Sessions¶
A session keeps a conversation and its runs together. You can leave the terminal and return to the same work later. Browse sessions inside the terminal UI, or use CLI commands when you need an exact ID or machine-readable history.
For a new conversation, the agent sets a short title based on the opening request
when session.set_title is available. It keeps that title as the conversation
continues, even if the work changes direction. Ask the agent to rename the session
if you want a different title. The TUI session browser and Desktop use the saved
title; an unavailable or disabled title tool leaves the opening-request fallback.
List sessions in the terminal UI¶
Enter /sessions to see your 20 most recently updated sessions. The list shows each
session's ID, message count, and creation and update times. This example wraps the
metadata onto separate lines for readability:
◆ Sessions
• Item 1
Id: 0195b640-8a41-7b35-948d-3d58b39e783a · Message count: 0
Updated at: 2026-09-30T14:24:05Z
Created at: 2026-09-30T14:24:05Z
• Item 2
Id: 0195b63e-bb32-76d1-a9e0-93b5f70f241c · Message count: 18
Updated at: 2026-09-30T13:11:59Z
Created at: 2026-09-30T13:10:38Z
Copy an Id to resume a specific conversation with /resume SESSION_ID. A message
count of 0 means the session has no messages yet. To browse by title and preview
messages before choosing, use /resume without an ID.
Resume in the terminal UI¶
If you are already in Colossus, enter /resume. From your configured workspace, you
can also reopen the most recently updated session directly:
The /resume browser fills the screen with searchable sessions on the left and a
view of the selected conversation on the right. It marks the session you are in as CURRENT.
This abbreviated example shows the labels and controls; your titles, messages, and
timestamps will differ:
Resume session · 2 sessions │ View
│
/ Search sessions │ Release review
│ ID: 0195b640 · 8 messages
Session Updated Msgs │ Updated: 2 min ago
› Release review 2m ago 8 │ Recent conversation
CURRENT Repo task 10m ago 4 │ USER Review the release notes
│ ASSISTANT Here is the summary...
↑/↓ Select / Search PgUp/Dn View Enter Resume Esc Cancel
Press / to search, Up/Down to choose, PageUp/PageDown to scroll the preview, and
Enter to resume. To switch to a known session without browsing, enter
/resume SESSION_ID. /session show displays the active session.
Start a clean conversation¶
Enter /session new in the TUI. Starting colossus tui without --resume or
--session also opens a fresh session. To give an empty session a title before
starting work, use the CLI:
Copy its id from the output and attach with colossus tui --session SESSION_ID.
Find or continue a session from the CLI¶
Run these commands from the same initialized workspace and configuration you used for the original conversation:
colossus sessions list
colossus sessions show SESSION_ID
colossus run --session SESSION_ID "Continue the review"
sessions list shows the 20 most recently updated sessions by default. sessions show
includes the title, timestamps, message count, and last run ID. Use
colossus run --resume "Continue the review" for the most recently updated session
when its exact ID does not matter. A plain colossus run "..." starts a fresh one.
To read the retained transcript, run:
Messages remain in the canonical journal even if Colossus later compacts the model's working context. See Context and snapshots for long sessions and TUI commands and keys for the full interactive command list.
If you can't find a session¶
- Session not found: copy the complete ID from
sessions listand check that you selected the same workspace, configuration, and state as before. - The wrong conversation resumed:
--resumeselects the most recently updated session. Use--session SESSION_IDfor a specific one. - No session to resume: start a fresh run or use
/session newin the TUI.