session-logs

name	session-logs
description	Search and analyze your own session logs (older/parent conversations) using jq. Use this skill when users reference prior chats, ask for historical context, need to review past assistant responses, or want to calculate session costs and token usage across JSONL session files.
version	1.0.0
author	DunCrew
tags	["session-management","log-analysis","history-search","cli","jq"]
keywords	["session logs","conversation history","past chats","previous messages","session cost","search history","parent conversation","JSONL"]
dangerLevel	safe
inputs	[{"name":"agentId","description":"The agent identifier used to locate the correct session directory (extract from system prompt Runtime line).","required":true},{"name":"sessionId","description":"Specific session ID or filename to query. Omit to search across all sessions.","required":false},{"name":"searchQuery","description":"Keyword, phrase, or date to filter or search within session logs.","required":false}]
metadata	{"openclaw":{"emoji":"📜","primaryEnv":"shell","requires":{"bins":["jq","rg"],"env":[]}}}

session-logs

Search your complete conversation history stored in session JSONL files. Use this when a user references older/parent conversations or asks what was said before.

Trigger

Use this skill when the user asks about prior chats, parent conversations, or historical context that isn't in memory files.

Location

Session logs live at: ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/ (use the agent=<id> value from the system prompt Runtime line).

• sessions.json - Index mapping session keys to session IDs
• <session-id>.jsonl - Full conversation transcript per session

Structure

Each .jsonl file contains messages with:

• type: "session" (metadata) or "message"
• timestamp: ISO timestamp
• message.role: "user", "assistant", or "toolResult"
• message.content[]: Text, thinking, or tool calls (filter type=="text" for human-readable content)
• message.usage.cost.total: Cost per response

Common Queries

List all sessions by date and size

for f in ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/*.jsonl; do
  date=$(head -1 "$f" | jq -r '.timestamp' | cut -dT -f1)
  size=$(ls -lh "$f" | awk '{print $5}')
  echo "$date $size $(basename $f)"
done | sort -r

Find sessions from a specific day

for f in ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/*.jsonl; do
  head -1 "$f" | jq -r '.timestamp' | grep -q "2026-01-06" && echo "$f"
done

Extract user messages from a session

jq -r 'select(.message.role == "user") | .message.content[]? | select(.type == "text") | .text' <session>.jsonl

Search for keyword in assistant responses

jq -r 'select(.message.role == "assistant") | .message.content[]? | select(.type == "text") | .text' <session>.jsonl | rg -i "keyword"

Get total cost for a session

jq -s '[.[] | .message.usage.cost.total // 0] | add' <session>.jsonl

Daily cost summary

for f in ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/*.jsonl; do
  date=$(head -1 "$f" | jq -r '.timestamp' | cut -dT -f1)
  cost=$(jq -s '[.[] | .message.usage.cost.total // 0] | add' "$f")
  echo "$date $cost"
done | awk '{a[$1]+=$2} END {for(d in a) print d, "$"a[d]}' | sort -r

Count messages and tokens in a session

jq -s '{
  messages: length,
  user: [.[] | select(.message.role == "user")] | length,
  assistant: [.[] | select(.message.role == "assistant")] | length,
  first: .[0].timestamp,
  last: .[-1].timestamp
}' <session>.jsonl

Tool usage breakdown

jq -r '.message.content[]? | select(.type == "toolCall") | .name' <session>.jsonl | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

Search across ALL sessions for a phrase

rg -l "phrase" ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/*.jsonl

Tips

• Sessions are append-only JSONL (one JSON object per line)
• Large sessions can be several MB - use head/tail for sampling
• The sessions.json index maps chat providers (discord, whatsapp, etc.) to session IDs
• Deleted sessions have .deleted.<timestamp> suffix

Fast text-only hint (low noise)

jq -r 'select(.type=="message") | .message.content[]? | select(.type=="text") | .text' ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/<id>.jsonl | rg 'keyword'