What changes in an ordinary session
You tell Claude Code a migration has to run before a specific worker deploys, or that a library was tried and dropped for a documented reason. Some coding tools already keep a note like that: Claude Code’s own auto memory, on by default, can save a correction like this for its next session on the same repository, on the same machine.
That note stays where it was written. Switch from Claude Code to Codex, or from your laptop to a second machine, and the same constraint is not there to be recalled: each tool keeps its own memory, tied to the machine it runs on.
With capture and recall connected, the same fact is retained once, with its source, and offered back automatically wherever you are working: a different tool, a different machine, the same repository. Switch from Claude Code to Codex, raise the same migration, and the assistant opens already knowing the ordering constraint and citing where it came from, rather than proposing the sequence that already failed.
The useful context is often the reason
Code shows what was built. It may not explain why a library was rejected, why a migration must be staged or which earlier approach failed. Those decisions can save the next session from repeating work.
Start with a few relevant constraints and their sources. An enormous undifferentiated project history is not automatically a useful prompt.
Connect capture and recall
The thinqOS CLI supports installing capture and recall hooks for Claude Code and Codex. Preview access and a valid connection are prerequisites. The setup guide gives the installed client commands and the connectivity check.
A hook being installed is only the first check. Confirm a session was captured, a fact was retained and the next tool retrieved it. Capture itself runs as a hook triggered when a turn ends, not a step the model decides to take or skip: the harness runs it regardless of what the model produced and ships the transcript rather than making another model call, so the added cost is negligible, checkable by looking for the hook in your client’s configuration.
Try a real handoff
In one tool, record a harmless convention and its reason. Begin a fresh session in the other tool and ask for work where it matters. Inspect the recalled context and generated result.
Change the convention, correct the memory and repeat. That reveals whether the system can handle evolving decisions rather than only replaying old text.
Keep authored rules authoritative
Repository instructions belong under your control. Learned context can describe experience without silently rewriting those instructions. Retrieved external material should remain source material, not become a command to ignore your rules.
Review permissions before capturing confidential work. Cross-tool continuity is only useful when the right person and project receive the right context.