About claude-historian
Claude Historian is a skill for Claude agents to search prior conversation history before researching or resuming work. It offers focused searches across errors, files, plans, sessions, tools, and other history, plus session inspection.
Key features
- 01Search conversations by topic or scope
- 02Find previous fixes for errors
- 03Look up history for files and projects
- 04Retrieve plans, sessions, and tool workflows
- 05Inspect a specific session
Use cases
- 01Check for a prior solution before web research
- 02Find fixes for a recurring error
- 03Review decisions made on a project
- 04Recall changes associated with a file
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
npx skills add https:/After installing, type/claude-historianin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Details
From the project READMEClaude Historian
Search conversation history before starting fresh. You may already have the answer.
When to Use
Before WebSearch → search(query: "...", scope: "similar") or search(query: "...", scope: "conversations"). Past solutions beat web results.
Stuck on an error → search(query: "<error message>", scope: "errors"). Finds past fixes with code.
Entering a familiar project → search(scope: "sessions") for recent work. search(query: "...", scope: "plans") for past decisions.
Working on a familiar file → search(scope: "files", filepath: "src/index.ts"). Shows past changes with context.
Quick Reference
| Situation | Tool Call |
|---|---|
| Error with no obvious cause | search(query: "<error>", scope: "errors") |
| "Have I done this before?" | search(query: "...", scope: "similar") |
| Working on familiar file | search(scope: "files", filepath: "...") |
| Need past design reasoning | search(query: "...", scope: "plans") |
| What did I do last session? | search(scope: "sessions") |
| Successful tool workflows | search(scope: "tools") |
| General search | search(query: "...", scope: "conversations") |
| Deep-dive into session | inspect(session_id: "...") |
| Rules, skills, CLAUDE.md | search(query: "...", scope: "config") |
| Task management history | search(query: "...", scope: "tasks") |
| Memories across sessions | search(query: "...", scope: "memories") |
Key Parameters
scope: Target your search —conversations,errors,files,plans,config,tasks,similar,sessions,tools,memories, orall(default)limit: Number of results (default 10)project: Filter by project name substring (works with conversations, sessions)timeframe:today,yesterday,week,month
Common Mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Going straight to WebSearch | Check historian first — past solutions are more relevant |
| Vague queries | Use specific terms: error messages, file paths, tool names |
Using scope: "all" for errors | Use scope: "errors" — it has dedicated fix extraction |
| Long keyword-dump queries | Keep to 3-5 specific terms, not 10+ generic ones |