[FEATURE] --continue should not fail when no session exists yet (fallback to new session)

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

For users who always launch Claude Code via --continue, the first interaction in a new repository becomes unnecessarily awkward:

1. Run claude --continue
2. Get an error because no session exists
3. Run claude
4. Send a throwaway message such as "hey"
5. Exit
6. Only now does claude --continue work

This creates unnecessary friction and encourages meaningless first messages whose only purpose is creating a session.

Proposed Solution

Other agent CLIs provide a smoother experience. For example, workflows like:

codex --resume latest

effectively behave as:

• resume the latest session if one exists
• otherwise start a new session

Users don’t need to care whether a previous session exists.

Proposed behavior

Change:

claude --continue

from: Resume latest session in current directory. If none exists, exit with error.

to: Resume latest session in current directory. If none exists, start a new session.

Alternative Solutions

_No response_

Priority

High - Significant impact on productivity

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

alias ccode='claude --continue --dangerously-skip-permissions'

now I can't use ccode for fresh repositories

Additional Context

Benefits

• Eliminates an unnecessary failure mode.
• Reduces user friction in new repositories.
• Removes the need for dummy first messages.
• Better matches user expectations for a “continue working” command.
• Saves model usage otherwise spent on meaningless bootstrap prompts.

From a UX perspective, “continue my work” is a valid request even when there is nothing to continue yet. The command should be idempotent and never require a throwaway prompt solely to bootstrap session state.