hermes-agent/website/docs/user-guide/sessions.md

---
sidebar_position: 7
title: "Sessions"
description: "Session persistence, resume, search, management, and per-platform session tracking"
---

# Sessions

Hermes Agent automatically saves every conversation as a session. Sessions enable conversation resume, cross-session search, and full conversation history management.

## How Sessions Work

Every conversation — whether from the CLI, Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, or Slack — is stored as a session with full message history. Sessions are tracked in two complementary systems:

1. **SQLite database** (`~/.hermes/state.db`) — structured session metadata with FTS5 full-text search
2. **JSONL transcripts** (`~/.hermes/sessions/`) — raw conversation transcripts including tool calls (gateway)

The SQLite database stores:
- Session ID, source platform, user ID
- **Session title** (unique, human-readable name)
- Model name and configuration
- System prompt snapshot
- Full message history (role, content, tool calls, tool results)
- Token counts (input/output)
- Timestamps (started_at, ended_at)
- Parent session ID (for compression-triggered session splitting)

### Session Sources

Each session is tagged with its source platform:

| Source | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| `cli` | Interactive CLI (`hermes` or `hermes chat`) |
| `telegram` | Telegram messenger |
| `discord` | Discord server/DM |
| `whatsapp` | WhatsApp messenger |
| `slack` | Slack workspace |

## CLI Session Resume

Resume previous conversations from the CLI using `--continue` or `--resume`:

### Continue Last Session

```bash
# Resume the most recent CLI session
hermes --continue
hermes -c

# Or with the chat subcommand
hermes chat --continue
hermes chat -c
```

This looks up the most recent `cli` session from the SQLite database and loads its full conversation history.

### Resume by Name

If you've given a session a title (see [Session Naming](#session-naming) below), you can resume it by name:

```bash
# Resume a named session
hermes -c "my project"

# If there are lineage variants (my project, my project #2, my project #3),
# this automatically resumes the most recent one
hermes -c "my project"   # → resumes "my project #3"
```

### Resume Specific Session

```bash
# Resume a specific session by ID
hermes --resume 20250305_091523_a1b2c3d4
hermes -r 20250305_091523_a1b2c3d4

# Resume by title
hermes --resume "refactoring auth"

# Or with the chat subcommand
hermes chat --resume 20250305_091523_a1b2c3d4
```

Session IDs are shown when you exit a CLI session, and can be found with `hermes sessions list`.

### Conversation Recap on Resume

When you resume a session, Hermes displays a compact recap of the previous conversation in a styled panel before the input prompt:

```text
╭─────────────────────────── Previous Conversation ────────────────────────────╮
│   ● You: What is Python?                                                     │
│   ◆ Hermes: Python is a high-level programming language.                     │
│   ● You: How do I install it?                                                │
│   ◆ Hermes: [3 tool calls: web_search, web_extract, terminal]                │
│   ◆ Hermes: You can download Python from python.org...                       │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
```

The recap:
- Shows **user messages** (gold `●`) and **assistant responses** (green `◆`)
- **Truncates** long messages (300 chars for user, 200 chars / 3 lines for assistant)
- **Collapses tool calls** to a count with tool names (e.g., `[3 tool calls: terminal, web_search]`)
- **Hides** system messages, tool results, and internal reasoning
- **Caps** at the last 10 exchanges with a "... N earlier messages ..." indicator
- Uses **dim styling** to distinguish from the active conversation

To disable the recap and keep the minimal one-liner behavior, set in `~/.hermes/config.yaml`:

```yaml
display:
  resume_display: minimal   # default: full
```

:::tip
Session IDs follow the format `YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_<8-char-hex>`, e.g. `20250305_091523_a1b2c3d4`. You can resume by ID or by title — both work with `-c` and `-r`.
:::

## Session Naming

Give sessions human-readable titles so you can find and resume them easily.

### Setting a Title

Use the `/title` slash command inside any chat session (CLI or gateway):

```
/title my research project
```

The title is applied immediately. If the session hasn't been created in the database yet (e.g., you run `/title` before sending your first message), it's queued and applied once the session starts.

You can also rename existing sessions from the command line:

```bash
hermes sessions rename 20250305_091523_a1b2c3d4 "refactoring auth module"
```

### Title Rules

- **Unique** — no two sessions can share the same title
- **Max 100 characters** — keeps listing output clean
- **Sanitized** — control characters, zero-width chars, and RTL overrides are stripped automatically
- **Normal Unicode is fine** — emoji, CJK, accented characters all work

### Auto-Lineage on Compression

When a session's context is compressed (manually via `/compress` or automatically), Hermes creates a new continuation session. If the original had a title, the new session automatically gets a numbered title:

```
"my project" → "my project #2" → "my project #3"
```

When you resume by name (`hermes -c "my project"`), it automatically picks the most recent session in the lineage.

### /title in Messaging Platforms

The `/title` command works in all gateway platforms (Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp):

- `/title My Research` — set the session title
- `/title` — show the current title

## Session Management Commands

Hermes provides a full set of session management commands via `hermes sessions`:

### List Sessions

```bash
# List recent sessions (default: last 20)
hermes sessions list

# Filter by platform
hermes sessions list --source telegram

# Show more sessions
hermes sessions list --limit 50
```

When sessions have titles, the output shows titles, previews, and relative timestamps:

```
Title                  Preview                                  Last Active   ID
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
refactoring auth       Help me refactor the auth module please   2h ago        20250305_091523_a
my project #3          Can you check the test failures?          yesterday     20250304_143022_e
—                      What's the weather in Las Vegas?          3d ago        20250303_101500_f
```

When no sessions have titles, a simpler format is used:

```
Preview                                            Last Active   Src    ID
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Help me refactor the auth module please             2h ago        cli    20250305_091523_a
What's the weather in Las Vegas?                    3d ago        tele   20250303_101500_f
```

### Export Sessions

```bash
# Export all sessions to a JSONL file
hermes sessions export backup.jsonl

# Export sessions from a specific platform
hermes sessions export telegram-history.jsonl --source telegram

# Export a single session
hermes sessions export session.jsonl --session-id 20250305_091523_a1b2c3d4
```

Exported files contain one JSON object per line with full session metadata and all messages.

### Delete a Session

```bash
# Delete a specific session (with confirmation)
hermes sessions delete 20250305_091523_a1b2c3d4

# Delete without confirmation
hermes sessions delete 20250305_091523_a1b2c3d4 --yes
```

### Rename a Session

```bash
# Set or change a session's title
hermes sessions rename 20250305_091523_a1b2c3d4 "debugging auth flow"

# Multi-word titles don't need quotes in the CLI
hermes sessions rename 20250305_091523_a1b2c3d4 debugging auth flow
```

If the title is already in use by another session, an error is shown.

### Prune Old Sessions

```bash
# Delete ended sessions older than 90 days (default)
hermes sessions prune

# Custom age threshold
hermes sessions prune --older-than 30

# Only prune sessions from a specific platform
hermes sessions prune --source telegram --older-than 60

# Skip confirmation
hermes sessions prune --older-than 30 --yes
```

:::info
Pruning only deletes **ended** sessions (sessions that have been explicitly ended or auto-reset). Active sessions are never pruned.
:::

### Session Statistics

```bash
hermes sessions stats
```

Output:

```
Total sessions: 142
Total messages: 3847
  cli: 89 sessions
  telegram: 38 sessions
  discord: 15 sessions
Database size: 12.4 MB
```

For deeper analytics — token usage, cost estimates, tool breakdown, and activity patterns — use [`hermes insights`](/docs/reference/cli-commands#insights).

## Session Search Tool

The agent has a built-in `session_search` tool that performs full-text search across all past conversations using SQLite's FTS5 engine.

### How It Works

1. FTS5 searches matching messages ranked by relevance
2. Groups results by session, takes the top N unique sessions (default 3)
3. Loads each session's conversation, truncates to ~100K chars centered on matches
4. Sends to a fast summarization model for focused summaries
5. Returns per-session summaries with metadata and surrounding context

### FTS5 Query Syntax

The search supports standard FTS5 query syntax:

- Simple keywords: `docker deployment`
- Phrases: `"exact phrase"`
- Boolean: `docker OR kubernetes`, `python NOT java`
- Prefix: `deploy*`

### When It's Used

The agent is prompted to use session search automatically:

> *"When the user references something from a past conversation or you suspect relevant prior context exists, use session_search to recall it before asking them to repeat themselves."*

## Per-Platform Session Tracking

### Gateway Sessions

On messaging platforms, sessions are keyed by a deterministic session key built from the message source:

| Chat Type | Key Format | Example |
|-----------|-----------|---------|
| Telegram DM | `agent:main:telegram:dm` | One session per bot |
| Discord DM | `agent:main:discord:dm` | One session per bot |
| WhatsApp DM | `agent:main:whatsapp:dm:<chat_id>` | Per-user (multi-user) |
| Group chat | `agent:main:<platform>:group:<chat_id>` | Per-group |
| Channel | `agent:main:<platform>:channel:<chat_id>` | Per-channel |

:::info
WhatsApp DMs include the chat ID in the session key because multiple users can DM the bot. Other platforms use a single DM session since the bot is configured per-user via allowlists.
:::

### Session Reset Policies

Gateway sessions are automatically reset based on configurable policies:

- **idle** — reset after N minutes of inactivity
- **daily** — reset at a specific hour each day
- **both** — reset on whichever comes first (idle or daily)
- **none** — never auto-reset

Before a session is auto-reset, the agent is given a turn to save any important memories or skills from the conversation.

Sessions with **active background processes** are never auto-reset, regardless of policy.

## Storage Locations

| What | Path | Description |
|------|------|-------------|
| SQLite database | `~/.hermes/state.db` | All session metadata + messages with FTS5 |
| Gateway transcripts | `~/.hermes/sessions/` | JSONL transcripts per session + sessions.json index |
| Gateway index | `~/.hermes/sessions/sessions.json` | Maps session keys to active session IDs |

The SQLite database uses WAL mode for concurrent readers and a single writer, which suits the gateway's multi-platform architecture well.

### Database Schema

Key tables in `state.db`:

- **sessions** — session metadata (id, source, user_id, model, title, timestamps, token counts). Titles have a unique index (NULL titles allowed, only non-NULL must be unique).
- **messages** — full message history (role, content, tool_calls, tool_name, token_count)
- **messages_fts** — FTS5 virtual table for full-text search across message content

## Session Expiry and Cleanup

### Automatic Cleanup

- Gateway sessions auto-reset based on the configured reset policy
- Before reset, the agent saves memories and skills from the expiring session
- Ended sessions remain in the database until pruned

### Manual Cleanup

```bash
# Prune sessions older than 90 days
hermes sessions prune

# Delete a specific session
hermes sessions delete <session_id>

# Export before pruning (backup)
hermes sessions export backup.jsonl
hermes sessions prune --older-than 30 --yes
```

:::tip
The database grows slowly (typical: 10-15 MB for hundreds of sessions). Pruning is mainly useful for removing old conversations you no longer need for search recall.
:::