Read Codex History
Read Codex evidence only. Do not continue the old task or change its project. If
the user wants execution after the read is complete, pass the verified evidence
to daymade-claude-code:continue-codex-work.
Codex has three different history surfaces
| Surface | Authority | Use |
|---|---|---|
<codex-home>/history.jsonl | What the user submitted, keyed by Session ID and internal epoch timestamp | Exact recent user-input tables |
state_*.sqlite | Inventory metadata such as cwd, title, update time, and rollout path | Fast listing and candidate discovery |
sessions/**/rollout-*.jsonl and archived_sessions/** | Full user/assistant/tool/compaction/fork event stream | Session evidence, lineage, behavior audit, and keyword search |
Do not substitute one surface for another. A prompt-ledger row proves what was
submitted, not what the Agent answered. A state DB path is only a candidate until
the rollout's session_meta.id matches. A rollout can exist without a prompt-ledger
row, and a /fork prompt can exist without a child rollout.
Read references/storage_and_portability.md for source discovery, timestamps, writer-lock semantics, legacy Kimi compatibility, and storage failures. Read references/codex_rollout_format.md before interpreting fork snapshots, compaction, event streams, or end reasons.
Route by the requested result
| User wants | Use |
|---|---|
| Recent Codex sessions, titles, IDs, or positive writer-lock evidence | scripts/list_local_history.py --source codex |
| Exact recent user inputs from newest to oldest, grouped by Session | scripts/list_codex_user_inputs.py |
| Whole-conversation original-input counts and quotations, including inherited history | scripts/reconcile_codex_inputs.py --session <ID> |
| Locate one exact rollout by internal identity | scripts/analyze_sessions.py locate-codex <ID> |
| Reconstruct one Session and its declared parent snapshots | scripts/read_codex_session.py --session <ID> |
| Search full rollout events by keyword | scripts/analyze_sessions.py search --codex-only |
| Continue after evidence is complete | Stop reading and invoke daymade-claude-code:continue-codex-work |
The requested output wins over the motivation. “Show my recent original inputs” means a chronological raw-input table, not feedback classification, topic mining, an interactive app, or all historical sessions.
For “how many messages/feedback did I give in this conversation; list them
verbatim,” read references/user_input_reconciliation.md.
Use the reconciler to compose the existing ledger and strict lineage readers.
It preserves occurrences, original strings, and source coordinates. Treat exit 2
or complete: false as an incomplete result: scope_input_count: null is not
zero, and verified inputs are not a complete total. Review unmatched records
against their actual source before supplying any hash-bound injection exclusion.
State the counting unit and cutoff; do not call message counts a count of
distinct criticisms. Keep ordinary recent-input requests on the ledger-only route.
Commands
Resolve scripts relative to this SKILL.md. Do not rebuild the join with ad-hoc
SQLite, Node, jq, or recursive grep.
Recent inventory
text<skill-dir>/scripts/list_local_history.py \ --source codex --cwd <workspace> --limit 20 --language zh
Writer-lock output is positive-only: a held lock proves that exact advisory lock was held during the snapshot. It does not identify the process or prove liveness; an unmarked row does not prove the Session stopped.
Exact original inputs
text# Global recent window, then group by Session <skill-dir>/scripts/list_codex_user_inputs.py --recent 200 --language zh # Expand exact Sessions already shown, preserving their order <skill-dir>/scripts/list_codex_user_inputs.py \ --session-id <ID-1> --session-id <ID-2> \ --per-session 100 --language zh
Markdown is the human surface; JSON preserves the stored string value for forensic or machine use. Preserve duplicates, line order, timestamps, wording, and Session boundaries. Do not invent titles or split one Session into semantic categories.
Reconciled whole-conversation inputs
text<skill-dir>/scripts/reconcile_codex_inputs.py --session <EXACT_ID> --format json
Use --through-record for an explicit inclusive cutoff in the selected session,
and --omit-first / --omit-last only for exclusions the user actually requested.
Neither option decides whether a message is an opening instruction or feedback.
Use --format markdown for literal numbered quotations after resolving gaps.
Read the linked reconciliation reference for result fields, reviewed exclusions,
partial results, and deterministic fixture-only validation.
Exact Session evidence and lineage
text<skill-dir>/scripts/read_codex_session.py --session <SESSION_ID> --full
Expected output: # Codex Session Evidence Briefing, verified selected identity,
root-to-child fork lineage, exact parent byte boundaries, chronological handoff,
compacted context, latest plan, tool calls, files, errors, end reason, and workspace
state. If the state DB points to a rollout with the wrong identity, the reader must
reject it and try the exact session_meta.id locator; never continue from the wrong
file because its title or filename looked close. When live and archived copies share
an ID, the reader accepts byte-identical copies or a strict append-only superset and
otherwise fails as ambiguous. Every selected and inherited JSONL record is parsed
strictly; malformed lines cannot become a complete-looking receipt.
If the complete briefing is too large for one model context, materialize it once to a private temporary file and record its SHA-256 plus line count before reading. That one immutable file is still the single briefing; “one briefing” does not mean one stdout payload or one monolithic context load. Read bounded, non-overlapping ranges using its existing headings or exact record coordinates, keep coverage against the recorded line count, and report every unread range as a gap. Do not rerun the reader with different truncation and fuse the outputs into a complete-looking chronology.
Bounded full-event search
Codex searches include native event_msg/item_completed command output as
tool_result:CommandExecution. Stream output takes precedence over duplicate
aggregate/formatted views. Matching item/call ID plus exact text deduplicates
repeated results; equal output from different command IDs remains separate.
User/assistant event mirrors continue to be excluded. Wrappers with unrelated
IDs cannot be assumed to be mirrors merely because their text overlaps.
text<skill-dir>/scripts/analyze_sessions.py search \ --codex-only --all-projects --exclude-session <CURRENT_ID> \ --from-date <YYYY-MM-DD> --to-date <YYYY-MM-DD> \ '<keyword-1>' '<keyword-2>'
Start with exact ID, project, date, or known asset names. Broad scans have a stop-loss and must fail visibly rather than present partial results as complete. The exact-ID locator is seconds cheaper than a corpus scan.
Identity and lineage gate
Before making any behavior claim about a named Session:
- Verify the prompt-ledger Session ID if quoting user input.
- Locate rollout candidates by their internal
session_meta.id, not filename alone. - Parse the selected rollout and require
session_meta.id == requested ID. - For each fork edge, require the declared parent ID and exact
history_base.end_byte_offset; reject missing, ambiguous, cyclic, or mismatched ancestry rather than reading the parent's current tail. A legacy rollout with nohistory_basethat inlines its parent's session_meta as the very next record is instead verified record-for-record against the real parent file before its derived byte boundary is trusted. - Report prompt-only or rollout-only gaps explicitly.
This gate is the direct correction for two observed cases: a prompt-ledger Session
whose state DB pointed at another rollout, and a /fork input with no child rollout.
Read-result contract
Every answer must state:
- Sources read — prompt ledger, state DB, live/archive rollouts.
- Coverage — Session IDs, projects, internal time range.
- Result — the requested raw table, timeline, or matches.
- Identity/lineage status — verified, prompt-only, rollout-only, or mismatched.
- Gaps — malformed/unreadable sources, missing parents, omitted attachment bytes, timeouts, or scopes not searched.
“Not found” is scoped to this coverage. Do not call a timeout or incomplete scan a negative result.
Guardrails
- Keep this Skill read-only; it does not resume, archive, rename, delete, or repair.
- Do not run
codex resume,codex --continue, or a new implementation experiment. - Do not load multi-megabyte rollouts directly into context; use the bundled reader.
- Do not infer Session state or ownership from process names, cwd, or writer-lock absence.
- Keep raw history local unless the user explicitly asks to share it.
Router and legacy compatibility
The current local-conversation-history is a cross-provider router; it sends a
provider-specific Codex read here and does not replace this Skill's identity,
lineage, or evidence contract. The older combined command contract remains in
references/legacy_multi_provider_inventory.md
so its Kimi branch and historical flags are not silently erased. Provider-specific
Claude requests route to daymade-claude-code:read-claude-code-history.
