Show HN: Possess, a TUI to browse and transfer coding sessions

Steven P. Walsh released Possess, an open-source TUI that lets developers browse and transfer coding sessions between AI coding agents Codex, Claude Code, OpenCode, and Grok, enabling context handoffs without restarting conversations. The tool, available on GitHub and requiring macOS or Linux, Git, and Rust 1.92+, saves conversation history, tool calls, plans, and Git state into local handoff packages, and supports commands like `possess list`, `possess handoff`, and `possess resume`.

▄████▄ ▄█ ◉ ◉ █▄ P O S S E S S █ ▄ █ repossess your context █ ▄████▄ █ ▀█▄▀ ▀▄█▀ Switch coding agents without starting the conversation over. CD to your project repo, run possess , pick a session, and resume or choose which agent should take over. Possess works with Codex, Claude Code, OpenCode, and Grok . You'll need macOS or Linux, Git, and Rust 1.92+. Install and log into whichever coding harnesses you want to use first. git clone https://github.com/steven-p-walsh/Possess.git cd Possess cargo install --path . --locked possess If your shell can't find possess , check that ~/.cargo/bin is on your PATH . See the installation guide /steven-p-walsh/Possess/blob/main/docs/installation.md for setup help, release archives, and upgrades. Launch Possess from your project directory. It shows sessions for that project, including ones started from subdirectories of the same Git repo. Outside Git, it uses the current directory. Run possess --all-projects to see everything. Select a session to see where you left off, then press Enter to choose a harness. Choose the same harness and it just resumes the original session. Choose another and you can pick a model and agent before handing over. When the harness exits, you're back in Possess. Claude's model list picks up your settings and recently used models, with Fable, Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku as fallbacks. You can also enter a model name yourself. | Key | Action | |---|---| | Arrows or j / k | Move through sessions | | / | Search | | Enter | Choose a harness to continue in | | r | Resume with the original harness | | R | Refresh the list | | ? | All shortcuts | | q | Quit | If a harness or its sessions aren't showing up, run possess doctor to check what was detected. You can set custom paths in ~/.config/possess/config.toml ; the setup guide /steven-p-walsh/Possess/blob/main/docs/installation.md verify-the-installation has an example. Possess saves the conversation, tool calls and results, plans, and Git state in a local handoff package. Your project stays in place, and the original session stays available. The harnesses don't share a session format. Possess imports history where it can; otherwise it starts the new agent with a handoff prompt built around recent work, open tasks, and errors. The saved history is there if the agent needs more detail. Which path you get depends on the harness and version; the compatibility notes /steven-p-walsh/Possess/blob/main/docs/compatibility.md cover that. Handoffs live in ~/.local/share/possess or POSSESS HOME . They can contain private conversation and code, so keep them out of your repo. Possess doesn't need API keys of its own; each harness uses its existing login. You can also skip the picker. Use a session ID from possess list : possess list possess list --all-projects possess show SESSION ID possess handoff SESSION ID --to codex possess resume SESSION ID Add --model or --agent to a handoff to choose either explicitly. --no-launch prepares the handoff without starting the destination harness. For the same harness, it only prepares a resume command; no package is created. Run possess handoff --help for the rest. cargo fmt --check cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings cargo test The architecture notes /steven-p-walsh/Possess/blob/main/docs/architecture.md explain how discovery and handoffs work. CONTRIBUTING.md /steven-p-walsh/Possess/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md covers adapter changes and comments: explain the reason for the code, not what the next line does.