ChatRelay Docs
Get started›First-time setup

First-time setup

What the setup wizard asks, step by step.

When ChatRelay opens for the first time, a setup wizard walks you through these steps. You can run it again any time from the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P → Run First-time Setup Again).

  1. Your history. ChatRelay finds Claude Code's history in %USERPROFILE%\.claude\projects (or the folder in CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR) and Codex's in %USERPROFILE%\.codex (or CODEX_HOME). It also finds your Cursor, Kiro and Antigravity chats, and shows how many conversations it found per tool.
  2. Claude Code's 30-day deletion. By default Claude Code deletes conversations older than 30 days (cleanupPeriodDays). ChatRelay shows this and offers to raise it. It backs up settings.json before changing it.
  3. Machine name. For example DESKTOP or LAPTOP. It is shown next to every conversation, so you know which PC it came from.
  4. Storage (backend). A folder (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, network drive) or a private GitHub repository. See the next section.
  5. Anthropic API key (optional). Only needed for summaries. It is stored in the Windows Credential Manager (OS keychain), never in a file.
  6. Auto-sync. Turns on automatic upload/download (Claude Code hooks plus the background timer).
  7. Upload everything. Optionally uploads your whole existing history right away, with a progress bar.