How to share an Aider chat history

For slink 0.9.0 · updated 2026-10-09.

Run slink view --from aider in a project to read an Aider session in your browser, then publish the part you choose as an end-to-end encrypted link. A session is one run from .aider.chat.history.md: what you typed, the model's replies, and Aider's own notices of the edits, commits and test output. Nothing is uploaded until you publish, and the person you send the link to needs only a browser.

Read the session

slink view --from aider

Aider has no session store. It appends every run in a project to .aider.chat.history.md, in the directory it was started in or the git root when there is one. slink treats each run in that file as a session, named by the start time Aider wrote for it. It takes a snapshot of the one you choose and opens it in a local web reader. No account is needed.

The reader opens on your latest message and the reply to it, and search covers one exchange or the whole session. Read a session in the user guide describes the reader in full. Install has the three ways to get slink.

In the reader, choose Share this view. The panel starts with your message and the reply and shows exactly what will be shared. Add a title and a comment if the reader will need them, then choose Publish link and who can open it: anyone with the link, or up to ten people by email address.

From the terminal, this publishes the newest Aider run for the project, whole, after showing it and asking:

slink share --from aider

To share one passage and not the whole chat, select the text in the reader and choose Comment and share. Share in the user guide covers each step.

What an Aider session contains

Aider's history holds less than other agents record, and nothing is made up for it.

The session is labelled Reconstructed, because it is read from the history file and not recorded on the wire.
There are no tool calls by the model. Aider's edits are text in the reply, so its notices stand as the evidence of what it did: the edits it applied, its commits, and its lint and test output.
There are no token counts. Aider prints them rounded, and they stay in its notices as written.
There is one time, the start of the run. Where .aider.input.history is beside the file, a typed entry takes its time from there.
The output of /run and any image are not in the history, so they are not in the session.
The model and Aider's version are read from the notices at the start of the run.

slink is checked against Aider 0.86.2. The handoff design lists the evidence and the limits.

Privacy

Reading sends nothing. The reader runs on your own machine.
A share is encrypted on your machine with its own AES-256-GCM key before upload. The server stores ciphertext.
Before upload the session is scanned for common credential formats, and a match stops the publish. This is a safety net, not a guarantee.
slink delete with the link takes a share offline.

Privacy and security has the detail.

Questions

Does the person I send it to need Aider or slink?

No. They open the link in a browser.

Is my chat history uploaded when I run slink view?

No. slink view reads the file on your disk and serves the reader from your own machine. Uploading happens only when you choose Publish link or run slink share.

My history file has another name. Is it found?

Not by itself. A history that Aider was told to keep under another name, by an option, an environment variable or a configuration file, is not looked for. Give its path with --session and it is read.