# Continue

> Import Continue IDE and CLI conversations, tool calls, reasoning, context, and usage.

Continue's IDE extensions and `cn` CLI save conversations in the same JSON
session format. Hansard imports those files without starting Continue.

## Source IDs

| Source     | Use it for                                |
| ---------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| `continue` | Local Continue IDE and CLI session files. |

## How the import works

Hansard reads `~/.continue/sessions/<session-id>.json` and the adjacent
`sessions.json` index. `CONTINUE_GLOBAL_DIR` selects a different Continue home;
`HANSARD_CONTINUE_ROOTS` accepts a path-separated list of homes. Both relative
and absolute custom paths are supported. Symbolic links are skipped.

The session file supplies messages, tool states, context, and usage. The index
supplies the creation date when available. Continue does not persist individual
message clocks, so Hansard preserves message order without displaying invented
times. File modification time determines whether a continued session falls
inside the import window; it does not become a measured conversation duration.

Each session file and the index bytes are preserved in the raw archive.
Fingerprints include only the session and its own index entry. Continuing a
conversation updates the same archive, while changes to unrelated index rows
do not reimport it. The shared format does not identify its originating interface.

## Import and keep current

**Import now**

```sh
hansard import --source continue --since all
hansard index rebuild
```

**Keep current**

**Automatic** source selection includes `continue`. For a **Custom** list:

```sh
hansard config sources enable continue
hansard watcher restart
```

## Review the import in the app

1. When the import finishes, open **Conversations** and select **Filter & sort**.
2. Set **Source** to **Continue** and set **Time** to the window you imported. Use **Folder** to narrow the list when you use this harness in several projects.
3. Select a conversation to check its messages, tool calls, files, commits, model, and token usage.

To keep archiving new sessions from a local harness, open **Settings → Imports**. **Automatic** follows every supported harness installed on this computer. **Custom** lets you turn individual harnesses on or off. Cloud sources and account exports never run from here; each needs its own import command. If a conversation you expect is missing after you reset the filters, run the import command on this page again with `--explain-skips` where the source supports it.

## What Hansard preserves

- Human messages, assistant replies, recorded reasoning, and compaction summaries.
- Tool arguments, results, errors, cancellation, MCP server identity, and edit diffs.
- Embedded images, remote image references, retrieved context, and applied-rule metadata.
- Working folders, session titles, recorded mode, model IDs or model display labels,
  and directional token usage where present.
- Per-request cache counts when they provide more detail than the cumulative
  session fields. Complete model usage splits remain available in Stats.
- Continue's computed cost remains an estimate. When it supplies only an
  aggregate estimate, model breakdowns use Hansard's published model rates.
- Global and project `.continue/rules` and `.continue/prompts`, plus project
  `.continuerules`, through `hansard memory backup`. Shared `AGENTS.md` and
  `CLAUDE.md` files use the regular instruction backup.

## Known limitations

- IDE and CLI sessions share one source because the file format has no reliable
  interface marker. Per-message timestamps and a measured end time are absent.
- CLI records can carry exact API model IDs in usage. IDE history may carry only
  a configurable model display title. Missing values are not inferred from the
  currently selected model or configuration.
- The audited CLI keeps subagent transcripts in memory and saves their result
  in the parent's tool state. Hansard preserves that result; it cannot recover
  child conversations that Continue never wrote to disk.
- Continue removed its former Hub remote-session listing. This importer covers
  local files, including sessions already saved locally, rather than accessing
  private cloud APIs.
- Unknown content blocks are counted in metadata and retained in raw files.
  Malformed sessions are reported without replacing existing archives. Each
  source file is limited to 128 MB and each session to 100,000 history items.
- Config files can contain credentials or executable settings and are not
  evaluated. Provider logs, telemetry, embeddings, and indexes are not used as
  replacement transcripts. Remote attachment URLs are retained without fetching.
- The CLI's `--resume` chooses the most recent session; Hansard does not offer a
  copied command that could resume a different archived conversation. Use
  Continue's history selector to choose a specific session.

## Refresh an existing archive

```sh
hansard import --source continue --since all
hansard index rebuild
```

No archive migration is required. Restart the viewer after upgrading to refresh
model cost estimates; that calculation does not require a reimport.