How do I install the Session Cabinet skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add iansteitz1-eng/session-cabinet in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Session Cabinet safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Session Cabinet?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Session Cabinet free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Session Cabinet?

iansteitz1-eng (@iansteitz1-eng) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Session Cabinet by iansteitz1-eng — Agent Skill

Name: Session Cabinet
Author: iansteitz1-eng

Session Cabinet

Use when the user says "file my sessions", "session archive", "where are my old sessions", "make my Claude history searchable", "organize my Claude Code transcripts", "I can't find that session from last week", or "index my Claude sessions". Auto-files Claude Code session transcripts (~/.claude/projects/**/*.jsonl) into a human-navigable date-anchored archive with semantic SESSION.md cards, per-month _INDEX.md tables, and a master index. Idempotent — safe to run on a schedule. Free skill, stdlib only.

iansteitz1-eng ba48f12 11 files · 62.1 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

session-cabinet

Auto-files Claude Code session transcripts into a searchable, date-anchored archive.

What it does

Claude Code stores every session as a UUID-named .jsonl file under ~/.claude/projects/. These files are opaque by default — no titles, no topics, no way to find "that deploy session from three weeks ago."

session_cabinet.py scans those transcripts and files each one into:

~/Desktop/Claude Code Sessions/
  2026/
    06-June/
      2026-06-03_1420__nginx-deploy-fix/
        SESSION.md          ← frontmatter card + summary
        manifest.log        ← one-line event record
        docs/
        artifacts/
        screenshots/
        notes/
    _INDEX.md               ← per-month table (Date · Title · Projects · Folder)
  _INDEX.md                 ← master table (all sessions)

The folder name is derived from the AI-generated title or the first real thing you typed — not the UUID. Every session is findable by date, topic, or keyword grep on the SESSION.md cards.

CLI

# Dry-run (no writes — shows what would be filed)
python3 session_cabinet.py --dry-run

# File everything
python3 session_cabinet.py

# Verbose (shows each session path)
python3 session_cabinet.py --verbose

# Limit to N sessions (useful for testing)
python3 session_cabinet.py --limit 20

# Custom cabinet location
python3 session_cabinet.py --cabinet ~/Documents/SessionArchive

# Or via env var
CC_CABINET_DIR=~/Documents/SessionArchive python3 session_cabinet.py

# Override timezone (default: system local)
python3 session_cabinet.py --tz -5:00

# Recover sessions from an external drive / server backup
python3 session_cabinet.py --source-dir /Volumes/Backup/.claude/projects \
                           --source-label server

Dry-run contract

--dry-run prints a full report — counts of new/migrated/updated/skipped sessions, any day-burst dates, the cabinet tree — without writing a single file. Always run dry first on a new machine.

Folder layout

<CABINET>/
  YYYY/
    MM-MonthName/
      YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM__topic-slug/   ← one folder per session
        SESSION.md                   ← YAML frontmatter + summary
        manifest.log                 ← event log
        docs/                        ← subfolder stubs (empty at creation)
        artifacts/
        screenshots/
        notes/
      _INDEX.md                      ← month table
    [DD/]                            ← day-burst dir when >6 sessions/day
  _INDEX.md                          ← master table

Scheduling (hourly via launchd)

Run bash setup.sh to install a launchd agent that runs the filer hourly. The agent uses the local label io.ariacode.session-cabinet.

To check status after install:

launchctl list | grep session-cabinet
cat ~/Library/Logs/session-cabinet.log

Safety model

No deletion. Sessions are never deleted — only filed or moved.
Idempotent. Re-running is safe; already-filed sessions are skipped.
No LLM calls. Everything is heuristic parsing of the JSONL structure.
Stdlib only. No pip install required.
Portable. All paths derived from pathlib.Path.home(). Works on any user's machine; no hardcoded paths or usernames.

---name: session-cabinetdescription: Use when the user says "file my sessions", "session archive", "where are my old sessions", "make my Claude history searchable", "organize my Claude Code transcripts", "I can't find that session from last week", or "index my Claude sessions". Auto-files Claude Code session transcripts (~/.claude/projects/**/*.jsonl) into a human-navigable date-anchored archive with semantic SESSION.md cards, per-month _INDEX.md tables, and a master index. Idempotent — safe to run on a schedule. Free skill, stdlib only.---# session-cabinetAuto-files Claude Code session transcripts into a searchable, date-anchored archive.## What it doesClaude Code stores every session as a UUID-named `.jsonl` file under`~/.claude/projects/`. These files are opaque by default — no titles, notopics, no way to find "that deploy session from three weeks ago."`session_cabinet.py` scans those transcripts and files each one into:```~/Desktop/Claude Code Sessions/ 2026/ 06-June/ 2026-06-03_1420__nginx-deploy-fix/ SESSION.md ← frontmatter card + summary manifest.log ← one-line event record docs/ artifacts/ screenshots/ notes/ _INDEX.md ← per-month table (Date · Title · Projects · Folder) _INDEX.md ← master table (all sessions)```The folder name is derived from the AI-generated title or the first realthing you typed — not the UUID. Every session is findable by date, topic,or keyword grep on the `SESSION.md` cards.## CLI```sh# Dry-run (no writes — shows what would be filed)python3 session_cabinet.py --dry-run# File everythingpython3 session_cabinet.py# Verbose (shows each session path)python3 session_cabinet.py --verbose# Limit to N sessions (useful for testing)python3 session_cabinet.py --limit 20# Custom cabinet locationpython3 session_cabinet.py --cabinet ~/Documents/SessionArchive# Or via env varCC_CABINET_DIR=~/Documents/SessionArchive python3 session_cabinet.py# Override timezone (default: system local)python3 session_cabinet.py --tz -5:00# Recover sessions from an external drive / server backuppython3 session_cabinet.py --source-dir /Volumes/Backup/.claude/projects \ --source-label server```## Dry-run contract`--dry-run` prints a full report — counts of new/migrated/updated/skippedsessions, any day-burst dates, the cabinet tree — without writing a singlefile. Always run dry first on a new machine.## Folder layout```<CABINET>/ YYYY/ MM-MonthName/ YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM__topic-slug/ ← one folder per session SESSION.md ← YAML frontmatter + summary manifest.log ← event log docs/ ← subfolder stubs (empty at creation) artifacts/ screenshots/ notes/ _INDEX.md ← month table [DD/] ← day-burst dir when >6 sessions/day _INDEX.md ← master table```## Scheduling (hourly via launchd)Run `bash setup.sh` to install a launchd agent that runs the filer hourly.The agent uses the `local` label `io.ariacode.session-cabinet`.To check status after install:```shlaunchctl list | grep session-cabinetcat ~/Library/Logs/session-cabinet.log```## Safety model- **No deletion.** Sessions are never deleted — only filed or moved.- **Idempotent.** Re-running is safe; already-filed sessions are skipped.- **No LLM calls.** Everything is heuristic parsing of the JSONL structure.- **Stdlib only.** No pip install required.- **Portable.** All paths derived from `pathlib.Path.home()`. Works on any user's machine; no hardcoded paths or usernames.

Frequently asked questions