gemini-cli/docs/cli/session-management.md

Session management

Session management saves your conversation history so you can resume your work where you left off. Use these features to review past interactions, manage history across different projects, and configure how long data is retained.

Automatic saving

Your session history is recorded automatically as you interact with the model. This background process ensures your work is preserved even if you interrupt a session.

• What is saved: The complete conversation history, including:
  • Your prompts and the model's responses.
  • All tool executions (inputs and outputs).
  • Token usage statistics (input, output, cached, etc.).
  • Assistant thoughts and reasoning summaries (when available).
• Location: Sessions are stored in ~/.gemini/tmp/<project_hash>/chats/, where <project_hash> is a unique identifier based on your project's root directory.
• Scope: Sessions are project-specific. Switching directories to a different project switches to that project's session history.

Resuming sessions

You can resume a previous session to continue the conversation with all prior context restored. Resuming is supported both through command-line flags and an interactive browser.

From the command line

When starting Gemini CLI, use the --resume (or -r) flag to load existing sessions.

• Resume latest:

  gemini --resume
  

  This immediately loads the most recent session.

• Resume by index: List available sessions first (see Listing sessions), then use the index number:

  gemini --resume 1
  

• Resume by ID: You can also provide the full session UUID:

  gemini --resume a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890
  

From the interactive interface

While the CLI is running, use the /resume slash command to open the Session Browser:

/resume

When typing /resume (or /chat) in slash completion, commands are grouped under titled separators:

• -- auto -- (session browser)
  • list is selectable and opens the session browser
• -- checkpoints -- (manual tagged checkpoint commands)

Unique prefixes such as /resum and /cha resolve to the same grouped menu.

The Session Browser provides an interactive interface where you can perform the following actions:

• Browse: Scroll through a list of your past sessions.
• Preview: See details like the session date, message count, and the first user prompt.
• Search: Press / to enter search mode, then type to filter sessions by ID or content.
• Select: Press Enter to resume the selected session.
• Esc: Press Esc to exit the Session Browser.

Manual chat checkpoints

For named branch points inside a session, use chat checkpoints:

/resume save decision-point
/resume list
/resume resume decision-point

Compatibility aliases:

• /chat ... works for the same commands.
• /resume checkpoints ... also remains supported during migration.

Managing sessions

You can list and delete sessions to keep your history organized and manage disk space.

Listing sessions

To see a list of all available sessions for the current project from the command line, use the --list-sessions flag:

gemini --list-sessions

Output example:

Available sessions for this project (3):

  1. Fix bug in auth (2 days ago) [a1b2c3d4]
  2. Refactor database schema (5 hours ago) [e5f67890]
  3. Update documentation (Just now) [abcd1234]

Deleting sessions

You can remove old or unwanted sessions to free up space or declutter your history.

From the command line: Use the --delete-session flag with an index or ID:

gemini --delete-session 2

From the Session Browser:

1. Open the browser with /resume.
2. Navigate to the session you want to remove.
3. Press x.

Configuration

You can configure how Gemini CLI manages your session history in your settings.json file. These settings let you control retention policies and session lengths.

Session retention

By default, Gemini CLI automatically cleans up old session data to prevent your history from growing indefinitely. When a session is deleted, Gemini CLI also removes all associated data, including implementation plans, task trackers, tool outputs, and activity logs.

The default policy is to retain sessions for 30 days.

Configuration

You can customize these policies using the /settings command or by manually editing your settings.json file:

{
  "general": {
    "sessionRetention": {
      "enabled": true,
      "maxAge": "30d",
      "maxCount": 50
    }
  }
}

• enabled: (boolean) Master switch for session cleanup. Defaults to true.
• maxAge: (string) Duration to keep sessions (for example, "24h", "7d", "4w"). Sessions older than this are deleted. Defaults to "30d".
• maxCount: (number) Maximum number of sessions to retain. The oldest sessions exceeding this count are deleted. Defaults to undefined (unlimited).
• minRetention: (string) Minimum retention period (safety limit). Defaults to "1d". Sessions newer than this period are never deleted by automatic cleanup.

Session limits

You can limit the length of individual sessions to prevent context windows from becoming too large and expensive.

{
  "model": {
    "maxSessionTurns": 100
  }
}

• maxSessionTurns: (number) The maximum number of turns (user and model exchanges) allowed in a single session. Set to -1 for unlimited (default).

  Behavior when limit is reached:

  • Interactive mode: The CLI shows an informational message and stops sending requests to the model. You must manually start a new session.
  • Non-interactive mode: The CLI exits with an error.

Next steps

• Explore the Memory tool to save persistent information across sessions.
• Learn how to Checkpoint your session state.
• Check out the CLI reference for all command-line flags.