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Day 7 of 52 · about 10 min · Basics

Pick up where you left off

Real work rarely fits in one sitting. Reopen yesterday’s session by name and Claude picks up the same conversation, so you don’t explain the task again.

You’ll finish with

  • A named session you can reopen with claude --resume <name>
  • A branch of that session, with the original still intact

You’ll need

  • Claude Code installed and logged in (Day 1)
  • Any project folder to work in
Start from the practice project as of Day 4 (.zip, 10 KB)

Before you start

Tell us about your setup and the steps change to fit it. Your answers stay in this browser, and you can change them at any time.

Which system are you on?

Commands differ between systems. Pick the one you’ll run Claude Code on.

The steps

One step at a time. When a step’s check matches, tick it and the next one opens.

0 of 4 steps done0%

  1. Step 1 of 4: Name the session

    Give the session you are in a name you will recognise later.

    Start Claude Code in your project and ask it something small about the code. Then name the session. To name one as it starts, use claude -n <name> instead.

    In Claude Code

    You type: /rename quote-rounding

    What happens: The name shows on the prompt bar.

    Pick a short name that says what the task is.

    Check it worked

    quote-rounding appears on the prompt bar.

    If it didn’t work

    Your session got a longer name than you typed

    Another open session already uses that name, so Claude Code added a two-word suffix. Run /rename again with a new name.

  2. Step 2 of 4: Leave and come back

    Exit, then return to the latest session or to one by name.

    Exit Claude Code, then run one of these from the same folder, in any terminal.

    Terminal

    Run: claude --continue

    What happens: Reopens the most recent conversation in this folder.

    Run: claude --resume quote-rounding

    What happens: Opens the named session directly.

    Two ways back in: the latest session, or one by name.

    Check it worked

    Your earlier messages are back. Ask Claude what you were working on and it answers from them.

    If it didn’t work

    `claude --continue` opens a different conversation

    It only looks in the current folder. Move into the project folder first, or resume by name.

  3. Step 3 of 4: Find a session in the picker

    Search your saved sessions without leaving the one you are in.

    Inside any session, run /resume with no name. The picker lists the sessions saved for this project.

    In order:

    1. You

      Run /resume

    2. You

      Type to filter

      The list narrows as you type

    3. You

      Press Space to preview

    4. You

      Press Enter to open

    Press Ctrl+A in the picker to see sessions from every project.

    Check it worked

    The picker lists quote-rounding with how long ago you last used it.

  4. Step 4 of 4: Branch to try another approach

    Copy the conversation so far and take the copy in a new direction.

    Before you try something risky in a long conversation, branch it. Claude Code copies the conversation up to now and switches you into the copy. The original stays as it was.

    In Claude Code

    You type: /branch quote-rounding-alt

    What happens: Claude Code prints two session IDs: the new branch you are in, and the original.

    From your shell, claude --continue --fork-session does the same.

    Check it worked

    Run /resume. The picker shows quote-rounding and quote-rounding-alt as separate sessions.

Finish · 4 of 4 steps to go

Your sessions are easy to find

Name the sessions you plan to return to, use --continue for the last one, and branch before you change direction.

What you’ll have checked

  • /rename set a name you can see on the prompt bar
  • claude --resume <name> reopened that session
  • /branch made a copy and left the original in the picker

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Questions

Questions about Day 7

Where are sessions saved, and for how long?

On your machine, under `~/.claude/projects/`. Claude Code keeps them for 30 days by default. The `cleanupPeriodDays` setting changes that.

Sources

Checked against the official Claude Code docs on .

Independent resource, not affiliated with Anthropic. HorizonLux wrote this lesson; Claude Code is made by Anthropic.