/resume

AI Business OS

/resume brings back the context of an earlier session so you can carry on in a new conversation. You tell Claude which project, which time or which topic, and Claude finds the most relevant session, reads its checkpoint and shows you where you stopped and what to do next.

Before You Start

/resume works best with PRIMA Memory, which indexes your past Claude Code conversations so they can be searched. Several routes below call PRIMA Memory, and the search route depends on it entirely. The PRIMA Memory Overview explains what it adds.

/resume also reads the checkpoint files that /save writes to ~/Documents/Agent Outputs/[project-id]/. Running /save before you stop gives /resume the most precise starting point.

When to Use It

Use /resume at the start of a new conversation when you want to continue earlier work. This includes a conversation that ended at Claude’s context limit, work you stopped the day before and a task you set aside earlier in the week.

How to Run It

Type /resume in the Claude Code panel, followed by a project ID, a time or a search term, and press Enter.
Read the summary that Claude shows, which ends with the suggested next action.
Tell Claude what to do next, in your own words.

The quickest route is the reference that /save gave you, such as /resume P012.

The Five Routes

Claude chooses a route from what you type after the command.

You type	Example	Route
A project ID	`/resume P012`	Project route, the recommended one
A project ID and a time	`/resume P012 15:40`	Project route, using the checkpoint saved at that time
A time	`/resume 15:40`	Time route
A word or phrase	`/resume workshop agenda`	Search route
Nothing	`/resume`	Browse route, with a menu

Project Route

Claude asks PRIMA Memory for sessions about the project, looking first at today, then yesterday, then this week, and takes the most recent result only.
Claude looks for checkpoint files in ~/Documents/Agent Outputs/P012/ and uses the checkpoint section saved at the time you gave, or the latest checkpoint when you gave no time. If the project has no checkpoint, Claude asks PRIMA Memory for a summary of the session instead.
Claude reads the project’s status, stoppedAt and lastAction from .claude/state/state.json and shows everything in one block.

Time Route

Claude looks for a checkpoint file saved today at that time, such as 2026-10-14-1540-session-checkpoint.md. If there is none, it asks PRIMA Memory for recent sessions and matches the time. If PRIMA Memory is not available, it falls back to the session history in state.json. Claude also shows the projects that have a stoppedAt value.

Search Route

Claude searches PRIMA Memory for the term in this week’s sessions, widening to this month if nothing matches. If exactly one session matches, Claude loads it straight away. If several match, Claude shows up to five and asks which one to load.

Browse Route

Claude lists your ten most recent sessions, from PRIMA Memory or, without it, from the session history in state.json. You pick a session by number, or type search and a term to look further back. Claude then reads the checkpoint for that session if it has one, or a summary of the session if not.

What You See

Every route ends with the same compact block. Claude does not ask how much detail you want, because the summary is the default and you can ask for more.

**Resuming P012 — Spring Workshop**

**Last session:** 13 October 2026
Drafted the agenda and confirmed two speakers. The venue booking is still open.

**Stopped at:** Speaker briefing not started
**Next:** Write the speaker briefing note

Ready to continue.

What It Reads and Writes

/resume reads from the sources below and changes no files.

Source	What Claude reads
PRIMA Memory	Session search, recent sessions and session summaries
`~/Documents/Agent Outputs/`	Checkpoint files written by `/save`
`.claude/state/state.json`	Project status, `stoppedAt`, `lastAction` and session history