Session Logs

Session Logs Skill

Search and analyze conversation history stored in session JSONL files.

When to Use

✅ USE this skill when:

• User asks about prior chats
• Need to reference parent conversations
• Search for specific topics in conversation history
• Analyze token usage and costs

Location

Session logs typically live at:

• OpenClaw: ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/
• Other agents: Check agent documentation for session path

Structure

Each .jsonl file contains messages with:

• type: "session" (metadata) or "message"
• timestamp: ISO timestamp
• message.role: "user", "assistant", or "toolResult"
• message.content[]: Text, thinking, or tool calls
• message.usage.cost.total: Cost per response

Commands

List All Sessions

# List sessions by date and size
for f in ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/*.jsonl; do
  date=$(head -1 "$f" | jq -r '.timestamp' | cut -dT -f1)
  size=$(ls -lh "$f" | awk '{print $5}')
  echo "$date $size $(basename $f)"
done | sort -r

Find Sessions from Specific Day

for f in ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/*.jsonl; do
  head -1 "$f" | jq -r '.timestamp' | grep -q "2026-01-06" && echo "$f"
done

Extract User Messages

# Get all user messages from a session
jq -r 'select(.message.role == "user") | .message.content[]? | select(.type == "text") | .text' <session>.jsonl

Search for Keyword

# Search for keyword in assistant responses
jq -r 'select(.message.role == "assistant") | .message.content[]? | select(.type == "text") | .text' <session>.jsonl | rg -i "keyword"

# Search across ALL sessions
rg -l "phrase" ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/*.jsonl

Get Session Cost

# Total cost for a session
jq -s '[.[] | .message.usage.cost.total // 0] | add' <session>.jsonl

# Daily cost summary
for f in ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/*.jsonl; do
  date=$(head -1 "$f" | jq -r '.timestamp' | cut -dT -f1)
  cost=$(jq -s '[.[] | .message.usage.cost.total // 0] | add' "$f")
  echo "$date $cost"
done | awk '{a[$1]+=$2} END {for(d in a) print d, "$"a[d]}' | sort -r

Message Statistics

# Count messages and tokens
jq -s '{
  messages: length,
  user: [.[] | select(.message.role == "user")] | length,
  assistant: [.[] | select(.message.role == "assistant")] | length,
  first: .[0].timestamp,
  last: .[-1].timestamp
}' <session>.jsonl

Tool Usage Breakdown

# What tools were used
jq -r '.message.content[]? | select(.type == "toolCall") | .name' <session>.jsonl | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

Fast Text-Only Search

# Low noise search
jq -r 'select(.type=="message") | .message.content[]? | select(.type=="text") | .text' ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/<id>.jsonl | rg 'keyword'

Notes

• Sessions are append-only JSONL (one JSON object per line)
• Large sessions can be several MB - use head/tail for sampling
• Use agent=<id> from system prompt Runtime line to find session directory
• Deleted sessions have .deleted.<timestamp> suffix