Chronicle — AI Session Time Machine

Local-first session manager for AI coding assistants. Import conversation logs from Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, and GitHub Copilot Chat, then click any message to time-travel to the exact code state at that moment — reconstructed from your project's Git history. Everything runs on your machine: no LLM calls, no cloud, source logs and project repos are never written to.

Built from the PRD. Full docs: getchronicle.dev/docs.

Install (macOS)

Download from getchronicle.dev — one button, auto-detects Apple Silicon vs Intel. Builds are signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized, so they open with no Gatekeeper warning — no --no-quarantine needed.

Or install with Homebrew:

brew tap chizhangucb/chronicle
brew install --cask chronicle

After install, Chronicle keeps itself up to date: when a new signed release ships it downloads in the background and shows a one-click Relaunch to update.

Windows / Linux installers: not built yet — run from source below.

Run from source

npm install
npm run dev        # dev server → http://localhost:4173
npm run desktop    # desktop app (Electron shell + tray, port 41730)
npm run standalone # headless production server (API + UI + /mcp)
npm run dist:mac   # build macOS DMGs (arm64 + x64) into release/
npm run reinstall:mac # rebuild (arm64), replace /Applications/Chronicle.app, clean release/

Click Import Sessions, pick a source tool, and open a session.

What's implemented

Full details for every feature live at getchronicle.dev/docs. The highlights:

Import & projects

• 6-tool import — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Copilot Chat via a guided wizard; read-only into a local SQLite DB (WAL-safe temp copies, originals never touched).
• Logical projects — sessions from every tool aggregate by repo path; manual association, unlink, per-session sync, live Git badge.
• Session overview — per-session stats with Active Duration (real working time), a Cost & Usage panel (local token→$ from Anthropic list prices), and a context-window bar.

Replay & time travel

• Time travel — click any message to see your code exactly as it was, rebuilt from Git history (Playback mode).
• Diff & TimberLine — file diffs against the previous commit plus a scrubbable timeline of messages and commits.
• Replay mode — deterministic re-run of Write/Edit/Bash steps in a sandbox; no LLM calls, the real project is never touched.
• Refine mode — distill a session into docs or a reusable prompt (Keep/Delete/Edit/Insert, token stats, Markdown export).
• Context causality — heuristic links from what the AI read to what it changed, with confidence scores.

Search & insights

• Filtering & search — type chips and ⌘F within a session; a ⌘K global full-text command palette across all sessions.
• Analytics — per-project sessions, active days, tool-call distribution, and Today / 7 / 30 / 365-day ranges.

Control plane

• MCP Hub — a real aggregating Streamable-HTTP MCP server: one-click config takeover, per-tool policies, project roots, and a built-in Inspector.
• Skills Hub — central skill store with symlink fanout to every tool; GitHub import, version history, strictly additive.

Security & sharing

• Security Check — built-in and custom redaction rules with a detected-vs-redacted preview and one-way redacted export.
• Real-time protection — a Claude Code PreToolUse hook that blocks secrets before Read/Grep/Bash/WebFetch run.
• Share links — tokenized, redacted, served by the local app; view counts and instant revocation.

Live & platform

• Live streaming — auto-tail in-progress sessions (JSONL reads + read-only SQLite polling → SSE) with auto-reconnect.
• Desktop shell — Electron app with a system tray and signed auto-update (notarized builds, one-click relaunch).
• i18n — English · 简体中文 · 日本語.
• Performance — windowed rendering and timeline decimation keep 6,000-message sessions fast.
• Feedback — in-app, via a hosted relay; logged locally first, no secrets in the app.

Architecture

server/            Express API, mounted inside the Vite dev server (one process)
  db.js            node:sqlite datastore (~/.chronicle/chronicle.db)
  parsers/         claudeCode, codex, cursor, opencode, gemini, copilot
                   → normalized event model
  git.js           read-only Git snapshot engine (rev-list / ls-tree / show)
  api.js           REST: /api/scan /import /projects /sessions /git/*
  live.js          JSONL tail + SQLite polling → SSE
  mcp/             service registry + aggregating hub at /mcp
  security.js      redaction rules, session scan, pre-tool-use checks
  skills.js        central skill store, symlink fanout, GitHub import
src/               React UI (Vite) — plain React + one styles.css
electron/          desktop shell (tray, single instance, update check)
hooks/             chronicle-guard.mjs — Claude Code PreToolUse hook

All data stays on this machine. Source logs and project repos are never written to.

Remaining (per PRD)

Remote SSH access (import / browse / live-watch over SSH) · Windows + Linux installers · destructive skills takeover · OAuth browser flow for MCP credentials. Code signing + notarization and one-click auto-update shipped in v0.1.6; the rest of the PRD's GA scope is implemented — see the decision log in the PRD.

Support Chronicle

Chronicle is free and 100% open-source. If it saves you time, you can sponsor its development — one-time or monthly. Payments are handled entirely by each provider; nothing touches Chronicle.

• GitHub Sponsors — card, one-time or monthly (0% fee).
• Lemon Squeezy — card, PayPal & Venmo (Alipay & WeChat one-time too).
• 爱发电 Afdian — 支付宝 / 微信 (Alipay / WeChat), one-time (投喂) or monthly (包月).

License

MIT