Feat/resume conversations #76

MkDev11 · 2026-01-23T01:25:31Z

What this does

Adds conversation persistence so Dexter remembers your previous conversations when you restart the app.

The problem

When you closed Dexter and reopened it, all conversation context was lost. The agent had no memory of what you discussed before, making follow-up questions impossible.

The solution

Now conversations are automatically saved to .dexter/context/conversation.json and restored on startup.

Example:

Session 1:
> What is the capital of France?
< Paris.
[close app]

Session 2:
> What's its population?
< Paris has a population of about 2.1 million...

The agent now understands "its" refers to Paris from the previous session.

Features

Auto-save: Every conversation turn is saved automatically
Auto-load: Previous session restored on startup
Smart context: Includes both questions and answer summaries
Size limit: Keeps only the last 50 messages to prevent large files

Files changed

src/utils/in-memory-chat-history.ts - Added persistence (load/save)
src/agent/agent.ts - Include summaries in context prompt

Closes #13

- Add load() and save() methods to InMemoryChatHistory - Persist conversation to .dexter/context/conversation.json - Auto-save after each message is added - Load previous session on startup via useEffect in useModelSelection - Stores query, answer, and LLM-generated summary for each turn Closes virattt#13

- Add load() and save() methods to InMemoryChatHistory - Persist conversation to .dexter/context/conversation.json - Auto-save after each message is added - Include query summaries in context prompt for proper follow-up understanding - Add MAX_MESSAGES limit (50) to prevent unbounded file growth - Load previous session on startup Closes virattt#13

MkDev11 · 2026-01-24T22:00:07Z

@virattt could you please review the PR and let me know your feedback?

src/agent/agent.ts

src/hooks/useModelSelection.ts

src/utils/in-memory-chat-history.ts

virattt

Few comments. Also, I don't think Claude Code has this functionality. Is this something we absolutely need?

MkDev11 · 2026-01-27T14:14:18Z

Few comments. Also, I don't think Claude Code has this functionality. Is this something we absolutely need?

While Claude Code doesn't have this, I think it's actually a differentiator for Dexter. Financial research often involves follow-up questions like "what about AAPL?" or "compare that to last quarter" - having context means users don't need to repeat themselves.
That said, it's lightweight and opt-in (only saves if there's conversation). wanted to offer this as a UX improvement for multi-turn workflows.

MkDev11 · 2026-01-27T14:20:55Z

MkDev11 · 2026-02-09T13:04:21Z

Hi @virattt hope you had a good weekend. could you please review the last change? I would like to complete this and continue contributing.

MkDev11 added 2 commits January 23, 2026 02:06