Add configurable session retention period
Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Mar 24, 2026 by garshythoel Closed Apr 23, 2026
Feature Request
Problem:
Claude Code automatically cleans up older sessions after ~30 days. There is currently no way to configure this retention window. For users working on long-running projects or who want to reference older session context, the default window is too short.
Proposed Solution:
Add a sessionRetentionDays (or similar) setting to settings.json that allows users to configure how long sessions are retained before automatic cleanup. For example:
{
"sessionRetentionDays": 90
}
Use Case:
- Long-running projects where historical session context is valuable
- Users who periodically revisit past sessions for reference
- Teams that want consistent retention policies across members
Current Workaround:
Using the memory system (~/.claude/projects/.../memory/) to persist important context, but this doesn't preserve the full session transcript and interaction history.
Environment:
- macOS (Darwin 25.3.0)
- Claude Code CLI
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