Add privacy controls for conversation history storage in .claude.json

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

## Feature Request: Privacy Controls for Conversation History

### Problem
Claude Code currently stores all user prompts in the history array within ~/.claude.json for each project. While this enables useful features like command history (Ctrl+R)
and context for resuming conversations, there's no way for users to:

• Disable history storage
• Automatically clear old history
• Manually clear history without editing the JSON file

For users working with sensitive information or who value privacy, having all questions permanently stored locally without control is concerning.

Proposed Solution

### Proposed Solutions

1. Setting to disable history storage

• Add a historyEnabled: false setting in settings.json
• When disabled, don't populate the history arrays

1. Auto-cleanup setting

• Add a historyRetentionDays setting (similar to existing cleanupPeriodDays)
• Automatically prune old history entries

1. Manual clearing command

• Add /clear-history slash command to clear current project's history
• Add claude history clear CLI command with options like:
• --project (clear specific project)
• --all (clear all projects)
• --older-than <days>

Alternative Solutions

### Current Workaround
Manually edit ~/.claude.json and delete history arrays, but this is error-prone and not user-friendly.

### Additional Context

• History is stored in ~/.claude.json under projects[path].history
• Each entry contains the display text and any pastedContents
• File location: ~/.claude.json (or /home/user/.claude.json)

Would appreciate any of these options to give users more control over their local data storage!

Priority

Medium - Would be very helpful

Feature Category

Configuration and settings

Use Case Example

_No response_

Additional Context

### Additional Context

• History is stored in ~/.claude.json under projects[path].history
• Each entry contains the display text and any pastedContents
• File location: ~/.claude.json (or /home/user/.claude.json)

Would appreciate any of these options to give users more control over their local data storage!