/history command should list past conversations, not clear the current one

Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Apr 1, 2026 by mdfisher-glitchprod Closed May 10, 2026

Problem

The /history command in Claude Code clears the current conversation. This is the opposite of what every CLI user expects.

In every major CLI tool — bash, zsh, PowerShell, Python REPL, Node REPL, SQL clients — history lists previous commands/sessions. It is one of the most universally consistent conventions in command-line interfaces.

Making /history a destructive action (clearing the conversation) with no confirmation prompt is surprising and leads to data loss.

What happened

  1. User asked Claude how to view past conversation history
  2. Claude suggested /history (a reasonable guess given universal CLI convention)
  3. The conversation was immediately cleared with no confirmation
  4. All conversation context was lost

Suggested fix

  • /history should list or browse past conversations (the JSONL files in ~/.claude/projects/)
  • The clear/reset behavior should remain under /clear (which already exists and is intuitive)
  • If /history must remain as clear for backwards compatibility, at minimum add a confirmation prompt before destroying the session

Environment

  • Claude Code CLI on Windows + WSL2

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