Claude Code keeps every session on your Mac as a JSONL file under ~/.claude/projects/, and deletes the old ones on a timer. These five apps turn those files into something you can read, search and resume.
They split into three kinds: viewers that read the files as they are, a monitor that watches live sessions and cost, and memory tools that index sessions alongside the rest of your work. We make L2Cache, which is in the third group; the others are all free open-source projects and worth knowing about.
| Agents | Search | Resume | Extras | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L2Cache | Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Grok Build, Antigravity | One box with terminal, git, clipboard, screenshots | Yes | MCP server, cold-cache guard, Today view, standups | Free download; Pro $19.99 once |
| Claude Code History Viewer | ~30 agents | Across all providers | No | Token/cost analytics, full backup, web server mode | Free, MIT |
| Claudoscope | Claude Code, Claude Cowork | Yes | Yes | Live fleet view, replay, cost alerts, secret scan | Free, MIT |
| Sessions Viewer | 7 incl. Codex, Grok Build, opencode | Titles and prompts | Yes | Skills/MCP/hooks manager, project editor | Free, MIT |
| SpecStory | Terminal agents via CLI; editor extensions | Markdown files in the repo | No | History versioned with git | Free |
L2Cache indexes Claude Code sessions next to Codex, Copilot, Grok Build and Antigravity, and next to your shell history, git commits, clipboard and screenshots, so one search finds the session, the command and the commit together. Opening a result jumps to the matching message, not the top of the conversation. Its Today view shows each project's last prompt and open loops, and it can resume a session in Terminal, Ghostty, Warp or iTerm2.
For Claude Code in particular it tracks prompt-cache expiry and warns before a cold resume, which can cost 12× to 80× a warm turn depending on the model. A built-in MCP server lets Claude Code search its own past sessions for earlier fixes and decisions. Available details and live-continuity features vary by agent.
Trade-offs: Mac only, and agent history is part of Pro. Price: free download, 15-day trial, Pro $19.99 one-time (launch price, regular $29).
A cross-platform Tauri app that reads around 30 coding agents' local history, from Claude Code and Codex CLI to Cursor, Cline, Aider and Gemini CLI. It shows sessions as trees with diffs, images and tool results, searches across every provider, and has a token and cost dashboard. Its one-click Full Backup archives every Claude Code session so nothing is lost to automatic cleanup. It also runs as a headless server you open in a browser.
Trade-offs: a reader: no resume, and nothing beyond agent sessions. Price: free, MIT licence.
A native menu bar app that watches ~/.claude/projects/ as sessions run. Its fleet view lists every session from the last 24 hours with the ones waiting on you first; a Trace tab replays a session on a timeline with tool calls, subagents, context fill and cumulative cost. It prices usage at Anthropic rates, can alert on four spending limits, scans transcripts for leaked secrets and checks your config against 85 lint rules. A claude --resume button opens any session again.
Trade-offs: Claude Code and Cowork only; needs macOS 14 on Apple Silicon. Price: free, MIT licence.
Reads Claude Code, Codex, Grok Build, Kimi Code, Pi, Antigravity CLI and opencode from their own folders and shows them in one project, session and conversation view, with thinking blocks, matched tool results and diffs. It resumes supported sessions in a built-in or external terminal, exports to Markdown, HTML or JSON, and manages skills, MCP servers and hooks for all seven agents in one panel.
Trade-offs: search covers titles and prompts rather than whole conversations. Price: free, MIT licence.
SpecStory takes a different route: instead of reading Claude Code's files later, its CLI wraps the agent and saves each session as Markdown in .specstory/history/ inside the project. History is then versioned with git, survives Claude Code's cleanup, and is readable by teammates and future agents.
Trade-offs: only captures sessions you run through it, and you browse Markdown files rather than an app. Price: free.
Whichever you choose, check Claude Code's cleanupPeriodDays setting. A viewer can only show sessions that are still on disk.
Claude Code saves each session as a JSONL file under ~/.claude/projects/, in a folder named after the project path. Each line is one event: a prompt, a reply, a tool call or a tool result.
Yes. Claude Code removes old transcripts automatically after a retention period you can change with the cleanupPeriodDays setting. If you want to keep history, raise that setting or use a tool that keeps its own copy, such as Claude Code History Viewer's backup or L2Cache's local index.
Run claude --resume with the session ID from the project directory, or claude --resume on its own to pick from a list. L2Cache, Claudoscope and Sessions Viewer can open the resume command for you from the session you found.
Claude Code History Viewer, Claudoscope and Sessions Viewer are all free and MIT licensed, and SpecStory is free. L2Cache is a free download with a 15-day Pro trial; agent history is part of the one-time $19.99 Pro unlock.
Claude Code History Viewer reads around 30 agents. Sessions Viewer reads seven, including Codex, Grok Build and opencode. L2Cache reads Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Grok Build and Antigravity. Claudoscope focuses on Claude Code and Claude Cowork.
Free download with unlimited clipboard history. Pro is a one-time $19.99 launch price (regular $29), with no subscription.
Download L2Cache for Mac