[FEATURE] Add archive/delete conversation feature

[Devil-Galois]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

Problem

• /clear — starts a new session but old conversations remain in /resume
• claude project purge — deletes ALL local data for a project (too destructive)
• claude rm <id> — only removes from background session list, transcript stays on disk

There is no way to organize, archive, or remove specific conversations.

Comparison with Codex

OpenAI's Codex CLI supports archiving conversations, which helps keep the session list clean and organized. This is a
common workflow need for users who have many sessions over time.

Environment

• Platform: macOS (Apple Silicon)
• Claude Code version: latest

Proposed Solution

Proposed Solution

Add one or more of the following:

1. /archive [session] — Move a conversation out of the active /resume list into an archived section (still
   accessible but hidden by default)
2. /delete [session] — Permanently delete a specific conversation's transcript from disk
3. claude archive <id> — CLI command for archiving
4. claude delete <id> — CLI command for deleting

Alternative Solutions

No response

Priority

Medium - Would be very helpful

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

Use Cases

• Keep /resume list clean after finishing a task
• Remove sensitive conversations that contain credentials or personal data
• Organize completed work vs active sessions

Additional Context

No response

[nrally]

Related: #67201 specifically covers the server-side retention gap — deleting local .jsonl files doesn't remove the session from Anthropic's servers, and claude --resume <id> still restores the transcript after local deletion. This becomes a security issue when a session contains accidentally exposed secrets, since there's no surgical per-session deletion path short of a bulk privacy data request.

[awreccan]

+1. Codex CLI parity is a strong motivation — this gap has shipped in competing CLIs already, and the underlying ask shows up across many issues under different framings:

• [FEATURE] Inverse of background mode: archive agent from Agent View without destroying data #58966 — inverse-of-bg / non-destructive archive (closed today by inactivity-bot, 7 reactions, no maintainer comment ever)
• [Feature Request] Add archive functionality for Claude Agents sessions #61978 — archive Claude Agents sessions (auto-collapsed as a dupe of [FEATURE] Inverse of background mode: archive agent from Agent View without destroying data #58966)
• FleetView: Archive completed agents into a collapsed group #63745 — FleetView: archive completed agents into a collapsed group
• [FEATURE] Allow manually overriding session status + a 'Closed'/'Archived' state in agent view #64468 — manually override session status + Closed/Archived state
• [FEATURE] Let me mark an agent session as completed / dismiss it from the agents view #66202 — mark agent session as completed / dismiss from agents view
• [FEATURE] Non-interactive attach to a background agent: claude agents attach <id|name> #66941 — non-interactive claude agents attach <id|name>

Each is closed-without-fix or open-without-engagement, and the inactivity-bot has now started reaping them (#58966 hit it 2026-06-15). Meanwhile the community has improvised: the Agent Sessions Mac app, claude-picker, the ~/.claude/projects/<encoded-cwd>/<uuid>.jsonl file-move trick, the mcp__ccd_session_mgmt__archive_session MCP tool that exists in Claude Code Desktop but not the CLI, and at least one user-built /foreground skill (gist) — but the CLI Agents view itself still has only Ctrl+X Ctrl+X, which destroys the worktree, jobs dir, and session metadata.

@bogini — could one of these (this issue or another) be picked as the canonical tracking issue, the rest close-linked into it, and locked against the inactivity-bot? Each closure scatters the signal across new dupe filings instead of consolidating it. Happy to consolidate language across the open ones if it helps.

[github-actions]

Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.