> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.stackshift.cloud/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Session recordings and history

> Review, play back, and download terminal session recordings, and audit session history — including how retention and purging work.

<Tip>
  **Live.** This area is documented as current, user-reliable behavior.
</Tip>

## Goal

Find and review what happened in a session, and understand how long recordings are kept.

## Prerequisites

* terminal.view\_history for history; terminal.view\_recording / terminal.download\_recording for recordings

## Workflow

<Steps>
  <Step>
    Open the History view for session metadata and explicit command/runbook activity.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Open the Recordings view to play back or download recorded sessions.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Export history as CSV or JSON when you need an external audit trail.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Revoke an active session, or reconnect to a recently dropped one, from the same surface.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Recordings

Recorded sessions are stored as asciicast streams and can be played back in the dashboard or downloaded. Production sessions are always recorded; non-production recording can be required by policy.

## Retention and purging (no manual delete)

Recordings are retained for a configurable number of days — separately for production and non-production — and then purged automatically by the platform on an hourly retention sweep. There is intentionally no manual delete button: recordings age out and are removed on their own once past retention. Adjust retention days in the terminal policy if you need a shorter or longer window.

## History and active sessions

* History lists sessions with target, environment, mode, reason, timestamps, and close reason.
* Export combines session records with terminal/database audit events (CSV or JSON).
* Policy managers can revoke a live session; users can reconnect to their own dropped session within the grace window.

## Expected result

<Check>
  You can audit terminal activity and replay recorded sessions within their retention window.
</Check>

## Related guides

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Production safeguards and approvals" href="/terminal/production-safeguards">
    How a target’s environment is classified, why production access is gated, and the reason/approval flow members must follow.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Terminal policy and file transfer" href="/terminal/policy-and-file-transfer">
    The policy controls owners/admins use to govern terminal behavior, plus browsing and transferring files within a session.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Terminal workspace overview" href="/terminal/overview">
    The per-project operations workspace where you open application and database shells, run runbooks and commands, and review session history and recordings.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>