restart

name	restart
description	This skill should be used when the user asks to "restart your session", "restart yourself", "reload your session", or when the session itself determines a restart is needed (e.g. after a plugin update or harness change that requires a fresh process). Restarts the current Claude Code session in place via /exit + claude --resume, preserving the full conversation.
argument-hint	[session-id] [-- extra-resume-flags]
allowed-tools	Bash
version	1.1.5

Restart Own Session

The session cannot restart itself directly — its own death kills its Bash tool. The bundled script delegates a driver to the tmux server, which outlives the session: it waits for the current turn to end, types /exit, relaunches claude --resume <sid> in the same pane, and types a wake-up message so the resumed session reports back.

Procedure

1. Resolve the tool path from this skill's base directory: ../../scripts/cc-self (i.e. <plugin-root>/scripts/cc-self). Invoke it through bash — plugin files may lose the executable bit on install.
2. Resolve the session id: use the argument if provided, otherwise run bash <plugin-root>/scripts/cc-self sid (uses $CLAUDE_SESSION_ID, falling back to the newest transcript in ~/.claude/projects/<encoded-cwd>/).
3. Sanity-check before arming:
   • $TMUX_PANE is set (the session must run inside tmux)
   • ~/.claude/projects/<encoded-cwd>/<sid>.jsonl exists
   • No critical background task is mid-flight (it would be killed)
4. Arm the driver:

   bash <plugin-root>/scripts/cc-self restart <sid>
   

   The driver pins the session's current model and effort onto the resume command automatically. To deliberately change them (or pass any other resume flag), append them after -- — they replace the pinned ones:

   bash <plugin-root>/scripts/cc-self restart <sid> -- --effort max
   

5. End the turn promptly with a one-line notice to the user (expected downtime ~15s after the turn ends, plus the driver's turn-end detection). Long streaming after arming only delays the sequence.
6. On the wake-up turn (message from "[cc-self restart driver]"), verify continuity — conversation memory intact, statusline state preserved — and report the result to the user.

Notes

• The driver preserves model and effort: at arm time (while the session is alive) it reads them from the transcript's last assistant entry (fallback: ~/.claude/settings.json) and passes --model/--effort explicitly on resume. A bare --resume would reset effort to the default, and the changed system prompt would break the warm prompt cache. Setting effort via the TUI after resume is too late for the same reason — resume-time CLI args are the only cache-safe path.
• Suffixed model variants are handled: transcripts record the bare API id, so when settings names a suffixed form of the same model (e.g. claude-fable-5[1m] for 1M context) the driver pins that form. All typed flag values — pinned and -- passthrough alike — are single-quoted when typed, because the resume command lands in a live zsh where a bare [1m] is a glob ("no matches found" and the relaunch never runs). Pass raw values after --; the driver quotes each token itself.
• The driver preserves permission mode: it adds --dangerously-skip-permissions only if the footer showed "bypass permissions on" before exiting.
• If background tasks are running, /exit opens a "Background work is running" confirm dialog instead of exiting; the driver detects it and confirms the preselected "Exit and stop tasks". This is why step 3 checks for critical background work before arming — anything still running is stopped.
• /exit is staged, not typed blind: at idle the leading / opens the command palette, which can swallow same-tick characters (a live incident submitted the stray remainder as a fake user message). The driver paces the send and presses Enter only after the input box visibly holds /exit; if staging fails three times it aborts with the session left intact.
• It launches the real claude binary directly (aliases with extra flags would silently change session state).
• If the restart stalls, inspect ~/.cc-self.log — every driver phase is logged. Manual recovery: claude --resume <sid> in the pane.