[FEATURE] CLI flag to `--continue` if possible and create a new session otherwise

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

I have some scripts to set up a set of terminal windows in a project with Claude, a git client, a shell, etc. So I'm starting the claude CLI without explicitly typing claude myself.

I'd like to be able to use claude --continue to carry on from a previous session by default. But this will exit with failure if there is no session. I'd like to be able to write a single command-line that implements "do claude --continue if possible, otherwise just normal claude". I don't think this is currently possible.

Proposed Solution

Two possible solutions:

• A flag that implements this directly, like claude --continue-or-new
• A flag that lists current sessions in the directory (like claude --list-sessions) and has an exit code making it easy to use in a script to decide whether or not to pass --continue

Alternative Solutions

_No response_

Priority

Low - Nice to have

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

I want to open a zellij view with a Claude and a few other tools.

Additional Context

_No response_