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Session Management

Sessions store conversation history and state for each agent. This guide covers session concepts and management commands.

Session Concepts​

What is a Session?​

A session represents a conversation thread with an agent. Each session has:

  • Session ID: Unique identifier for the session
  • Configuration: Session-specific settings
  • Message History: Conversation messages stored in JSONL format
  • State: Any session-specific state or context

Session Storage​

Sessions are stored in the agent's .agent_sessions/ directory:

~/.viben/agents/<agent-id>/.agent_sessions/
+-- <session-id>/
    |-- config.yaml              # Session configuration
    +-- messages.rollout.jsonl   # Message history (JSONL)

Message History Format​

Messages are stored in JSONL (JSON Lines) format:

{"role": "user", "content": "Hello", "timestamp": "2024-01-16T10:30:00Z"}
{"role": "assistant", "content": "Hi there!", "timestamp": "2024-01-16T10:30:01Z"}
{"role": "user", "content": "Help me write a function", "timestamp": "2024-01-16T10:31:00Z"}
{"role": "assistant", "content": "Sure! What should...", "timestamp": "2024-01-16T10:31:02Z"}

Session Commands​

List Sessions​

List all sessions for an agent:

viben agent session list -n <agent-id>

Example:

viben agent session list -n my-agent

Output:

Sessions for my-agent:

  ID              Name                    Messages  Last Used
  ----------------------------------------------------------------
  main*           Feature development     42        2h ago
  feature-auth    Auth implementation     28        1d ago
  bugfix-123      Bug investigation       15        3d ago

* = current session

JSON Output​

viben agent session list -n my-agent --json

Output:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "agent_id": "my-agent",
    "current": "main",
    "sessions": [
      {
        "id": "main",
        "name": "Feature development",
        "message_count": 42,
        "last_used": "2024-01-16T08:30:00Z",
        "created": "2024-01-10T09:00:00Z"
      },
      {
        "id": "feature-auth",
        "name": "Auth implementation",
        "message_count": 28,
        "last_used": "2024-01-15T14:00:00Z",
        "created": "2024-01-12T10:00:00Z"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Create Session​

Create a new session:

viben agent session create -n <agent-id> [session-name]

Examples:

# Create with auto-generated ID
viben agent session create -n my-agent

# Create with custom name
viben agent session create -n my-agent "feature-auth"

# Create with specific ID
viben agent session create -n my-agent --id auth-implementation "Auth Implementation"

Output:

Created session: feature-auth
  Agent: my-agent
  Path: ~/.viben/agents/my-agent/.agent_sessions/feature-auth/

Show Session Details​

View session information and recent messages:

viben agent session show -n <agent-id> -s <session-id>

Example:

viben agent session show -n my-agent -s main

Output:

Session: main
Agent: my-agent
Name: Feature development
Created: 2024-01-10 09:00
Last Used: 2024-01-16 08:30

Messages: 42 total
Storage: 15.3 KB

Recent Messages (last 5):
  [User 08:25] Can you help me refactor this function?
  [Assistant 08:26] Sure! Looking at the function...
  [User 08:28] That looks good, but what about error handling?
  [Assistant 08:29] Good point! Let me add proper error handling...
  [User 08:30] Perfect, thanks!

Path: ~/.viben/agents/my-agent/.agent_sessions/main/

Remove Session​

Delete a session and its history:

viben agent session remove -n <agent-id> -s <session-id>

Example:

viben agent session remove -n my-agent -s old-session

Output:

Are you sure you want to remove session 'old-session'? [y/N]: y
Removed session: old-session

Force Remove​

Skip confirmation:

viben agent session remove -n my-agent -s old-session --force

Clear Session History​

Clear all messages from a session while keeping the session:

viben agent session clear -n <agent-id> -s <session-id>

Example:

viben agent session clear -n my-agent -s main

Output:

Are you sure you want to clear session 'main' history? [y/N]: y
Cleared 42 messages from session: main

Session Configuration​

Each session can have its own configuration in config.yaml:

# ~/.viben/agents/my-agent/.agent_sessions/main/config.yaml
id: main
name: "Feature development"
created: 2024-01-10T09:00:00Z
last_used: 2024-01-16T08:30:00Z

# Session-specific settings
settings:
  model: claude-sonnet-4-20250514
  temperature: 0.7
  max_tokens: 8192

# Context files loaded at session start
context_files:
  - /path/to/project/README.md
  - /path/to/project/ARCHITECTURE.md

# Session notes
notes: |
  Working on authentication feature.
  Using JWT tokens with refresh mechanism.

Session Workflows​

Starting a Session​

When a session starts:

  1. Load agent configuration
  2. Load session configuration (if exists)
  3. Load memory (MEMORY.md + daily logs)
  4. Load session context files (if specified)
  5. Resume conversation from message history

Switching Sessions​

# Set current session for agent
viben agent session use -n my-agent -s feature-auth

Or use environment variable:

export VIBEN_SESSION=feature-auth

Session Branches​

Create a new session branching from existing history:

viben agent session create -n my-agent "exploration" --from main --at 25

This creates a new session with the first 25 messages from the main session.

Session Best Practices​

Naming Conventions​

  • Use descriptive names: feature-auth, bugfix-login, refactor-api
  • Keep names short but meaningful
  • Use lowercase with hyphens

When to Create New Sessions​

ScenarioRecommendation
New featureCreate new session
Bug investigationCreate new session
Continuation of workUse existing session
Experimental explorationCreate new session
Different projectUse different agent

Session Hygiene​

  1. Regular cleanup: Remove old, unused sessions
  2. Clear long sessions: Clear history if context becomes too large
  3. Archive important sessions: Export before clearing
# Export session for archival
viben agent session export -n my-agent -s important-session -o ~/archives/

# List sessions by last used
viben agent session list -n my-agent --sort last-used

# Remove sessions older than 30 days
viben agent session cleanup -n my-agent --older-than 30d

Troubleshooting​

Session Not Found​

Error: Session 'my-session' not found for agent 'my-agent'

Solution: List available sessions and check the ID:

viben agent session list -n my-agent

Message History Corrupted​

If the JSONL file is corrupted:

# Validate session
viben agent session validate -n my-agent -s main

# Repair if possible
viben agent session repair -n my-agent -s main

Session Too Large​

Large sessions can slow down context loading:

# Check session size
viben agent session show -n my-agent -s main --stats

# Truncate old messages (keep last N)
viben agent session truncate -n my-agent -s main --keep 100

Next Steps​