Command Reference

Complete reference for all afterpaths commands, with tips and recipes.

Short Alias

Use ap instead of afterpaths for faster typing:

ap log           # instead of afterpaths log
ap show 1        # instead of afterpaths show 1
ap summarize 1   # instead of afterpaths summarize 1

Both ap and afterpaths work identically. Examples below use both interchangeably.

Quick Reference

Command	Purpose
`log`	List recent sessions
`show`	View session summary or transcript
`summarize`	Generate AI summary from session
`path`	Print raw session file path
`files`	Show files modified in a session
`refs`	Show git refs detected in a session
`link`	Find sessions that reference a git commit/branch
`trace`	Find sessions that produced a commit (by file matching)
`rules`	Extract rules from summaries for AI assistants
`insights`	View community insights and your stats
`analytics`	Manage community analytics settings
`status`	Show configuration and stats

`log`

List recent AI coding sessions.

afterpaths log [OPTIONS]

Options:

Option	Default	Description
`--all`	off	Show sessions from all projects (current project sessions are numbered, others show ID only)
`--type`	`main`	Filter by session type: `main`, `agent`, or `all`
`--limit`	10	Number of sessions to display

Examples:

# List sessions for current project
ap log

# Show more sessions
ap log --limit=20

# Include agent sub-sessions (spawned by Task tool)
ap log --type=all

# See sessions across all projects (current project numbered, others show ID)
ap log --all

Output explained:

Sessions: 5 main, 12 agent
----------------------------------------
[1] 06f238b3-254e  [summarized]
    2024-01-14 10:30 | 245.3KB
    Implementing session path command

    b78227d9-0134                        ← no number (other project)
    Project: ~/Code/other-project
    2024-01-14 09:00 | 12.1KB

[2] 7faf6980-c5cf
    2024-01-13 15:22 | 1024.1KB
    Building afterpaths core functionality

[1], [2] — Session numbers for current project (use with other commands)
No number — Session from another project (use ID prefix to access)
[summarized] — Has an afterpaths summary
[agent] — Sub-session spawned by Task tool (only shown with --type=all)

`show`

View a session's summary or raw transcript.

afterpaths show SESSION_REF [OPTIONS]

Arguments:

SESSION_REF — Session number (from log) or session ID prefix

Options:

Option	Default	Description
`--raw`	off	Show transcript instead of summary
`--type`	`main`	Session type filter (must match `log` for number refs)
`--limit`	50	Max entries to show in raw mode

Examples:

# View summary for session 1
ap show 1

# View raw transcript (truncated)
ap show 1 --raw

# Show more transcript entries
ap show 1 --raw --limit=200

# Reference by session ID prefix
ap show 7faf6980

`summarize`

Generate an AI-powered summary from a session.

afterpaths summarize SESSION_REF [OPTIONS]

Arguments:

SESSION_REF — Session number or ID prefix

Options:

Option	Default	Description
`--notes`	""	Additional context for the LLM
`--type`	`main`	Session type filter
`--force`	off	Overwrite existing summary
`--update`	off	Refine existing summary instead of regenerating

Examples:

# Summarize session 1
ap summarize 1

# Add context to guide the summary
ap summarize 1 --notes="Focus on the authentication changes"

# Regenerate an existing summary
ap summarize 1 --force

# Refine existing summary with additional notes
ap summarize 1 --update --notes="Add more detail on the dead ends"

Configuration:

Set via environment variables or .env file:

AFTERPATHS_LLM_PROVIDER=anthropic  # or openai, openai-compatible
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
AFTERPATHS_MODEL=claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929

`path`

Print the path to a session's raw file.

afterpaths path SESSION_REF [OPTIONS]

Arguments:

SESSION_REF — Session number or ID prefix

Options:

Option	Default	Description
`--type`	`main`	Session type filter

Examples:

# Get path to session 1
ap path 1
# Output: /Users/you/.claude/projects/-Users-you-Code-myproject/abc123.jsonl

# Use with other tools (see Recipes below)
cat $(ap path 1) | jq .

`files`

Show files modified (written/edited) in a session.

afterpaths files SESSION_REF [OPTIONS]

Arguments:

SESSION_REF — Session number or ID prefix

Options:

Option	Default	Description
`--type`	`main`	Session type filter

Examples:

# See what files session 1 modified
afterpaths files 1

Output:

Session: 7faf6980-c5cf
Summary: Building afterpaths core functionality

Files modified (8):
  [write] afterpaths/cli.py
  [write] afterpaths/summarize.py
  ...

Files read only (23):
  [read] README.md
  [read] pyproject.toml
  ...

`refs`

Show git refs (commits, branches) detected in a session.

afterpaths refs SESSION_REF [OPTIONS]

Arguments:

SESSION_REF — Session number (current project) or ID prefix (any project)

Options:

Option	Default	Description
`--type`	`main`	Session type filter

Examples:

# See git refs in session 1 (current project)
afterpaths refs 1

# See git refs by session ID (any project)
afterpaths refs b78227d9

Output:

Session: 7faf6980-c5cf
Summary: Building afterpaths core functionality

Branches:
  - feature/session-parsing
  - main

Commits:
  - abc1234def5
  - 789xyz123ab

`link`

Find sessions that explicitly reference a git commit or branch.

afterpaths link GIT_REF [OPTIONS]

Arguments:

GIT_REF — Commit hash (or prefix) or branch name

Options:

Option	Default	Description
`--all`	off	Search all projects

Examples:

# Find sessions mentioning a commit
afterpaths link abc1234

# Find sessions mentioning a branch
afterpaths link feature/auth

# Search across all projects
afterpaths link abc1234 --all

`trace`

Find sessions that likely produced a commit by matching file modifications.

Unlike link which looks for explicit git refs in transcripts, trace compares the files changed in a commit against files modified via Edit/Write tools in sessions.

afterpaths trace COMMIT_REF [OPTIONS]

Arguments:

COMMIT_REF — Git commit hash or reference (e.g., HEAD, HEAD~1, abc1234)

Options:

Option	Default	Description
`--all`	off	Search all projects
`--days`	7	Max days before commit to search
`--limit`	5	Maximum sessions to show

Examples:

# What session produced the last commit?
afterpaths trace HEAD

# Trace a specific commit
afterpaths trace abc1234

# Search further back in time
afterpaths trace HEAD --days=14

# Search all projects
afterpaths trace HEAD~3 --all

`rules`

Extract rules from session summaries and export to AI assistant config files.

afterpaths rules [OPTIONS]

Options:

Option	Default	Description
`--days`	14	Include summaries from last N days
`--rebuild`	off	Rebuild rules from scratch (ignore existing)
`--dry-run`	off	Preview without writing files
`--target`	`all`	Export target: `claude`, `cursor`, or `all`

Examples:

# Extract rules and export to all detected targets
afterpaths rules

# Include more history
afterpaths rules --days=30

# Only export to Claude Code
afterpaths rules --target=claude

# Preview what would be generated
afterpaths rules --dry-run

# Rebuild from scratch (ignore previous rules)
afterpaths rules --rebuild

Output locations:

Claude Code: .claude/rules/*.md
Cursor: .cursor/rules/*.mdc

Daily Stats

Afterpaths automatically shows your usage stats on first use each day:

╭─ Your Stats ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│  Yesterday                                                           │
│    Sessions: 3   Messages: 175   Tool calls: 99                      │
│    claude-opus-4: Rejections 0 (0.0%)  Failures 2 (2.0%)             │
│  Last 7 Days                                                         │
│    Sessions: 14  Messages: 3747  Tool calls: 2267                    │
│    claude-opus-4: Rejections 14 (0.6%)  Failures 136 (6.0%)          │
│  IDE Used: Claude Code   Stack Used: python   Platform: macOS        │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

For detailed explanations of rejection rates, failure rates, and other metrics, see Understanding Your Stats.

`insights`

View community insights and your usage statistics.

afterpaths insights

Displays how your afterpaths usage compares to the community, including:

Session counts (yours vs average)
Rule generation stats
Top rule categories community-wide
Your most productive day

Requires analytics to be enabled (see analytics command).

Example output:

Community Insights
----------------------------------------

Your Stats (last 7d):
  Sessions: 12 (community avg: 8.2)
  Rules generated: 7 (community avg: 4.7)

Your Stack: python + fastapi

Top Rule Categories (community-wide):
  1. Dead Ends (38%)
  2. Gotchas (28%)
  3. Patterns (22%)
  4. Decisions (12%)

Your Most Productive Day: Tuesday

----------------------------------------
Based on 127 afterpaths users

`analytics`

Manage community analytics settings.

afterpaths analytics [OPTIONS]

Options:

Option	Default	Description
`--enable`	-	Enable community analytics
`--disable`	-	Disable community analytics

Examples:

# Check current status
afterpaths analytics

# Enable analytics (share stats, get insights)
afterpaths analytics --enable

# Disable analytics
afterpaths analytics --disable

What gets shared when enabled:

Session counts and duration buckets
Rule counts by category (dead-ends, patterns, gotchas, decisions)
Tech stack (detected from project files)

What is NOT shared:

Code or file contents
Rule text or details
Project names or paths
Any identifying information

`status`

Show afterpaths configuration and statistics.

afterpaths status

Output:

Afterpaths Status
----------------------------------------
LLM Provider: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929
Summaries: 12 saved
Last rules extraction: 2024-01-14 10:30
Sessions processed: 8
Analytics: enabled
Detected Stack: python, fastapi

Tips & Recipes

Inspecting Raw Session Data

The path command outputs just the file path, making it easy to compose with other tools:

# Pretty-print entire session as JSON
cat $(ap path 1) | jq .

# View in a pager
less $(ap path 1)

# Count entries by type
cat $(ap path 1) | jq -s 'group_by(.type) | map({type: .[0].type, count: length})'

# Extract just user messages
cat $(ap path 1) | jq 'select(.type == "user") | .content'

# Find all tool uses
cat $(ap path 1) | jq 'select(.type == "assistant" and .tool_use) | .tool_use.name'

# Get session size in lines
wc -l $(ap path 1)

Finding What Session Made a Change

# What session created the last commit?
ap trace HEAD

# What session worked on this file recently?
ap log --limit=20  # then check each with:
ap files 1 | grep "myfile.py"

Bulk Operations

# Summarize the 3 most recent sessions
for i in 1 2 3; do ap summarize $i; done

# Export all session paths
for i in $(seq 1 10); do ap path $i 2>/dev/null; done

Session Numbering

Session numbers always refer to current project sessions only. When using --all, other projects' sessions are displayed for context but aren't numbered:

ap log --all

[1] 06f238b3-254e              ← current project, use "1" or ID
    2024-01-14 10:30 | 245.3KB

    b78227d9-0134              ← other project, use ID only
    Project: ~/Code/other-project
    2024-01-14 09:00 | 12.1KB

[2] 7faf6980-c5cf              ← current project, use "2" or ID
    2024-01-13 15:22 | 1024.1KB

# Access current project by number or ID:
ap show 1
ap show 06f238b3

# Access other projects by ID only:
ap show b78227d9

Note: The --type filter affects which sessions are numbered. Use the same --type flag in log and other commands for consistent numbering.

Working with Agent Sessions

Agent sessions are sub-processes spawned by the Task tool. They're usually small (1-2KB) and contain focused sub-tasks:

# See all sessions including agents
ap log --type=all

# Show a specific agent session
ap show 5 --type=all

Git Integration

# Before committing: which session has context?
ap trace HEAD~0  # (no commit yet, but shows recent file matches)

# After a PR merge: find the session that built it
git log --oneline -5
ap trace abc1234

# Find all sessions that touched a branch
ap link feature/my-branch --all

Debugging Summarization

# Check your LLM configuration
ap status

# Test with a small session first
ap log  # find a small one (low KB)
ap summarize 3

# Add notes if summary misses context
ap summarize 1 --update --notes="The main goal was X, focus on that"

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

Command Reference

Short Alias

Quick Reference

`log`

`show`

`summarize`

`path`

`files`

`refs`

`link`

`trace`

`rules`

Daily Stats

`insights`

`analytics`

`status`

Tips & Recipes

Inspecting Raw Session Data

Finding What Session Made a Change

Bulk Operations

Session Numbering

Working with Agent Sessions

Git Integration

Debugging Summarization

FilesExpand file tree

commands.md

Latest commit

History

commands.md

File metadata and controls

Command Reference

Short Alias

Quick Reference

log

show

summarize

path

files

refs

link

trace

rules

Daily Stats

insights

analytics

status

Tips & Recipes

Inspecting Raw Session Data

Finding What Session Made a Change

Bulk Operations

Session Numbering

Working with Agent Sessions

Git Integration

Debugging Summarization

`log`

`show`

`summarize`

`path`

`files`

`refs`

`link`

`trace`

`rules`

`insights`

`analytics`

`status`