Multilingual Session Parsing

The Problem¶

Your team works across languages. Session files written by AI tools might use headers like # Oturum: 2026-01-15 - API Düzeltme (Turkish) or # セッション: 2026-01-15 - テスト (Japanese) instead of # Session: 2026-01-15 - Fix API.

By default, ctx only recognizes Session: as a session header prefix. Files with other prefixes are silently skipped during recall export and journal generation: They look like regular Markdown, not sessions.

TL;DR¶

Add recognized prefixes to .ctxrc:

session_prefixes:
  - "Session:"      # English (include to keep default)
  - "Oturum:"       # Turkish
  - "セッション:"     # Japanese

Restart your session. All configured prefixes are now recognized.

How It Works¶

The Markdown session parser detects session files by looking for an H1 header that starts with a known prefix followed by a date:

# Session: 2026-01-15 - Fix API Rate Limiting
# Oturum: 2026-01-15 - API Düzeltme
# セッション: 2026-01-15 - テスト

The list of recognized prefixes comes from session_prefixes in .ctxrc. When the key is absent or empty, ctx falls back to the built-in default: ["Session:"].

Date-only headers (# 2026-01-15 - Morning Work) are always recognized regardless of prefix configuration.

Configuration¶

Adding a language¶

Add the prefix with a trailing colon to your .ctxrc:

session_prefixes:
  - "Session:"
  - "Sesión:"       # Spanish

Include Session: explicitly

When you override session_prefixes, the default is replaced, not extended. If you still want English headers recognized, include "Session:" in your list.

Team setup¶

Commit .ctxrc to the repo so all team members share the same prefix list. This ensures ctx recall export and journal generation pick up sessions from all team members regardless of language.

Common prefixes¶

Language	Prefix
English	`Session:`
Turkish	`Oturum:`
Spanish	`Sesión:`
French	`Session:`
German	`Sitzung:`
Japanese	`セッション:`
Korean	`세션:`
Portuguese	`Sessão:`
Chinese	`会话:`

Verifying¶

After configuring, test with ctx recall list. Sessions with the new prefixes should appear in the output.

What This Does NOT Do¶

Change the interface language: ctx output is always English. This setting only controls which session files ctx can parse.
Generate headers: ctx never writes session headers. The prefix list is recognition-only (input, not output).
Affect JSONL sessions: Claude Code JSONL transcripts don't use header prefixes. This only applies to Markdown session files in .context/sessions/.