Using Sessions

Dhara saves every conversation as a session — an append-only JSONL file you can inspect, share, and resume later.

Automatic Saving

Sessions are auto-saved to ~/.dhara/sessions/ by default. Each session gets a unique ID:

~/.dhara/sessions/abc123/
├── meta.json       # Title, provider, timestamps
├── entries.jsonl   # Conversation log
└── tree.json       # Branch structure

Session Commands

List Sessions

# Show all sessions
dhara session list

# Filter by provider
dhara session list --provider openai

# Search by keyword
dhara session list --search "refactor auth"

Output:

ID        Title                    Provider   Updated
abc123    Refactor auth module     openai     2 hours ago
def456    Add login page           anthropic  Yesterday
ghi789    Debug CI pipeline        google     3 days ago

Resume a Session

Continue a previous conversation:

# Start REPL with existing session
dhara --session abc123

# One-shot with session context
dhara --session abc123 "Summarize what we did"

The LLM receives the full session history as context.

Rename a Session

dhara session rename abc123 "Auth refactor — final version"

Or interactively:

dhara session rename abc123
# Enter new title: Auth module redesign

Delete a Session

# Interactive confirmation
dhara session delete abc123

# Force delete without confirmation
dhara session delete abc123 --force

Export Sessions

JSON (Full Format)

Export the complete session including metadata:

dhara session export abc123 --format json > session.json

Markdown (Human-Readable)

Export as a readable markdown document:

dhara session export abc123 --format markdown > session.md

Output:

# Refactor Auth Module

**Provider:** OpenAI GPT-4o
**Date:** 2026-05-14

---

**User:** Refactor the auth module to use JWT instead of sessions.

**Assistant:** I'll refactor the auth module...

[read: src/auth.ts]
```typescript
// ... file contents ...

Assistant: Now I can see the current implementation...


### Plain Text

Export as plain text for easy sharing:

```bash
dhara session export abc123 --format text > session.txt

Import Sessions

Import conversations from other agents:

# From Claude
dhara session import --format claude --file conversation.json

# From Pi
dhara session import --format pi --file chat.jsonl

# From OpenAI Chat
dhara session import --format openai-chat --file export.json

Replay Sessions

Replay a session for debugging or sharing:

# Interactive replay
dhara session replay abc123

# Headless (print to stdout)
dhara session replay abc123 --headless

Branching

Fork a session to explore alternative approaches:

# Create a branch from an existing session
dhara session branch abc123 --name "try-oauth-approach"

# Continue in the new branch
dhara --session new-branch-id

Branches share history up to the fork point but diverge after.

Compaction

For very long sessions, compact old entries to save context space:

# Compact entries older than 50 messages
dhara session compact abc123 --keep 50

This summarizes older conversation turns while preserving tool results for reproducibility.

Disabling Auto-Save

Turn off auto-save for a single run:

dhara --no-autosave "Quick question..."

Or permanently in settings:

{
  "autoSave": false
}

Using Sessions

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