continue-chat-export

Sanitize Continue session transcript exports and rewrite them as readable Obsidian chat Markdown.

Input	Continue *_session.md exports (quoted or header form)
Output	*.chat.md on disk (## User / ## Assistant, answers + always-visible Sources)
MCP	Tools return paths + counts only — never transcript body text
License	MIT (permissive; fork, modify, redistribute)
Deps	Python ≥ 3.11, mcp

Standalone package.

Privacy contract

1. Processing is local disk → disk.
2. MCP tool results contain only metadata: paths, byte counts, null/ANSI counts, turn counts, source counts, error type strings.
3. Transcript body is never included in tool return values (so this server does not feed chat text back into the model context).
4. Other tools (generic filesystem MCPs, editor “@file”) can still read *.chat.md if pointed at them — this server does not offer a read/summarize tool.

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Features

• Strip embedded NUL bytes (e.g. UTF-16-LE blobs such as Windows *.ini in a transcript).
• Strip ANSI escape sequences from shell tool output.
• Collapse consecutive Continue assistant fragments into one assistant turn per user message.
• Web/search dumps (Title: / URL: / Highlights:) → always-visible ### Sources blockquotes.
• Optional <details> for non-web tool dumps only (--collapse-tools).

Example output shape

---
type: continue-chat
source: "export_session.md"
exported: "1/1/2026, 12:00:00 PM"
sanitized: true
user_turns: 15
assistant_turns: 15
sources: 54
---

# Continue session transcript

## User

…

---

## Assistant

### Answer

…

### Sources

> **Page title**
> https://example.com/page
>
> Highlight / snippet text…

---

---

Install

From a clone (development / local MCP)

git clone https://github.com/<you>/continue-chat-export.git
cd continue-chat-export

uv venv .venv
uv pip install -e ".[dev]"

# or: python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate && pip install -e ".[dev]"

Script	Role
continue-chat-export	CLI formatter
continue-chat-export-mcp	MCP server (stdio)

.venv/bin/continue-chat-export --help
.venv/bin/pytest -q

From PyPI (if/when published)

pip install continue-chat-export

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CLI

continue-chat-export path/to/export_session.md
continue-chat-export path/to/export_session.md -o path/to/out.chat.md
continue-chat-export a.md b.md c.md
continue-chat-export path/to/export_session.md --in-place
continue-chat-export path/to/export_session.md --include-narration
continue-chat-export path/to/export_session.md --collapse-tools
continue-chat-export path/to/export_session.md --max-tool-chars 8000
continue-chat-export path/to/export_session.md --inspect --json

Default sidecar output: INPUT.chat.md. CLI prints paths + counts only (or --json stats), never the chat body.

---

Integrate with Continue

Official docs: MCP in Continue.

1. Install this package

cd /path/to/continue-chat-export
uv venv .venv && uv pip install -e .

Entrypoint:

/path/to/continue-chat-export/.venv/bin/continue-chat-export-mcp

2. Add mcpServers entry

In ~/.continue/config.yaml:

mcpServers:
  - name: continue-chat-export
    command: /path/to/continue-chat-export/.venv/bin/continue-chat-export-mcp
    args: []
    env:
      PATH: /usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin

No API keys required.

Portable uv run variant

mcpServers:
  - name: continue-chat-export
    command: uv
    args:
      - run
      - --directory
      - /path/to/continue-chat-export
      - continue-chat-export-mcp
    env:
      PATH: /usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin

This is Python, not npm — do not use npx for this server.

3. Reload MCP

Restart Continue / reload the window and confirm tools are listed.

4. Agent mode usage

MCP tools run in agent mode only. Pass filesystem paths; do not paste transcript text.

• format_continue_export — input_path="/path/to/vault/export_session.md"
• format_continue_export_batch — root="/path/to/vault", glob="**/*_session.md"
• inspect_continue_export — input_path="/path/to/vault/export_session.md"
• list_session_exports — root="/path/to/vault"

Results are stats only (ok, output_path, user_turns, sources, …). Open output_path in Obsidian yourself.

5. Workspace config (optional)

Same YAML may live in a workspace Continue config / .continue/mcpServers/ (see Continue docs).

6. VSCodium

Same as VS Code once Continue is installed.

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MCP tools reference

All tools return metadata only.

Tool	Purpose
format_continue_export	One file → *.chat.md
format_continue_export_batch	Many files via paths or root+glob
inspect_continue_export	Size, nulls, turn counts (no write)
list_session_exports	List exports under a directory

Default output: <stem>.chat.md beside the input.

---

GitHub / publishing

continue-chat-export/
  README.md
  LICENSE                 # MIT
  pyproject.toml
  .gitignore
  src/continue_chat_export/
  tests/

Before you push

1. Docs use /path/to/... placeholders only (no personal home directories).
2. Do not commit .venv/, secrets, or real session transcripts.
3. Run pytest -q.
4. Optional PyPI publish (hatchling is configured).

.gitignore (sessions)

Ignores *_session.md, *.session.md, *.chat.md, *.bak_nulls, *.bak_continue_export, plus .venv/ and build caches. Keep tests/fixtures/ (synthetic only).

Consumer blurb

## Install as Continue MCP

1. Clone and `uv pip install -e .`
2. Point Continue `mcpServers` at `/path/to/continue-chat-export/.venv/bin/continue-chat-export-mcp`
3. Agent mode → `format_continue_export` with a filesystem path

Optional CI

name: test
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  pytest:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v5
      - run: uv venv && uv pip install -e ".[dev]" && uv run pytest -q

---

Development

uv pip install -e ".[dev]"
uv run pytest -q

Module	Role
sanitize.py	NUL / UTF-16-LE / ANSI
parse.py	Headers → turns
sources.py	Search hits → blockquotes
format_chat.py	Render + disk I/O
cli.py	CLI
server.py	FastMCP stdio

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Limitations

• Heuristic classification; export quality bounds recovery.
• No native Continue UI reconstruction.
• Deterministic local formatting only (no LLM).

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License

MIT — free to use, fork, modify, and redistribute, including commercially, with license notice retained.