Claude Session Manager

A JetBrains IDE plugin that persists Claude Code sessions across terminal tabs.

Keep multiple Claude sessions organized - each terminal tab remembers its session. Sessions auto-resume when you restart the IDE.

Features

• Bind sessions to tabs - Manually or automatically associate Claude sessions with terminal tabs
• Auto-resume on IDE restart - Bound sessions resume automatically when you reopen the project
• Session history per tab - Switch between previous sessions used in a tab
• Detects session changes - Automatically tracks /clear, /compact, /resume commands
• Tab rename support - Bindings follow when you rename terminal tabs

Requirements

• JetBrains IDE 2024.2 or later (WebStorm, IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, etc.)
• Claude Code CLI installed

Installation

From JetBrains Marketplace

(Coming soon)

Manual Installation

1. Download the latest .zip from Releases
2. In your IDE: Settings → Plugins → ⚙️ → Install Plugin from Disk...
3. Select the downloaded zip file
4. Restart the IDE

Setup

After installation, you need to install Claude Code hooks for reliable session detection:

1. Go to Settings → Tools → Claude Session Manager
2. Click Install Hooks
3. Confirm the installation

This creates a hook script that notifies the plugin when Claude sessions start or change. You can review exactly what gets installed in the "Integration Details" section.

What the hooks do

The plugin installs:

• A script at ~/.claude/hooks/session-notify.sh
• A SessionStart hook entry in ~/.claude/settings.json

When Claude starts or resumes a session, the hook writes session info to ~/.claude/ide-events/ where the plugin can detect it.

Usage

Binding Sessions

Automatic: Start Claude in a terminal tab - the plugin detects and binds it automatically.

Manual: Right-click a terminal tab → Claude Session → Bind to Session... → Select a session.

Context Menu

Right-click any terminal tab to access:

• Bind to Session... - Associate a Claude session with this tab
• Resume Session - Resume the bound session
• Session History - Switch to a previous session
• Copy Session ID - Copy the session UUID
• Unbind Session - Remove the binding
• Settings... - Open plugin settings (shows "action required" if hooks not installed)

New Terminal with Session

Use the terminal dropdown (▼ next to +) → Claude Session to create a new terminal with a selected session.

Configuration

Settings → Tools → Claude Session Manager

Setting	Description
Auto-resume on startup	Resume bound sessions when IDE starts
Resume delay	Wait time for terminal initialization (500-30000ms)
Notify on session change	Show notification when /clear etc. changes session
Notify on auto-detection	Show notification when Claude is auto-detected
Sync tab names	Update tab name when Claude /rename is used
Claude command	CLI command (e.g., claude or a custom alias)
Home directory	Custom Claude home path (default: ~/.claude)

How It Works

The plugin uses multiple detection methods:

1. Hook events (most reliable) - Claude's SessionStart hook notifies the plugin
2. Terminal output monitoring - Scans terminal output for session UUIDs
3. File watching - Monitors sessions-index.json for changes

Bindings are stored in .idea/claudeSessionManager.xml within your project.

Troubleshooting

"Not Installed (action required)"

Go to Settings and click "Install Hooks". The plugin needs hooks in Claude Code to detect sessions reliably.

Sessions not detected

1. Verify hooks are installed (Settings shows "Installed")
2. Check that ~/.claude/hooks/session-notify.sh exists and is executable
3. Restart the IDE after installing hooks

Wrong tab gets bound

This can happen if you start Claude in one tab while another is focused. Use manual binding (right-click → Bind to Session) for precise control.

Development

# Build
./gradlew build

# Build plugin zip
./gradlew buildPlugin

# Run in sandbox IDE
./gradlew runIde

# Bump version
./scripts/bump-version.sh patch  # 0.2.0 → 0.2.1

# Release to GitHub
./scripts/release.sh

License

Apache 2.0

Author

Jan Dalen (@jendalen)