump back through the conversation. A sticky bar names the exchange you are reading and follows you as you scroll; tap it for a list of every message in the loaded history and jump to one.
• Context ring — live context usage against the model's real window. Click to compact the conversation.
• Model and reasoning-effort picker, per session.
• Interrupt a running turn; per-turn token counts, cost, and duration; a live elapsed timer while Claude works.
• Git branch and worktree shown beside the composer.
• Offline is visible, not silent: the panel dims and reconnects by itself.

Attachments

• Images embed as vision blocks; other files attach as path references.
• Drag and drop, paste, or pick — large files upload in chunks with progress.
• Inline previews with a full-size lightbox, including for image paths you simply type or that a tool returns.

Accounts and rate limits

• Several accounts, switched from the model pill.
• Sign in inside the editor — a link and a box for the code. No terminal, and it works over code-server where a callback to localhost cannot.
• Sign in to the default account or a named one; accounts with no credentials are labelled rather than silently failing.
• Rate limits in the status bar, with the reset time in the tooltip.
• Automatic rotation. Hit a limit and the turn is parked, the next account is activated, and the conversation resumes on its own. If every account is spent it waits for the soonest reset and resumes then. You do not have to come back and restart it.
• Transcripts follow you between accounts, so a switch mid-conversation continues rather than starting over.
• One set of rules. CLAUDE.md and skills are shared across every account.

Subagents

• A live count beside the composer while subagents are working.
• Click it for the list, and stop any one of them individually.
• Every message is badged with the subagent that wrote it, colour-coded, so parallel agents writing into one transcript stay legible.

On a phone or tablet

• Enter makes a new line on a touch keyboard, where it is the only key that can; Cmd/Ctrl+Enter sends. On a desktop keyboard Enter sends as usual.
• Swipe left and right to move between editor tabs.
• The composer stays in view while the on-screen keyboard is up.

Commands

Claude Persist: New Session, Open Session, Add Account (Sign In), Import Claude Code Session, Rename Session, Delete Session, Refresh Sessions — all under the "Claude Persist" category in the Command Palette.

Troubleshooting

Sessions and logs live in ~/.claude-persist/. Removing that directory resets everything.

Settings

Source, architecture notes, and issues: https://github.com/jagajaga/claude-persist