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

Goose Desktop

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. You can start a new session in the same directory or in a different directory.

Same Directory

To start a session in the same window:

1. Click the button in the top-left to open the sidebar
2. Click Home in the sidebar
3. Send your first prompt from the chat box

To start a session in a new window:

1. Click the button in the top-left
2. In the new Goose window, send your first prompt from the chat box

Different Directory

1. Click the directory switcher at the bottom of the app
2. Navigate to the new directory or create a new folder
3. Click Open to open a new Goose window for the selected directory
4. Send your first prompt from the chat box

tip

On macOS, you can drag and drop a folder onto the Goose icon in the dock to open a new session in that directory.

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

Action	macOS	Windows/Linux
New Session in Current Directory	Cmd+N	Ctrl+N
New Session in Different Directory	Cmd+O	Ctrl+O
Focus Goose Window	Cmd+Option+Shift+G	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+G

Goose CLI

From your terminal, navigate to the directory from which you'd like to start, and run:

goose session 

If you want to interact with Goose in a web-based chat interface, start a session with the web command:

goose web --open

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

Goose Desktop

Within the Desktop app, sessions are automatically named based on the context of your initial prompt.

You can rename sessions after they're created:

1. Click the button in the top-left to open the sidebar
2. Click History in the sidebar
3. Hover over the session you'd like to rename
4. Click the button that appears on the session card
5. Enter the new session name
6. Click Save

Session names can also help you manage multiple Goose windows. When you're in the Goose chat interface, session names appear in the Window menu and in the Dock (macOS) or taskbar (Windows) menu, making it easy to identify and switch between different Goose sessions.

Goose CLI

By default, Goose names your session using the current timestamp in the format YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS. If you'd like to provide a specific name, this is where you'd do so. For example to name your session react-migration, you would run:

goose session -n react-migration

You'll know your session has started when your terminal looks similar to the following:

starting session | provider: openai model: gpt-4o
logging to ~/.local/share/goose/sessions/react-migration.json1

Exit Session

Note that sessions are automatically saved when you exit.

Goose Desktop

To exit a session, simply close the application.

Goose CLI

To exit a session, type exit. Alternatively, you exit the session by holding down Ctrl+C.

Your session will be stored locally in ~/.local/share/goose/sessions.

Search Sessions

Search allows you to find specific content within sessions or find specific sessions.

Goose Desktop

You can use keyboard shortcuts and search bar buttons to search sessions in Goose Desktop.

Action	macOS	Windows/Linux
Open Search	Cmd+F	Ctrl+F
Next Match	Cmd+G or ↓	Ctrl+G or ↓
Previous Match	Shift+Cmd+G or ↑	Shift+Ctrl+G or ↑
Use Selection for Find	Cmd+E	n/a
Toggle Case-Sensitivity	Aa	Aa
Close Search	Esc or X	Esc or X

The following scenarios are supported:

Search Within Current Session

To find specific content within your current session:

1. Use Cmd+F to open the search bar
2. Enter your search term
3. Use shortcuts and search bar buttons to navigate the results

Search For Session By Name or Path

To search all your sessions by name or working directory path:

1. Click the button in the top-left to open the sidebar
2. Click History in the sidebar
3. Use Cmd+F to open the search bar
4. Enter your search term
5. Use keyboard shortcuts and search bar buttons to navigate the results (Cmd+E not supported)

This is a metadata-only search. It doesn't search conversation content. Note that searching by file name is supported (e.g. 20250727_130002.jsonl), but this property isn't displayed in the UI.

tip

You can rename sessions to give them descriptive names that you'll remember later.

Search Within Historical Session

To find specific content within a historical session:

1. Click the button in the top-left to open the sidebar
2. Click History in the sidebar
3. Click a specific session tile from the list to view its content
4. Use Cmd+F to open the search bar
5. Enter your search term
6. Use keyboard shortcuts and search bar buttons to navigate the results

No Regex or operator support

Using regular expressions or search operators in search text isn't supported.

Goose CLI

Search functionality is provided by your terminal interface. Use the appropriate shortcut for your environment:

Terminal	Operating System	Shortcut
iTerm2	macOS	Cmd+F
Terminal.app	macOS	Cmd+F
Windows Terminal	Windows	Ctrl+F
Linux Terminal	Linux	Ctrl+F

info

Your specific terminal emulator may use a different keyboard shortcut. Check your terminal's documentation or settings for the search command.

The Goose CLI supports listing session history but doesn't provide search functionality. As a workaround, you can use your terminal's search capabilities (including regex support) to search for specific content within sessions or find specific sessions.

Examples for macOS:

# Search session IDs (filenames)
ls ~/.local/share/goose/sessions/ | grep "full or partial session id"

# List sessions modified in last 7 days
find ~/.local/share/goose/sessions/ -mtime -7 -name "*.jsonl"

# Show first line (metadata) of each session file
for f in ~/.local/share/goose/sessions/*.jsonl; do
    head -n1 "$f" | grep "your search term" && echo "Found in: $(basename "$f" .jsonl)"
done

# Find search term in session content
rg "your search term" ~/.local/share/goose/sessions/

# Search and show session IDs that contain search term
for f in ~/.local/share/goose/sessions/*.jsonl; do
    if grep -q "your search term" "$f"; then
    echo "Found in session: $(basename "$f" .jsonl)"
    fi
done

Resume Session

Goose Desktop

1. Click the button in the top-left to open the sidebar
2. Click History in the sidebar
3. Click the session you'd like to resume. Goose provides search features to help you find the session.
4. Choose how to resume:
   • Click Resume to continue in the current window
   • Click New Window to open in a new window

tip

You can also quickly resume one of your three most recent sessions by clicking it in the Recent chats section on the Home page.

Goose CLI

To resume your latest session, you can run the following command:

 goose session -r

To resume a specific session, run the following command:

goose session -r --name <name>

For example, to resume the session named react-migration, you would run:

goose session -r --name react-migration

tip

While you can resume sessions using the commands above, we recommend creating new sessions for new tasks to reduce the chance of doom spiraling.

Resume Session Across Interfaces

You can resume a CLI session in Desktop.

Goose Desktop

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

1. Click the button in the top-left to open the sidebar
2. Click History in the sidebar
3. Click the session you'd like to resume
4. Choose how to resume:
   • Click Resume to continue in the current window
   • Click New Window to open in a new window

Goose CLI

Currently, you cannot resume a Desktop session within the CLI.

Project-Based Sessions

Goose Desktop

Project-based sessions are only available through the CLI.

Goose CLI

You can use the project and projects commands to start or resume sessions from a project, which is a tracked working directory with session metadata. For a complete guide to using Projects, see Managing Projects Guide.

Remove Sessions

Goose Desktop

Removing sessions is only available through the CLI.

Goose CLI

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

Export Sessions

Export sessions to Markdown to share with your team, create documentation, archive conversations, or review them in a readable format.

Goose Desktop

Session export is currently only available through the CLI.

Goose CLI

Export sessions using the export subcommand:

# Interactive export - prompts you to select a session
goose session export

For more details on export options, available flags, and output formats, see the CLI commands documentation.

Voice Dictation

Speak to Goose directly instead of typing your prompts.

Goose Desktop

To enable voice dictation:

1. Click the button in the top-left to open the sidebar
2. Click Settings in the sidebar
3. Click Chat
4. Under Voice Dictation, toggle Enable Voice Dictation on
5. Choose between OpenAI Whisper or ElevenLabs as your dictation provider
6. Enter your API key for the provider you chose

To use voice dictation:

1. Return to the chat interface (click Chat in the sidebar)
2. Click the microphone on the right of the chat box and begin speaking

The first time you use voice dictation, Goose will request access to your microphone. While recording, you'll see a live waveform of your audio in the input field, a timer, and the current size of your recording. Click the microphone button again to finish recording.

If you don't see the microphone, check the models you have configured. ElevenLabs can be used as a dictation provider alongside any LLM, but OpenAI Whisper requires that you have an OpenAI model configured in Goose, even if using another LLM provider for chat.

Important Notes

• You can record up to 10 minutes or 25MB of audio.
• The audio is processed by your chosen provider (OpenAI or ElevenLabs).
• Voice input is appended to any existing text in the text input field, so you can combine typing and speaking your prompts.
• Recordings are not stored locally after transcription.

Goose CLI

Voice dictation is not available in the Goose CLI.

Share Files in Session

Goose Desktop

Share files with Goose in several 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 button at the bottom of the app to open your system's file browser and select files.

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

4. Quick File Search: Use the @ shortcut key to quickly find and include files.

Goose CLI

You can reference files by their paths directly in your messages. Since you're already in a terminal, you can use standard shell commands to help with file paths:

# Reference a specific file
What does this code do? ./src/main.rs

# Use tab completion
Can you explain the function in ./src/lib<tab>

# Use shell expansion
Review these test files: ./tests/*.rs