codex-history-ingest
ar9av/obsidian-wiki
Mine your Codex CLI conversation history and distill it into an Obsidian wiki.
What is codex-history-ingest?
Ingest Codex session logs, rollout files, and transcripts into your Obsidian vault, clustering knowledge by topic and creating durable wiki pages. Use this when you want to extract patterns and insights from past coding sessions, or sync new Codex conversations into your knowledge base.
- Scans ~/.codex/ for session rollouts, session index, and history files
- Compares against manifest to detect new and modified sessions (append mode) or re-ingest everything (full mode)
- Parses JSONL event logs, filtering out noise and redacting sensitive data (API keys, credentials, system prompts)
- Clusters multi-session knowledge by stable topics rather than creating one page per session
- Generates wiki pages organized by project, concept, skill, entity, or synthesis with confidence and provenance markers
- Updates manifest, index, and memory log with a single locked command to prevent concurrent writes
How to install codex-history-ingest
npx skills add https://github.com/ar9av/obsidian-wiki --skill codex-history-ingest- Obsidian vault with llm-wiki skill installed
- Codex CLI with local history enabled (~/.codex/ folder populated with sessions)
- OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH and CODEX_HISTORY_PATH configured (via .env, global config, or @name override)
- obsidian-wiki CLI tool available for memory sync commands
How to use codex-history-ingest
- 1.Run the skill and let it scan ~/.codex/ and compare against .manifest.json to detect new/modified sessions
- 2.Review the delta summary showing which files are new, modified, or unchanged
- 3.The skill parses session_index.jsonl first to build a canonical inventory, then processes rollout JSONL files
- 4.Knowledge is clustered by topic across sessions and routed to appropriate wiki sections (projects/, concepts/, skills/, entities/, synthesis/)
- 5.Each new or updated page receives confidence, lifecycle, and provenance markers (^[extracted], ^[inferred], ^[ambiguous])
- 6.Run obsidian-wiki memory sync CODEX_HISTORY_INGEST with session counts and takeaways to update manifest, index, log, and hot files atomically
Use cases
- Regularly sync new Codex sessions into your wiki to build a searchable knowledge base of past coding decisions
- Extract recurring debugging patterns or architectural insights from multiple sessions on the same project
- Recover and organize knowledge from archived Codex conversations after a wiki rebuild
- Distill shell scripting techniques, CLI tool workflows, or deployment playbooks discovered across sessions
- Create project-specific pages that synthesize patterns from many Codex conversations without duplicating session logs
- Developers using Codex CLI who maintain an Obsidian wiki for knowledge management
- Teams building institutional memory from AI-assisted coding sessions
- Users wanting to mine their own conversation history for reusable patterns and decisions
codex-history-ingest FAQ
Primarily session_index.jsonl (inventory), sessions/**/rollout-*.jsonl (rich transcripts), and optionally history.jsonl (fallback timeline). SQLite internals are skipped unless explicitly requested.
It redacts API keys, tokens, passwords, credentials, and system/developer prompts before ingesting. Raw transcripts are summarized rather than quoted verbatim.
Yes. Append mode (default) only processes new or modified files. Full mode re-ingests everything; use it after wiki-rebuild or if you explicitly request a full re-ingest.
Knowledge is clustered by stable topic across many sessions, not one page per session. Pages are routed to projects/, concepts/, skills/, entities/, or synthesis/ based on content type and project scope inferred from metadata.
The manifest is updated with ingested_at, file size, modification time, source type, and project name. A summary block tracks total sessions ingested and last update time per project.
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from ar9av/obsidian-wiki.
name: codex-history-ingest description: > Ingest Codex CLI conversation history into the Obsidian wiki. Use this skill when the user wants to mine their past Codex sessions for knowledge, import their ~/.codex folder, extract insights from previous coding sessions, or says things like "process my Codex history", "add my Codex conversations to the wiki", or "what have I discussed in Codex before". Also triggers when the user mentions .codex sessions, rollout files, session_index.jsonl, or Codex transcript logs.
Codex History Ingest — Conversation Mining
You are extracting knowledge from the user's past Codex sessions and distilling it into the Obsidian wiki. Session logs are rich but noisy: focus on durable knowledge, not operational telemetry.
This skill can be invoked directly or via the wiki-history-ingest router (/wiki-history-ingest codex).
Before You Start
Writing profile: Before drafting or rewriting natural-language Markdown, read and apply the Writing Profile Resolution section in llm-wiki/SKILL.md. Framework schema, provenance, safety, and operation-specific requirements take precedence.
WRITING.md preferences apply only to newly drafted or rewritten natural-language Markdown; preserve source content and structured records.
- Resolve config — follow the Config Resolution Protocol in
llm-wiki/SKILL.md(inline@nameoverride → walk up CWD for.env→ global config → prompt setup). This givesOBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATHandCODEX_HISTORY_PATH(defaults to~/.codex) - Read
.manifest.jsonat the vault root to check what has already been ingested - Read
index.mdat the vault root to understand what the wiki already contains
Ingest Modes
Append Mode (default)
Check .manifest.json for each source file. Only process:
- Files not in the manifest (new session rollouts, new index files)
- Files whose modification time is newer than
ingested_atin the manifest
Use this mode for regular syncs.
Full Mode
Process everything regardless of manifest. Use after wiki-rebuild or if the user explicitly asks for a full re-ingest.
Codex Data Layout
Codex stores local artifacts under ~/.codex/.
~/.codex/
├── sessions/ # Session rollout logs by date
│ └── YYYY/MM/DD/
│ └── rollout-<timestamp>-<id>.jsonl
├── archived_sessions/ # Archived rollout logs
├── session_index.jsonl # Lightweight index of thread id/name/updated_at
├── history.jsonl # Local transcript history (if persistence enabled)
├── config.toml # User config (contains history settings)
└── state_*.sqlite / logs_*.sqlite # Runtime DBs (usually skip)
Key data sources ranked by value
session_index.jsonl— best inventory source for IDs, titles, and freshnesssessions/**/rollout-*.jsonl— rich structured transcript eventshistory.jsonl— useful fallback/timeline aid if enabled
Avoid ingesting SQLite internals unless the user explicitly asks.
Step 1: Survey and Compute Delta
Scan CODEX_HISTORY_PATH and compare against .manifest.json:
~/.codex/session_index.jsonl~/.codex/sessions/**/rollout-*.jsonl~/.codex/archived_sessions/**(optional; only if user asks for archived history)~/.codex/history.jsonl(optional fallback)
Classify each file:
- New — not in manifest
- Modified — in manifest but file is newer than
ingested_at - Unchanged — already ingested and unchanged
Report a concise delta summary before deep parsing.
Step 2: Parse Session Index First
session_index.jsonl typically has entries like:
{"id":"...","thread_name":"...","updated_at":"..."}
Use it to:
- Build a canonical session inventory
- Prioritize recent/high-signal sessions
- Map rollout IDs to human-readable thread names
Step 3: Parse Rollout JSONL Safely
Each rollout-*.jsonl line is an event envelope with:
{
"timestamp": "...",
"type": "session_meta|turn_context|event_msg|response_item",
"payload": { ... }
}
Extraction rules
- Prioritize user intent and assistant-visible outputs
- Favor
response_itemrecords with user/assistant message content - Use
event_msgselectively for meaningful milestones; ignore pure telemetry - Treat
session_metaas metadata (cwd, model, ids), not user knowledge
Skip/noise filters
- Token accounting events
- Tool plumbing with no semantic content
- Raw command output unless it contains reusable decisions/patterns
- Repeated plan snapshots unless they add novel decisions
Critical privacy filter
Rollout logs can include injected instructions, tool payloads, and sensitive text. Do not ingest verbatim system/developer prompts or secrets.
- Remove API keys, tokens, passwords, credentials
- Redact private identifiers unless relevant and approved
- Summarize instead of quoting raw transcripts
Step 4: Cluster by Topic
Do not create one wiki page per session.
- Group by stable topics across many sessions
- Split mixed sessions into separate themes
- Merge recurring concepts across dates/projects
- Use
cwdfrom metadata to infer project scope
Step 5: Distill into Wiki Pages
Route extracted knowledge using existing wiki conventions:
- Project-specific architecture/process ->
projects/<name>/... - General concepts ->
concepts/ - Recurring techniques/debug playbooks ->
skills/ - Tools/services ->
entities/ - Cross-session patterns ->
synthesis/
For each impacted project, create/update projects/<name>/<name>.md (project name as filename, never _project.md).
Writing rules
- Distill knowledge, not chronology
- Avoid "on date X we discussed..." unless date context is essential
- Add
summary:frontmatter on each new/updated page (1-2 sentences, <= 200 chars) - Add confidence and lifecycle fields to every new page:
Leavebase_confidence: 0.42 lifecycle: draft lifecycle_changed: <ISO date today>lifecycleunchanged on update. - Add provenance markers:
^[extracted]when directly grounded in explicit session content^[inferred]when synthesizing patterns across events/sessions^[ambiguous]when sessions conflict
- Add/update
provenance:frontmatter mix for each changed page
Step 6: Update Manifest, Log, and Index
Update .manifest.json
For each processed source file:
ingested_at,size_bytes,modified_atsource_type:codex_rollout|codex_index|codex_historyproject: inferred project name (when applicable)pages_created,pages_updated
Add/update a top-level project/session summary block:
{
"project-name": {
"source_path": "~/.codex/sessions/...",
"last_ingested": "TIMESTAMP",
"sessions_ingested": 12,
"sessions_total": 40,
"index_updated_at": "TIMESTAMP"
}
}
Update special files
Update index.md, log.md, and hot.md with one locked call:
obsidian-wiki memory sync CODEX_HISTORY_INGEST \
sessions=<sessions> pages_updated=<pages_updated> \
pages_created=<pages_created> mode=<mode> \
--takeaways "Ingested 12 Codex sessions; surfaced recurring patterns in CLI tooling and shell scripting."
Never hand-edit index.md, log.md, or hot.md — the command takes the lock that keeps a parallel writer from dropping your update. --takeaways is the one-line conceptual summary that used to go in Recent Activity;
omit it to leave the previous takeaways untouched.
See .skills/llm-wiki/references/MEMORY.md for the full procedure.
Privacy and Compliance
- Distill and synthesize; avoid raw transcript dumps
- Default to redaction for anything that looks sensitive
- Ask the user before storing personal/sensitive details
- Keep references to other people minimal and purpose-bound
Reference
See references/codex-data-format.md for field-level parsing notes and extraction guidance.
QMD Refresh After Vault Writes
QMD is a search index, not the source of truth. If $QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION is empty or unset, skip this step. Run it only after this skill has written or rewritten vault markdown. If QMD refresh fails, do not roll back the vault changes; report the QMD status separately.
Use $QMD_CLI if set; otherwise use qmd.
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} update
If the output says vectors are needed or embeddings may be stale, run:
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} embed
Verify the collection with either:
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} ls "$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION"
or, when a specific page path is known:
${QMD_CLI:-qmd} get "qmd://$QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION/<page>.md" -l 5
Record one of:
QMD refreshed: update + embed + verifiedQMD refreshed: update only + verifiedQMD skipped: QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION unsetQMD skipped: qmd CLI unavailableQMD failed: <short error summary>
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