feat: add session_id output to enable resuming conversations (#739)

Add a new `session_id` output that exposes the Claude Code session ID,
allowing other workflows or Claude Code instances to resume the
conversation using `--resume <session_id>`.

Changes:
- Add parseAndSetSessionId() function to extract session_id from
  the system.init message in execution output
- Add session_id output to both action.yml and base-action/action.yml
- Add comprehensive tests for the new functionality

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

action.yml

@@ -127,6 +127,9 @@ outputs:
   structured_output:
     description: "JSON string containing all structured output fields when --json-schema is provided in claude_args. Use fromJSON() to parse: fromJSON(steps.id.outputs.structured_output).field_name"
     value: ${{ steps.claude-code.outputs.structured_output }}
+  session_id:
+    description: "The Claude Code session ID that can be used with --resume to continue this conversation"
+    value: ${{ steps.claude-code.outputs.session_id }}
 
 runs:
   using: "composite"

base-action/action.yml

@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@ outputs:
   structured_output:
     description: "JSON string containing all structured output fields when --json-schema is provided in claude_args (use fromJSON() or jq to parse)"
     value: ${{ steps.run_claude.outputs.structured_output }}
+  session_id:
+    description: "The Claude Code session ID that can be used with --resume to continue this conversation"
+    value: ${{ steps.run_claude.outputs.session_id }}
 
 runs:
   using: "composite"

base-action/src/run-claude.ts

@@ -124,6 +124,36 @@ export function prepareRunConfig(
   };
 }
 
+/**
+ * Parses session_id from execution file and sets GitHub Action output
+ * Exported for testing
+ */
+export async function parseAndSetSessionId(
+  executionFile: string,
+): Promise<void> {
+  try {
+    const content = await readFile(executionFile, "utf-8");
+    const messages = JSON.parse(content) as {
+      type: string;
+      subtype?: string;
+      session_id?: string;
+    }[];
+
+    // Find the system.init message which contains session_id
+    const initMessage = messages.find(
+      (m) => m.type === "system" && m.subtype === "init",
+    );
+
+    if (initMessage?.session_id) {
+      core.setOutput("session_id", initMessage.session_id);
+      core.info(`Set session_id: ${initMessage.session_id}`);
+    }
+  } catch (error) {
+    // Don't fail the action if session_id extraction fails
+    core.warning(`Failed to extract session_id: ${error}`);
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Parses structured_output from execution file and sets GitHub Action outputs
  * Only runs if --json-schema was explicitly provided in claude_args
@@ -368,6 +398,9 @@ export async function runClaude(promptPath: string, options: ClaudeOptions) {
 
     core.setOutput("execution_file", EXECUTION_FILE);
 
+    // Extract and set session_id
+    await parseAndSetSessionId(EXECUTION_FILE);
+
     // Parse and set structured outputs only if user provided --json-schema in claude_args
     if (hasJsonSchema) {
       try {

base-action/test/structured-output.test.ts

@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@ import { describe, test, expect, afterEach, beforeEach, spyOn } from "bun:test";
 import { writeFile, unlink } from "fs/promises";
 import { tmpdir } from "os";
 import { join } from "path";
-import { parseAndSetStructuredOutputs } from "../src/run-claude";
+import {
+  parseAndSetStructuredOutputs,
+  parseAndSetSessionId,
+} from "../src/run-claude";
 import * as core from "@actions/core";
 
 // Mock execution file path
@@ -35,16 +38,19 @@ async function createMockExecutionFile(
 // Spy on core functions
 let setOutputSpy: any;
 let infoSpy: any;
+let warningSpy: any;
 
 beforeEach(() => {
   setOutputSpy = spyOn(core, "setOutput").mockImplementation(() => {});
   infoSpy = spyOn(core, "info").mockImplementation(() => {});
+  warningSpy = spyOn(core, "warning").mockImplementation(() => {});
 });
 
 describe("parseAndSetStructuredOutputs", () => {
   afterEach(async () => {
     setOutputSpy?.mockRestore();
     infoSpy?.mockRestore();
+    warningSpy?.mockRestore();
     try {
       await unlink(TEST_EXECUTION_FILE);
     } catch {
@@ -156,3 +162,66 @@ describe("parseAndSetStructuredOutputs", () => {
     );
   });
 });
+
+describe("parseAndSetSessionId", () => {
+  afterEach(async () => {
+    setOutputSpy?.mockRestore();
+    infoSpy?.mockRestore();
+    warningSpy?.mockRestore();
+    try {
+      await unlink(TEST_EXECUTION_FILE);
+    } catch {
+      // Ignore if file doesn't exist
+    }
+  });
+
+  test("should extract session_id from system.init message", async () => {
+    const messages = [
+      { type: "system", subtype: "init", session_id: "test-session-123" },
+      { type: "result", cost_usd: 0.01 },
+    ];
+    await writeFile(TEST_EXECUTION_FILE, JSON.stringify(messages));
+
+    await parseAndSetSessionId(TEST_EXECUTION_FILE);
+
+    expect(setOutputSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith("session_id", "test-session-123");
+    expect(infoSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith("Set session_id: test-session-123");
+  });
+
+  test("should handle missing session_id gracefully", async () => {
+    const messages = [
+      { type: "system", subtype: "init" },
+      { type: "result", cost_usd: 0.01 },
+    ];
+    await writeFile(TEST_EXECUTION_FILE, JSON.stringify(messages));
+
+    await parseAndSetSessionId(TEST_EXECUTION_FILE);
+
+    expect(setOutputSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  test("should handle missing system.init message gracefully", async () => {
+    const messages = [{ type: "result", cost_usd: 0.01 }];
+    await writeFile(TEST_EXECUTION_FILE, JSON.stringify(messages));
+
+    await parseAndSetSessionId(TEST_EXECUTION_FILE);
+
+    expect(setOutputSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  test("should handle malformed JSON gracefully with warning", async () => {
+    await writeFile(TEST_EXECUTION_FILE, "{ invalid json");
+
+    await parseAndSetSessionId(TEST_EXECUTION_FILE);
+
+    expect(setOutputSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(warningSpy).toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  test("should handle non-existent file gracefully with warning", async () => {
+    await parseAndSetSessionId("/nonexistent/file.json");
+
+    expect(setOutputSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(warningSpy).toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+});