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Managing Goose Sessions

A session is a single, continuous interaction between you and Goose, providing a space to ask questions and prompt action. In this guide, we'll cover how to start, exit, and resume a session.

Start Session

After choosing an LLM provider, you'll see the session interface ready for use. Type your questions, tasks, or instructions directly into the input field, and Goose will immediately get to work.

To start a new session at any time, click the three dots in the top-right corner of the application and select New Session from the dropdown menu.

You can also use keyboard shortcuts to start a new session or bring focus to open Goose windows.

ActionmacOSWindows/Linux
New Session in Current DirectoryCmd+NCtrl+N
New Session in Different DirectoryCmd+OCtrl+O
Focus Goose WindowCmd+Option+Shift+GCtrl+Alt+Shift+G
info

If this is your first session, Goose will prompt you for an API key to access an LLM (Large Language Model) of your choice. For more information on setting up your API key, see the Installation Guide. Here is the list of supported LLMs.

Name Session

Within the Desktop app, sessions are automatically named using the current timestamp in the format YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS. Goose also provides a description of the session based on context.

Exit Session

Note that sessions are automatically saved when you exit.

To exit a session, simply close the application.

Resume Session

  1. Click ... in the upper right corner
  2. Click Previous Sessions
  3. Click a session
  4. Click Resume Session in the upper right corner

Search Session History

In Goose Desktop, you can search session metadata including the description, filename, and working directory path. The search is text-based and supports case-sensitive matching, but doesn't search session content or support regex patterns.

  1. Click ... in the upper right corner
  2. Click Previous Sessions
  3. Use Cmd+F to open the search bar
  4. Enter your search term
  5. Use search features to refine and navigate results
ActionmacOSWindows/Linux
Next MatchCmd+G
or
Ctrl+G
or
Previous MatchShift+Cmd+G
or
Shift+Ctrl+G
or
Toggle Case-SensitivityAaAa
Focus Search BarCmd+FCtrl+F
Close SearchEsc or XEsc or X

Resume Session Across Interfaces

You can resume a CLI session in Desktop and vice versa.

All saved sessions are listed in the Desktop app, even CLI sessions. To resume a CLI session within the Desktop:

  1. Click ... in the upper right corner
  2. Click Previous Sessions
  3. Click the session you'd like to resume
tip

If you named the session, you'll recognize the filename. However, if you don't remember the exact session name, there is a description of the topic.

  1. Click Resume Session in the upper right corner
Example

CLI Command

goose session -n react-migration

Desktop Session

Session DescriptionSession Filename
Code Migration to Reactreact-migration.jsonl

Remove Sessions

You can remove sessions using CLI commands. For detailed instructions on session removal, see the CLI Commands documentation.

Search Within Sessions

Search allows you to find specific content within your current session. The search functionality is available in both CLI and Desktop interfaces.

Trigger search using keyboard shortcuts or the search icon:

ActionmacOSWindows/Linux
Open SearchCmd+FCtrl+F
Next MatchCmd+G
or
Ctrl+G
or
Previous MatchShift+Cmd+G
or
Shift+Ctrl+G
or
Use Selection for FindCmd+En/a
Toggle Case-SensitivityAaAa
Close SearchEsc or XEsc or X

Share Files in Session

Share files with Goose in three ways:

  1. Drag and Drop: Simply drag files from your computer's file explorer/finder and drop them anywhere in the chat window. The file paths will be automatically added to your message.

  2. File Browser: Click the paperclip icon (📎) in the bottom left corner of the chat input to open your system's file browser and select files.

  3. Manual Path: Type or paste the file path directly into the chat input.