claude -r: Call Up That Exact Conversation by Name (resume)

When you're juggling several tasks at once, there are times you think, "I want to get back to that payment-feature conversation from yesterday." But claude -c just calls up the most recent conversation. There's a separate command for calling up exactly the conversation you want.

Definition (What It Is)

claude -r is a command that calls up a past conversation by name or ID (-r = resume). Where -c (continue) automatically continues "the most recent one," -r calls up "the exact conversation you specify." When several conversations have piled up, you can pick precisely the one you want.

How to Use It (By Difficulty)

Before you start: Conversations are saved per folder. So you have to first move (cd folder-path) into the folder where you had the conversation you want to call up, then type claude -r, for that folder's conversation list to appear. The "name" is the label you attached to a conversation, and the "ID" is the unique number automatically assigned to each conversation.

Basic — Pick from the list and enter

claude -r

If you don't append anything after it, a list of conversations saved in this folder appears on screen. Pick the conversation you want with the up/down arrow keys and press Enter to enter it. It's the easiest method when you don't remember the name or ID.

Applied — Continue by name and assign a task right away

claude -r "auth-refactor" "이 PR 마무리"

This calls up the conversation named auth-refactor while also assigning the task "wrap up this PR" (PR = Pull Request, a unit for requesting that code changes be merged in). The first quotes are the conversation name to call up, the second are the task to assign.

Advanced — Specify precisely by ID

claude -r 7c5dcf5d

When there are several conversations with the same name, or it has to be exactly that conversation, pinpoint it with the session ID (each conversation's unique number, e.g., 7c5dcf5d). You can check the ID in the list (the screen that appears when you type just claude -r).

Real-World Example

There's a case where, while juggling several tasks at once, someone called up exactly the payment-feature conversation with claude -r "payment-work" and continued it. Even with other tasks mixed in, you can pick out just the conversation you want, so your head stays less cluttered.

More Ways to Use It

• Since you can attach labels to conversations, naming them by task unit makes them much easier to find later.
• If you're just going to continue your recent work, claude -c is simpler. Use -r only when you need to pinpoint.
• If you can't remember the name, just type claude -r to see the list and pick from it.

Wrap-Up

claude -r is the command for "picking and calling up the conversation you want." You can specify it precisely by picking from the list (claude -r), by name (claude -r "name"), or by ID (claude -r 7c5dcf5d). When juggling several tasks in parallel and -c alone isn't enough, this is just the thing to reach for.

Reference: Claude Code v2.1.154 (2026.05)