How to export a full Claude Code session transcript to a file

Quick reference for dumping a long Claude Code terminal session to a file, verbatim and not as a summary.

Built-in command

/export session-dump.md

Writes the full conversation to session-dump.md in the current directory. Variants:

• /export /Users/jetienne/webwork/codespine/session-dump.md — absolute path
• /export session.txt — plain text instead of markdown
• /export — no filename opens a menu (save to file or copy to clipboard)

The filename argument is optional. Include it to save straight to the file; omit it to get the menu.

Notes

• Use /export, not /compact. /compact summarizes the conversation, which is the opposite of what we want here.
• Do not prompt the model to "give me the whole conversation." The model only sees its context window and will paraphrase or summarize. /export reads from disk and is lossless.
• /export operates on the currently active session. To export an older one, resume it first with claude --resume, pick it from the list, then run /export.

Most complete (raw) form

Every session is also saved as a JSONL file on disk:

~/.claude/projects/<encoded-project-path>/<session-id>.jsonl

For this repository the folder is:

/Users/jetienne/.claude/projects/-Users-jetienne-webwork-codespine/

The JSONL contains every message, tool call, and tool result (lossless, machine format). The largest file corresponds to the longest session.

No repository file is named. Start by locating the existing documentation or README section for Claude Code usage, then add the supplied /export examples and JSONL location. Done means readers can save the active transcript, resume an older session, and find the raw session file without relying on model-generated summaries.