Qwen Code session format

Store and files

Qwen Code writes sessions below ${DEJA_QWEN_ROOT:-~/.qwen}/projects/<encoded-project>/chats/*.jsonl. The project directory uses the same slash-and-hyphen encoding as Claude Code. The chats/ directory is part of Qwen's layout; only JSONL files directly inside it are session streams. A sub-agent's log, subagents/<session>/agent-<id>.jsonl in the same project directory, is read only with DEJA_INCLUDE_SUBAGENTS=1, as a session of its own naming the parent session (#4483).

The Qwen configuration directory remains ~/.qwen for installer settings. DEJA_QWEN_ROOT relocates session reads only.

Records

Each line is a JSON object with type, sessionId, timestamp, and a message object. Message text is in message.parts; parts marked thought: true are reasoning and are excluded.

{"type":"assistant","sessionId":"session-7","timestamp":"2026-07-17T09:00:01Z","message":{"role":"model","parts":[{"text":"The failing check is in parser.go."}]}}

message.role model maps to assistant and user maps to user; when it is absent, the top-level type is used. Parts with text are joined with newlines. RFC 3339 and numeric Unix timestamps are accepted.

The work sits in the same parts list as functionCall and functionResponse. Calls become command, file and edit records (Qwen uses Gemini's tool names), and a tool_result record's functionResponse becomes tool output.

Wiring

  • MCP: deja install qwen adds mcpServers.deja to ~/.qwen/settings.json.
  • Skill: the shared ~/.agents/skills/deja-history/SKILL.md. Qwen lists skills under /skills, so the skill is also the command.
  • Auto-recall: deja install qwen-auto adds hooks to the same settings.json: SessionStart (digest), UserPromptSubmit (per-prompt recall), PostToolUseFailure on run_shell_command (the earlier fix for a failed command), PreCompact and SessionEnd (the session you quit is back in the next one's MCP recall).

Resume

qwen -r <id> reopens a session by id, and the id is the chat file's name —

the same one deja indexes. The command has to run in the project directory:

qwen sessions list shows only the current project's sessions, so from

anywhere else the id resolves to nothing. deja takes that directory from the

cwd the transcript records, or from the encoded folder name for a transcript

that records none, and prints cd <project> && qwen -r <id>. When the recorded

directory is gone, or deja cannot tell which directory the session ran in,

resume refuses and points at deja show <id>: the bare command would only get

"No saved session found".

Known quirks and drift

  • JSONL can end in a partial line while Qwen is writing. Malformed lines are skipped.
  • System and other control records do not become messages.
  • Project path encoding is ambiguous because - represents both a separator and a hyphen. deja checks the local filesystem before using a two-segment fallback.

Last verified: 2026-09-07

deja reads this format and thirty-seven others, and turns what it finds into memory your agents can search. See the harness matrix for what is wired where, or install it and search your own history.

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