LLM Coding Agents Don't Lose History — You're Just Starting New Sessions

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Developers using AI coding tools like Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, VS Code, and Windsurf often believe conversation history is lost after restarting, but all five tools actually support session resumption. The confusion stems from users inadvertently opening new sessions instead of reopening existing ones, since each tool starts with a fresh context window by default. Each platform offers its own resume mechanism — via CLI flags, interface panels, or slash commands — allowing users to continue prior conversations. All five tools also reload static instruction files in new sessions, which is why agents remember coding conventions but not prior task-specific exchanges. The key distinction is between session memory, which requires an explicit resume action, and persistent instructions, which load automatically every time.

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