Claude History Query Skill

You are using the claude-history CLI tool to query Claude Code's agent history storage.

Note: If claude-history is not installed or you encounter issues, see [README.md](README.md) for installation and troubleshooting instructions.

Agent Delegation (Required)

This skill must delegate all tool use to the history-search agent. Do not call claude-history directly from the skill.

1. Invoke the history-search agent (from .claude/agents/registry.yaml).
2. Pass a fenced JSON payload that matches the agent's Input Contract.
3. Receive a fenced JSON envelope and format the result for the user.

Usage Instructions

Available Commands

1. list - List projects or sessions

``bash claude-history list [path] ``

1. query - Query history with filters

``bash claude-history query <path> [flags] ``

1. tree - Show agent hierarchy

``bash claude-history tree <path> --session <session-id> ``

1. find-agent - Find agents by task description

``bash claude-history find-agent <path> [search-terms...] ``

1. export - Export session to HTML

``bash claude-history export <path> --session <session-id> [flags] ``

1. resolve - Resolve paths (debugging)

``bash claude-history resolve <path> [flags] ``

Common Flags

• --session <id> - Filter by session ID (supports git-style prefixes)
• --agent <id> - Filter by agent ID (supports git-style prefixes)
• --type <types> - Filter by entry types (user,assistant,system,etc.)
• --start <date> - Filter entries after date (YYYY-MM-DD)
• --end <date> - Filter entries before date
• --tool <name> - Filter by tool name (exact match)
• --tool-match <pattern> - Filter by tool name pattern (regex)
• --format <fmt> - Output format: text, json, tree, html (default: text)
• --output <file> - Write output to file

Workflow Based on User Request

When user provides a path:

1. Delegate list to the agent to see available sessions
2. If they want to explore a specific session, delegate tree to see agent hierarchy
3. Delegate query with appropriate filters to get detailed information
4. Delegate find-agent to search for agents working on specific topics

When user wants to search for specific work:

1. Delegate find-agent with search terms
2. Once you identify relevant sessions/agents, delegate query to get details
3. Delegate tree to understand the agent hierarchy

When user wants to export:

1. Delegate export with session ID to create HTML files
2. Or delegate query --format html to generate and auto-open HTML report in browser

Examples

These command examples are executed by the history-search agent on the skill's behalf.

# List all sessions for a project
claude-history list /path/to/project

# Show agent tree for a session
claude-history tree /path/to/project --session abc123

# Query all user messages in a session
claude-history query /path/to/project --session abc123 --type user

# Find agents working on "authentication"
claude-history find-agent /path/to/project authentication

# Export session to HTML
claude-history export /path/to/project --session abc123

# Generate and auto-open HTML report
claude-history query /path/to/project --session abc123 --format html

# Query specific agent's work (supports git-style prefixes)
claude-history query /path/to/project --session abc123 --agent def456
claude-history query /path/to/project --session 8c43ec8 --agent ac8c7ba

# Query agent by full ID
claude-history query /path/to/project --session 8c43ec84-09ad-4dc7-bcf7-17f209e983f0 --agent ac8c7ba

# Find agent in tree, then query it
claude-history tree /path/to/project --session abc123  # Shows agent IDs
claude-history query /path/to/project --session abc123 --agent a059688

# Search for tool usage
claude-history query /path/to/project --tool Read --format json

# Filter by date range
claude-history query /path/to/project --start 2026-01-01 --end 2026-01-31

# Query specific agent with type filter
claude-history query /path/to/project --session abc123 --agent def456 --type assistant

Entry Types Reference

• user - User messages (prompts or tool results)
• assistant - Claude responses with text and tool_use blocks
• system - System events and hook summaries
• queue-operation - Subagent spawn triggers
• progress - Status updates
• file-history-snapshot - File state captures
• summary - Conversation summaries

Passing Agent to Subagents by Reference

Use Case: Share the results of a previous agent's work with new agents without duplicating the analysis.

Instead of re-analyzing a repository or re-exploring code, you can pass a reference to an agent that already did the work. New agents can query the previous agent's findings directly.

Example: Extracting Final Analysis from a Subagent

claude-history query <project-path> --session <session-id> --agent <agent-id> --type assistant --format json | jq -r '.[-1].message.content[0].text'

What this does:

• Queries a specific session (the main conversation)
• Extracts output from a specific agent (e.g., the explore agent that analyzed the repository)
• Filters to assistant messages only (the agent's responses)
• Returns JSON format to avoid truncation
• Uses jq to extract just the text from the final message

Result: Gets the complete final analysis (e.g., ~26,000 token comprehensive report) without re-analyzing.

When to Use This Pattern

✅ Use pass-by-reference when:

• Multiple agents need the same analysis (e.g., updating multiple docs from one repository analysis)
• The analysis is expensive (time/tokens) to regenerate
• You want consistent information across agents
• Previous agent did deep exploration you want to reuse

❌ Don't use when:

• Information is outdated (repository changed significantly)
• Each agent needs different depth/focus
• The reference agent didn't cover what you need

Benefits

• 10x faster - Agents skip re-exploration
• Token efficient - Share one analysis across many agents
• Consistency - All agents work from same source
• Scalability - One explore agent → N documentation agents

Passing to Subagents

When giving this pattern to subagents, provide:

1. Exact command in a fenced code block (prevents typos)
2. Session and agent IDs (the reference to query)
3. Stop instruction - "Stop immediately if command fails"
4. What to expect - "Returns ~26,000 token analysis"

Template:

Use the Bash tool to run this exact command:

claude-history query <project-path> --session <session-id> --agent <agent-id> --type assistant --format json | jq -r '.[-1].message.content[0].text'

This returns the complete analysis from agent <agent-id>.

**CRITICAL:** Stop immediately if command fails or returns empty output.

Your Task

Based on the user's request parameters:

• action: ${action}
• path: ${path} (or use current working directory if not provided)
• session: ${session}
• agent: ${agent}

Construct and execute the appropriate claude-history command(s) to fulfill the user's request.

Important:

1. Use claude-history from PATH (see README.md if not installed)
2. Parse the output and present it in a clear, readable format
3. For large outputs, consider using pagination or filtering
4. Session and agent IDs support git-style prefixes (first 7+ characters)
5. When showing results, explain what you found in context

Response Format

After executing the command:

1. Summarize what you searched for
2. Present the key findings
3. Suggest follow-up queries if relevant
4. Explain any interesting patterns or insights