claude-context-saver

Automatically saves the full conversation transcript before Claude Code compacts context — never lose details again.

When Claude Code compacts context (automatically at ~80% or manually via /compact), the full conversation is summarized and details are lost. This plugin saves the complete transcript before each compaction in two formats: raw JSONL backup + readable Markdown.

Quick start

npx claude-context-save

Done. Your existing Claude Code hooks are preserved — nothing gets overwritten.

How it works

 Context compaction triggered
 (auto at ~80% or /compact)
              │
              ▼
     PreCompact hook fires
              │
              ▼
  Read transcript JSONL file
              │
         ┌────┴────┐
         ▼         ▼
   Copy JSONL    Generate
   (backup)     Markdown
         │         │
         ▼         ▼
    .claude/context-saves/
    2025-06-15_14-30-00_auto.jsonl
    2025-06-15_14-30-00_auto.md

| Step | What happens | |------|-------------| | 1. Compaction triggers | Claude Code fires the PreCompact hook (auto or manual) | | 2. JSONL backup | The full transcript file is copied as-is — faithful backup | | 3. Markdown generated | The JSONL is parsed line by line, extracting user and assistant messages into a readable .md file | | 4. Files saved | Both files are written to .claude/context-saves/ in the project directory |

Output

your-project/
└── .claude/
    └── context-saves/
        ├── 2025-06-15_14-30-00_auto.jsonl
        ├── 2025-06-15_14-30-00_auto.md
        ├── 2025-06-15_16-45-12_manual.jsonl
        └── 2025-06-15_16-45-12_manual.md

The .jsonl file is a byte-for-byte copy of the original transcript. The .md file contains only user and assistant text content — tool calls and tool results are filtered out for readability.

Markdown format

# Context Save — 2025-06-15 14:30:00 (auto)

## User
Can you refactor the auth module?

## Assistant
Sure, I'll start by reading the current implementation...

## User
...

Uninstall

npx claude-context-save uninstall

Only removes context-saver hooks. Other hooks stay intact.

How hooks are registered

The installer merges a single Claude Code hook into ~/.claude/settings.json:

| Hook | Trigger | Action | |------|---------|--------| | PreCompact | Auto (~80%) or manual (/compact) | Saves transcript as JSONL + Markdown |

• Existing hooks are never modified or removed
• Installation is idempotent — running it twice won't create duplicates
• Zero dependencies — pure Node.js

Requirements

• Claude Code
• Node.js >= 18

License

MIT