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prompt-rail

A rail of your prompts for Claude Code. Hover to read one, click to jump back to it.

<img src="docs/demo.gif" alt="prompt-rail demo: hovering the rail previews a prompt and its turn, clicking jumps the transcript to it" width="800"> </div>

Quick start

1. Turn on function hooks (early access, Claude Code 2.1.280+) in ~/.claude/settings.json:

   { "env": { "CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_FUNCTION_HOOKS": "1" } }
   

2. Install, from your shell or inside a session:

   claude plugin marketplace add oikon48/prompt-rail
   claude plugin install prompt-rail@oikon48
   

   /plugin marketplace add oikon48/prompt-rail
   /plugin install prompt-rail@oikon48
   

3. Start a new session. The rail opens on its own.

Mouse works best with "tui": "fullscreen".

Two layouts

Horizontal, above the prompt (default)

<img src="docs/horizontal.png" alt="The horizontal rail: a text line with the hovered prompt and its turn summary over a row of bars" width="800">

Vertical, beside the transcript

<img src="docs/vertical.png" alt="The vertical rail: one row per prompt in a pane beside the transcript, the prompt being read marked with a thick tick" width="480">

Commands

| Command | | | --- | --- | | /prompt-rail horizontal | Bars above the prompt input | | /prompt-rail vertical | A pane beside the transcript | | /prompt-rail off | Hide the rail | | /prompt-rail next | Jump to the next prompt | | /prompt-rail prev | Jump to the previous prompt | | /prompt-rail first, last | Jump to the first or the newest prompt | | /prompt-rail 12, #12 | Jump to prompt #12 | | /prompt-rail find <words> | Jump to the newest prompt that holds the words | | /prompt-rail-next, /prompt-rail-prev | Jump to the next or previous prompt, with no argument, for a keybinding | | /prompt-rail | Reopen the rail in the current layout |

The layout is also the "Rail mode" row in /config, and it is kept across sessions.

Keyboard

Bind the step commands in ~/.claude/keybindings.json; they run mid-turn too:

{
  "bindings": [
    { "context": "Chat", "bindings": { "ctrl+k": "command:prompt-rail-prev", "meta+j": "command:prompt-rail-next" } }
  ]
}

In the horizontal layout, ctrl+x tab moves the focus to the bars: the ring starts on the prompt you are reading, ← → move it across the bars on screen and show its prompt, Enter jumps there, Esc returns to the prompt input.

Tick legend

| Tick | Meaning | | --- | --- | | ━ ┃ | The prompt you are reading | | ─ │ | Any other prompt | | ┄ ┆ | A prompt Claude Code refused to scroll to; next and prev skip it |

How it works

<details> <summary>From the transcript file to the rail</summary>

flowchart LR
  T[transcript .jsonl] -->|every prompt on the live branch| R[rail]
  S[rows on screen] -->|topmost row's prompt| R
  R -->|click, next/prev| J[scroll that prompt's row into view]

The rail lists the prompts of the live branch, so prompts abandoned with /rewind drop out, and prompts from before a resume are listed too. The prompt you are reading owns the topmost row on screen. The transcript is read again only when its size or time changed.

</details>

Limitations

<details> <summary>Known limits</summary>

• Function hooks are early access, and their API may change between Claude Code releases.
• The hover card with the turn summary is part of the horizontal rail.
• The Claude desktop app draws the horizontal rail and its hover cards, but a click cannot jump there. The app gives a plugin no way to scroll its transcript, so the rail says so once a session. The prompt being read is named beside the bars rather than on the line above them, since the app paints a card over that line without hiding what is under it. Checked with Claude Code 2.1.280, the app did not draw the vertical pane.
• The dock width is shared by all plugin panes; drag its edge to narrow it, down to 24 columns.
• A /compact command's own row cannot be jumped to; its tick turns dotted after the first try.
• Near the end of the transcript, next cannot scroll further.

</details>

Development

claude --plugin-dir plugins/prompt-rail        # load this checkout; saving reloads it
claude plugin validate plugins/prompt-rail
claude plugin test plugins/prompt-rail

Run /plugin-types .claude/types in a session here for type declarations. Bump the version in plugins/prompt-rail/.claude-plugin/plugin.json with each release, since installed copies update only when it changes.

License

MIT