Automatic Indexing¶

By default, sessfind requires a manual sessfind index to pick up new sessions. Below are several ways to automate this — pick whichever suits your workflow.

Option 1: sessfind watch (recommended)¶

A background daemon that monitors session directories and re-indexes automatically when files change. Uses OS-level file watching (FSEvents on macOS, inotify on Linux) — essentially zero CPU when idle.

Run in foreground¶

sessfind watch

Prints a line every time it detects changes and re-indexes. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Install as a system service¶

sessfind watch install    # install and start
sessfind watch status     # check if running
sessfind watch uninstall  # stop and remove

On macOS this creates a launchd agent (~/Library/LaunchAgents/dev.lets.sessfind.watch.plist) that starts on login and auto-restarts on crash. Logs go to ~/Library/Logs/sessfind-watch.log.

On Linux this creates a systemd user service (~/.config/systemd/user/sessfind-watch.service). View logs with journalctl --user -u sessfind-watch -f.

Option 2: --index flag¶

Index right before launching the TUI:

sessfind --index

This runs a quick incremental index (only new/changed sessions) and then opens the interactive UI. Good enough if you always search via the TUI.

Option 3: Shell hook (index on terminal start)¶

Add one line to your shell config to index in the background every time you open a terminal:

Bash (~/.bashrc):

sessfind index >/dev/null 2>&1 &

Zsh (~/.zshrc):

sessfind index >/dev/null 2>&1 &

Fish (~/.config/fish/config.fish):

sessfind index >/dev/null 2>&1 &

The incremental index is fast (milliseconds when nothing changed), so you won't notice any delay.

Option 4: Cron / scheduled task¶

Run indexing on a fixed schedule (e.g. every 10 minutes):

macOS / Linux (crontab)¶

crontab -e

Add:

*/10 * * * * /path/to/sessfind index >/dev/null 2>&1

Replace /path/to/sessfind with the actual path (find it with which sessfind).

systemd timer (Linux)¶

Create ~/.config/systemd/user/sessfind-index.timer:

[Unit]
Description=Index AI sessions periodically

[Timer]
OnBootSec=2min
OnUnitActiveSec=10min
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

And ~/.config/systemd/user/sessfind-index.service:

[Unit]
Description=sessfind index

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/path/to/sessfind index

Enable with:

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now sessfind-index.timer

Comparison¶