Session Workflows

These all assume cctabs is already installed. If it isn't, Getting Started covers it, and What is cctabs? explains the idea behind it.

Opening a session batch

cctabs sessions                          # check what's already running

cctabs new auth ~/Dev/myapp
cctabs new api ~/Dev/myapp
cctabs new infra ~/Dev/myapp

Each tab is named automatically and the Claude session name is synced to the tab title via --name.

Starting a session with an initial prompt

Use -p to send a prompt once Claude is ready, or -f to load it from a file:

cctabs new auth ~/Dev/myapp -p "implement JWT refresh token logic"
cctabs new api ~/Dev/myapp -f ~/prompts/api-task.txt

cctabs waits for Claude's prompt to appear before sending, so there's no race condition.

Working in an isolated branch (worktree)

Use -W to launch Claude with --worktree <name>, creating an isolated git worktree at .claude/worktrees/<name>:

cctabs new auth-experiment ~/Dev/myapp -W

This lets you run parallel sessions on the same repo without branches conflicting.

Resuming after a restart

A reboot or a terminal restart leaves every tab without its Claude session. One command brings the whole window back:

cctabs restore --dry    # what it would do
cctabs restore          # do it

Each dead tab's session is found by the tab's name, resumed in place where the shell survived, and rebuilt where it didn't — then the original tab order is restored. Tabs still running Claude are left untouched, so re-running is safe.

To bring back one session at a time instead:

cctabs sessions              # see which tabs are terminal / unknown
cctabs resume auth ~/Dev/myapp

resume runs claude --resume <id>, picking up that named conversation — and resumes it under the Claude account it belongs to, so a fleet spread across several accounts needs no extra flags.

Recreating a fleet from a snapshot

When you deliberately closed a batch of tabs, or you're rebuilding on another machine, drive the restore from a captured list rather than a scan:

cctabs sessions --json > snapshot.json     # capture the live fleet
cctabs restore --manifest snapshot.json --create-missing --dry
cctabs restore --manifest snapshot.json --create-missing

cctabs sessions --json | cctabs restore --manifest - --create-missing does it in one shot. The manifest's order becomes the tab order.

Forking a session

Fork when you want to try an alternative approach without disrupting the original:

cctabs fork auth                   # creates "auth-fork"
cctabs fork auth -n auth-v2        # creates "auth-v2"

Under the hood: finds the most recent Claude session ID for that tab's directory, then opens a new tab with claude --resume <session-id> --fork-session.

Reading a session without switching to it

cctabs scrollback auth          # last 50 lines (by tab name)
cctabs scrollback auth 200      # last 200 lines
cctabs scrollback abc12345      # by block ID prefix

Sending input to a session

# By tab name (resolves to its terminal block automatically)
cctabs send auth "yes\n"           # approve a tool call
cctabs send auth "\n"              # press enter
cctabs send auth "/clear\n"        # send a slash command

# Send a full prompt from a file
cctabs send auth --file ~/prompts/task.txt

# Pipe via stdin
echo "please review this PR" | cctabs send auth

\n = Enter, \t = Tab.

Targeting a workspace

cctabs new api ~/Dev/myapp -w work

Legacy flag from the Wave backend, which had a workspace concept. Tabby does not, so this is currently a no-op.

Cleanup

cctabs sessions                    # identify terminal tabs (no claude)
cctabs close old-feature           # close by name (prefix match)
cctabs close e5f6a7b8              # close by block ID prefix