Resume a previous Claude Code conversation
In the Claude Code CLI, use claude --continue to reopen the most recent conversation in the current directory. To choose an earlier one, run claude --resume to open the session picker. The CLI reference also lists -c and -r as short forms and documents resuming by session ID or name. Check claude --help if your installed version behaves differently. (Manage sessions, CLI reference)
| What you want to do | Command |
|---|---|
| Continue the latest conversation in this directory | claude --continue |
| Open the session picker | claude --resume |
| Resume by a known session ID or name | claude --resume <session> |
A third-party article also reports that /resume switches conversations from within an active session. The official passages reviewed here did not confirm that slash command, so check claude --help or the current official session guide before relying on it. (Third-party article)
If the conversation is missing
First try from the project directory where you used Claude Code. The session guide describes the picker and project-based session history; sessions are stored locally, so a session from another machine may not appear on this one. If claude --continue finds no session in the current directory, the documented behavior is to report “No conversation found to continue” and exit; try claude --resume to look for another session. (Manage sessions, Common workflows)
If you’re building an application
For application code, use the Claude Agent SDK session options—not the interactive CLI commands above. Python’s ClaudeSDKClient continues the same session across calls made through the same client instance. In TypeScript, set continue: true on a later query() call to continue the most recent session in the current directory. To return to a particular SDK session, capture its session ID and pass it as the resume option. (Agent SDK sessions)
This is session management provided by the Agent SDK; it does not establish that choosing a model or making a raw model API call can reopen a Claude Code CLI conversation.
One distinction: the Agent SDK documentation says sessions preserve conversation history, not filesystem state. Resuming a conversation does not roll back file edits; use file checkpointing or version control if you need to revert code changes. (Agent SDK sessions, Checkpointing)
Sources
Manage sessions — Claude Code Docs
CLI reference — Claude Code Docs
Common workflows — Claude Code Docs
Work with sessions — Claude Code Docs