saikai 0.2.2

A terminal session browser for Claude Code — browse, search, group, and resume past sessions, with a built-in split-live pane.

saikai

English | 日本語

Dozens of Claude Code sessions, one searchable table. saikai scans your entire ~/.claude/projects history, lets you filter and group by date / project / topic, and resumes any session with Enter. By default (split-live) it keeps several sessions running live in tabs beside the list — jump between conversations without closing anything or losing scrollback.

saikai = 再開 "resume" + 再会 "reunion" (Japanese). Complements ccmanager, which manages a live multi-agent roster; saikai is for navigating and resuming the history.

_{The demo uses fictional, leak-checked data. Regenerate the animated GIF headlessly with uv run scripts/make_demo_gif.py; use uv run scripts/record_demo.py --guide for a native-terminal recording.}

Highlights

• Every session, one table — every Claude Code conversation on your machine, sorted by real last activity, grouped by date / project / topic, filtered as you type.
• Resume in place — Enter reopens a session with claude --resume in the working directory it was started from (worktree-aware).
• Split-live panes — host several live claude sessions in tabs beside the list; markers show at a glance who is busy ~, waiting for your input ?, or finished !. Quit and Shift+F4 restores the whole pane set later.
• Session hygiene — favorite ★, hide, rename; AI one-line titles; an inferred parent/child tree and LLM topic clusters for big histories.
• RAM-aware — a memory gate (commit headroom + load + physical floor) warns before a new pane would push the machine into thrashing.
• Keyboard-first — everything works without a mouse: Space opens a mnemonic command menu (Space f = favorite, Space s = sort …), Alt+←/→ resizes the split, ? shows the live key map. The mouse is a bonus (click to sort, drag the divider), never a requirement.
• Unintrusive by design — read-only over claude's own transcript files; no daemon, no database. Two Python files on top of Textual, MIT-licensed.

The live pane uses ConPTY on Windows and a POSIX PTY elsewhere — see Platform support for the per-OS verification status (Windows is the verified platform today).

Install

Requires Python ≥ 3.11. The easiest path is uv — it installs the PyPI package in an isolated environment, no manual venv:

uv tool install saikai   # stable release → `saikai` on PATH

From a clone:

uv run saikai.py          # run in place (deps auto-installed)
uv tool install .        # install the `saikai` command on your PATH, then: saikai

Prefer pip / pipx? Both work (deps come from pyproject.toml):

pipx install saikai   # isolated + on PATH
pip install saikai   # into the active environment

The split-live pane needs the PTY deps (pyte, and pywinpty on Windows / ptyprocess elsewhere); they install automatically with any command above. If they're somehow missing, saikai still runs in list-only mode (see below).

Usage

saikai                 # every project, full history (the default)
saikai --here          # only the current project (git repo)
saikai --days 7        # only the last 7 days (one-shot; --save-defaults persists)
saikai --table         # static, non-interactive table
saikai --help

Keys — learn three things

Everything else is on screen (the footer, the dropdowns, and the ␣ menu that pops up when you pause).

1. Keys you already know. ↑ ↓ move · Enter resumes · / or just typing searches · Tab toggles the preview · ? full key list · Esc leaves the current context (search → list → quit).

2. Space is the menu. Press Space in the list, then one mnemonic letter. Hesitate after Space and the whole menu appears in place, grouped by family (which-key style) — nothing to memorise:

   Session	View	Panes
   f ★ favorite	s cycle sort column	n new session
   h hide	o flip sort order	p restore panes
   e rename (edit)	g cycle grouping	z freeze pane
   y copy prompt (yank)	t tree · c cluster	a next attention
   d diff (changes)	l hide/show list	x close tab · [ ] tabs
   r refresh	, settings · / hide/show bar	Space mark for batch launch

   Space is a deliberate menu key, not a claim that every TUI should use a Space leader: it only arms while the session list owns focus, so search fields and live agent panes keep a literal Space. It also avoids taking a letter away from type-to-search. The trade-off is that list marking becomes Space Space; set [keys] leader = "none" if conventional Space-to-mark is more important to you.

3. Ctrl+] returns focus from a live claude pane to the list (the pane owns every other key, so claude works normally inside it).

Search tokens (combine with text and each other): :fav :hidden :open :active :recent. The filter bar — search box plus the Group / Sort / Status / Age dropdowns — is visible by default: Tab/Shift+Tab walk into the dropdowns, Enter opens one, ␣/ reclaims the rows (persists).

More keyboard parity: Alt+←/→ nudges the list/pane divider (persists, like dragging it). Every menu action also has a legacy F-key alias — ? lists them all, including your [keys] remaps.

Don't like the defaults? In config.toml: [keys] leader = "none" turns the mode off (Space then marks directly, as before), leader = "ctrl+g" moves it, leader_defaults = false empties the map, and any action = "x" single-letter entry remaps one sequence. Mouse extras (never required): click a column header to sort, drag the divider, click rows and dropdowns.

Split-live (default)

saikai runs real interactive claude processes in tabs beside the list whenever its PTY deps (pyte, pywinpty/ptyprocess) are present — they ship as dependencies, so this is the default. To opt out and use the lightweight list-only browser (Enter = full-screen takeover resume), set the env var:

SAIKAI_SPLIT_LIVE=0 saikai     # also: false / no / off

Key	Action
Enter	open / focus a live pane for the selected session
Shift+F8	start a NEW claude session in any folder / git worktree
Shift+F4	reopen the panes from your last session (snapshot + resume) — anytime
F2 / F3	previous / next live tab
Shift+F3	jump to the next pane needing attention (? waiting / ! finished)
F4	hide / show the session list (full-width pane)
Ctrl+]	return focus from a pane back to the list (SAIKAI_RELEASE_KEY to change)
F10 / Shift+F10	close the active tab / close all tabs (explicit close — not restored)
Esc / Ctrl+C	quit: snapshot the open panes, then kill them all (Shift+F4 reopens them next launch)
scroll up	freeze the pane (copy mode): select/copy while claude keeps running

Markers in the list: ~ busy · ? waiting for input · ! finished (unanswered) · @ open · + active · . recent · * favorite · x hidden.

Configuration (environment variables)

Variable	Default	Meaning
SAIKAI_SPLIT_LIVE	on	live-pane mode; set 0/false/no/off to disable → list-only browser + full-takeover resume
SAIKAI_AUTO_REFRESH	off	seconds between background re-scans
SAIKAI_SUMMARIZE_CMD	—	command to summarize with (prompt on stdin → summary on stdout) instead of claude -p
SAIKAI_AUTO_PERMISSION	off	opt in to adding --permission-mode auto for frequently used workspaces
SAIKAI_MAX_MEM_LOAD	85	refuse/warn opening a pane above this memory-load % (Win dwMemoryLoad; Linux/macOS derived)
SAIKAI_MIN_COMMIT_MB	2048	keep this much commit headroom free — the system-freeze guard (Win/Linux)
SAIKAI_MIN_FREE_PHYS_PCT	8	keep ≥ this % of physical RAM available (anti-thrash floor, machine-relative)
SAIKAI_CLAUDE_MB	600	estimated RAM per live pane
SAIKAI_MIN_FREE_MB	0	optional absolute physical floor (legacy; max'd with the % floor)
SAIKAI_HARD_RAM_GATE	off	1 refuses (vs warns) when the gate would be crossed
SAIKAI_MAX_LIVE	64	hard cap on concurrent live panes (backstop)
SAIKAI_SCROLLBACK	2000	per-pane scrollback lines kept in memory. Biggest lever on the live process's RAM (a full pane ≈ cols×lines pyte cells); lower it (e.g. 1000) on a memory-tight machine, raise for deeper history
SAIKAI_COLOR_BY	project	what tints the session title: project / worktree / topic / none
SAIKAI_SPLIT_RATIO	0.34	initial list/pane split (drag the divider to change; the dragged value persists)
SAIKAI_RELEASE_KEY	ctrl+]	key that returns focus from a live pane to the list

saikai also reads an optional TOML config file for these same knobs (with env > config > default precedence) plus [keys] rebinds. Run saikai --init-config to write a documented template, saikai --print-config to see the resolved location and values — or press Space , inside the app: the Settings screen edits the list options in place and shows every config knob with its resolved value and source (e there opens config.toml in your editor).

Claude Code is the currently integrated provider. Agent-specific launch and status contracts live in saikai_provider.py; a Codex contract validates the extension boundary, but Codex is not selectable until its history discovery and live-state integration are complete. Claude history discovery respects CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR.

Platform support

Verified support is deliberately bounded to Windows 10 / 11 on Python ≥ 3.11. Linux, WSL2, and macOS remain implemented but experimental until their real PTY paths receive sustained native testing. Other platforms are unsupported.

saikai itself is pure Python + Textual; the split-live pane is the only platform-specific part (it drives a real PTY and the clipboard). Honest status:

OS	Live-pane PTY	Clipboard (from a frozen pane)	RAM gate source	Status
Windows 10 / 11	ConPTY (pywinpty)	Win32 CF_UNICODETEXT (codepage-safe)	GlobalMemoryStatusEx	✅ developed & daily-driven (on WezTerm)
Linux (incl. WSL2)	POSIX PTY (ptyprocess)	OSC-52 (terminal / tmux / SSH policy must allow it)	/proc/meminfo	⚠️ experimental; native reviewers wanted
macOS	POSIX PTY (ptyprocess)	local pbcopy; OSC-52 fallback for remote-capable terminals	sysctl + vm_stat (load + physical; no commit limit)	⚠️ experimental; macOS reviewers wanted

• Terminal-agnostic on Windows: the clipboard goes through the Win32 CF_UNICODETEXT API and the PTY through ConPTY, neither of which depends on the host terminal — so Windows Terminal uses the same code paths as WezTerm (verified terminal) and is expected to behave identically.

• List-only mode (SAIKAI_SPLIT_LIVE=0) has no PTY dependency and should run anywhere Textual runs.

• The headless regression tests are platform-independent (they stub out textual / pyte / pywinpty) and pass on the dev machine — run them with plain python (no deps needed):

  python tests/test_config.py
  python tests/test_providers.py
  python tests/test_sort_recency.py
  python tests/test_split_divider.py
  python tests/test_terminal_concurrency.py
  python tests/test_resource_bounds.py
  python tests/test_terminal_watchdog.py
  python tests/test_keyboard_leader.py
  python tests/test_pty_backend.py
  

• Linux/WSL2/macOS reviewers are wanted. Please report the terminal, local vs SSH/tmux setup, PTY teardown result, key quirks, and clipboard behavior.

• CI installs each OS's real PTY backend and smoke-tests spawn, resize, output, and EOF on Windows, Linux, and macOS. This is not a substitute for interactive review across terminal emulators, SSH, tmux, IMEs, and clipboard policies.

Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md for the dev setup, how to run the test suites, and the concurrency invariants that keep the split-live pane from deadlocking (read those before touching threading code). Changes are documented in CHANGELOG.md.

Security

Please report vulnerabilities privately — see SECURITY.md. Don't open a public issue for a security problem.

License

saikai is released under the MIT License. It depends on a few third-party packages installed separately (textual, pyte, pywinpty/ptyprocess) — see THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md. Note pyte is LGPL-3.0; it is used as an unmodified, separately-installed dependency, which keeps saikai's own code MIT.