getting-started_skill

Overview

This skill guides users through the initial setup and indexing of conversation history for the conversation-history plugin. It explains how to populate the local database so past conversations become searchable. Use it to diagnose empty search results and to index historical conversation files.

How this skill works

Run a one-time index command to scan existing conversation files and populate a local SQLite database at ~/.claude/conversation-history.db. After indexing, new conversations are automatically captured by a Stop hook that adds content incrementally. The indexer is incremental and skips content already processed so repeated runs are safe.

When to use it

• When a user asks how to enable or configure conversation history indexing.
• When a user wants to index past or historical conversations into the searchable database.
• When search returns no results and the database may be empty or not yet populated.
• When the plugin was just installed and existing conversations aren’t appearing in searches.

Best practices

• Run the initial indexing command after installation to populate the database: /conversation-history:index-history or use the provided script.
• Confirm the database file exists at ~/.claude/conversation-history.db to ensure persistence beyond raw JSONL files.
• Re-run indexing if you move or restore conversation files; the indexer is incremental and safe to run multiple times.
• Check file permissions if the index command fails—ensure the plugin can read ~/.claude/projects/ and write to ~/.claude/.

Example use cases

• A user installs the plugin and wants all past chats searchable—run the index script to import historical files.
• A user searches and finds no matches—recommend running /conversation-history:index-history to populate the DB.
• Migrating conversations from a backup—restore JSONL files and re-run indexing to update the database.
• Confirming persistence—verify ~/.claude/conversation-history.db remains after cleaning up raw JSONL files.