Anchor Schema

Anchor (`metadata.json`)

The root-level metadata.json for each commit:

{
  "anchor_schema_version": 1,
  "oobo_version": "2.0.0",
  "commit_hash": "c8e12fa9b3d4abcdef1234567890abcdef123456",
  "branch": "main",
  "author": "Teddy <teddy@example.com>",
  "author_type": "assisted",
  "contributors": [
    { "name": "Teddy <teddy@example.com>", "role": "human" },
    { "name": "cursor", "role": "agent", "model": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514" }
  ],
  "committed_at": 1714500000,
  "message": "feat: add widget support",
  "files_changed": ["src/widget.rs", "src/lib.rs"],
  "added": 42,
  "deleted": 5,
  "file_changes": [
    {
      "path": "src/widget.rs",
      "added": 40,
      "deleted": 0,
      "attribution": "ai",
      "agent": "cursor",
      "line_attributions": [
        {
          "author": "ai",
          "ranges": [{ "start": 1, "end": 40 }],
          "agent": "cursor"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "path": "src/lib.rs",
      "added": 2,
      "deleted": 5,
      "attribution": "human"
    }
  ],
  "ai_added": 40,
  "ai_deleted": 0,
  "human_added": 2,
  "human_deleted": 5,
  "ai_percentage": 85.1,
  "session_ids": ["sess-abc"],
  "summary": "Added widget module with rendering pipeline",
  "intent": "User asked to create a reusable widget component",
  "reasoning": "Chose composition over inheritance for flexibility",
  "transparency_mode": "on",
  "file_interactions": [
    {
      "path": "src/widget.rs",
      "sessions": [
        { "session_id": "sess-abc", "role": "writer" },
        { "session_id": "sess-def", "role": "reader" }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "turns": [
    {
      "id": "turn-001",
      "session_id": "sess-abc",
      "source": "cursor",
      "turn_index": 3,
      "tree_hash": "a1b2c3d4e5f6..."
    }
  ]
}

Field Reference

Field	Type	Required	Description
`anchor_schema_version`	`u32`	Yes	Always `1`. Use for forward compatibility checks
`oobo_version`	`string`	Yes	CLI version that wrote this anchor (semver)
`commit_hash`	`string`	Yes	Full 40-char SHA of the enriched commit
`branch`	`string`	Yes	Branch name at commit time
`author`	`string`	Yes	Git author line: `Name <email>`
`author_type`	`enum`	Yes	How the commit was authored (see below)
`contributors`	`array`	No	All humans + AI tools that contributed
`committed_at`	`i64`	Yes	Unix timestamp in seconds
`message`	`string`	Yes	Full commit message
`files_changed`	`string[]`	Yes	Paths of all files changed in the commit
`added`	`u32`	Yes	Total lines added
`deleted`	`u32`	Yes	Total lines deleted
`file_changes`	`array`	No	Per-file breakdown (empty for legacy anchors)
`ai_added`	`u32`	Yes	Lines added attributed to AI
`ai_deleted`	`u32`	Yes	Lines deleted attributed to AI
`human_added`	`u32`	Yes	Lines added attributed to human
`human_deleted`	`u32`	Yes	Lines deleted attributed to human
`ai_percentage`	`f64?`	No	0.0-100.0. `null` if no AI involvement
`session_ids`	`string[]`	Yes	IDs of linked AI sessions (empty if pure human)
`summary`	`string?`	No	AI-generated summary of the commit
`intent`	`string?`	No	What the user asked the AI to do
`reasoning`	`string?`	No	Why the AI chose this approach
`transparency_mode`	`enum`	Yes	`"on"` or `"off"` - indicates if transcripts are present
`file_interactions`	`array?`	No	Multi-agent file access patterns (present when 2+ sessions)
`turns`	`array`	No	Turn references that led into this commit

`author_type` Enum

Value	Meaning
`"agent"`	AI autonomously committed (non-interactive terminal + active session)
`"assisted"`	Human committed while collaborating with AI (most common)
`"human"`	Pure human commit - no AI involvement whatsoever
`"automated"`	CI/CD or script (non-interactive, no AI session)

`contributors[].role` Enum

Value	Meaning
`"human"`	Human developer
`"agent"`	AI tool/model

`file_changes[].attribution` Enum

Value	Meaning
`"ai"`	AI agent wrote/edited this file
`"human"`	Human wrote this file
`"mixed"`	Both contributed to this file

`line_attributions[].ranges`

1-indexed line numbers
Inclusive on both ends (start and end)
Only covers lines added or modified in this commit
Lines unchanged from the parent are not represented

`file_interactions[].sessions[].role` Enum

Value	Meaning
`"writer"`	Session edited this file
`"reader"`	Session read this file
`"both"`	Session both read and wrote this file

`turns[]` Fields

Field	Type	Description
`id`	`string`	Unique turn identifier
`session_id`	`string`	Parent session
`source`	`string`	Tool that generated the turn
`turn_index`	`i64`	Position within the session
`tree_hash`	`string?`	Git tree hash capturing workspace state at this turn

SessionLink (`N/metadata.json`)

{
  "session_id": "sess-abc",
  "agent": "cursor",
  "model": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
  "link_type": "explicit",
  "input_tokens": 15000,
  "output_tokens": 8000,
  "cache_read_tokens": 5000,
  "cache_creation_tokens": 2000,
  "duration_secs": 120,
  "tool_calls": 14,
  "files_touched": ["src/widget.rs", "src/lib.rs"],
  "tool_usage": { "Edit": 8, "Bash": 3, "Read": 2, "Grep": 1 },
  "tool_failures": 1,
  "subagent_count": 2,
  "bash_commands": ["cargo build", "cargo test"],
  "thinking_duration_ms": 45000,
  "compact_count": 1,
  "context_tokens": 128000,
  "context_window_size": 200000,
  "is_subagent": false,
  "parent_session_id": null,
  "subagent_type": null,
  "is_estimated": false,
  "peer_session_ids": ["sess-def"]
}

Field Reference

Field	Type	Required	Description
`session_id`	`string`	Yes	Unique session identifier
`agent`	`string`	Yes	Tool name (see supported agents below)
`model`	`string?`	No	LLM model identifier
`link_type`	`enum`	Yes	`"explicit"` (hooks confirmed) or `"inferred"` (time-window heuristic)
`input_tokens`	`u64?`	No	Prompt tokens consumed
`output_tokens`	`u64?`	No	Completion tokens generated
`cache_read_tokens`	`u64?`	No	Tokens served from prompt cache
`cache_creation_tokens`	`u64?`	No	Tokens written to prompt cache
`duration_secs`	`u64?`	No	Wall-clock session duration in seconds
`tool_calls`	`u32?`	No	Total tool invocations
`files_touched`	`string[]?`	No	Relative file paths the AI read or wrote
`tool_usage`	`map<string, u32>?`	No	Tool call breakdown by name
`tool_failures`	`u32?`	No	Count of failed tool calls
`subagent_count`	`u32?`	No	Number of subagents spawned
`bash_commands`	`string[]?`	No	Shell commands the AI executed
`thinking_duration_ms`	`u64?`	No	Cumulative thinking/reasoning time
`compact_count`	`u32?`	No	Context compaction events
`context_tokens`	`u64?`	No	Total context tokens at session end
`context_window_size`	`u64?`	No	Max context window capacity
`is_subagent`	`bool`	Yes	Whether this is a child/sub session
`parent_session_id`	`string?`	No	Parent session ID (if `is_subagent` is true)
`subagent_type`	`string?`	No	e.g. `"explore"`, `"shell"`, `"generalPurpose"`
`is_estimated`	`bool`	Yes	`true` if token counts are heuristic estimates
`peer_session_ids`	`string[]`	No	Sessions that shared files with this one

Supported `agent` Values

Value	Tool
`"cursor"`	Cursor IDE
`"claude"`	Claude Code (CLI)
`"codex"`	OpenAI Codex CLI
`"copilot"`	GitHub Copilot
`"aider"`	Aider
`"gemini"`	Google Gemini CLI
`"zed"`	Zed editor
`"continue"`	Continue.dev
`"windsurf"`	Windsurf
`"amp"`	Amp
`"kiro"`	Kiro
`"junie"`	JetBrains Junie
`"trae"`	Trae
`"droid"`	Factory Droid
`"opencode"`	OpenCode

Transcript (`N/transcript.json`)

The transcript is the full AI conversation in JSON format. Its internal structure varies by agent:

Cursor/Claude/Codex: JSONL-style array of message objects with role, content, tool calls
Copilot/Gemini/Zed: Platform-specific JSON format

All transcripts are:

Redacted: Secrets (API keys, passwords, tokens) replaced with [REDACTED]
Path-stripped: Absolute paths normalized to relative paths
Present only when transparency_mode == "on" in the parent anchor

The backend should store transcripts as opaque JSON blobs and parse them as needed.

Timeline (`timeline.json`, optional)

Present only when multiple sessions interacted with the same files during a commit window.

{
  "session_count": 2,
  "longest_session_ms": 120000,
  "file_interactions": [
    {
      "path": "src/main.rs",
      "sessions": [
        { "session_id": "s1", "role": "writer" },
        { "session_id": "s2", "role": "reader" }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "events": [
    { "session_id": "s1", "path": "src/main.rs", "action": "write", "timestamp": 1714500010 },
    { "session_id": "s2", "path": "src/main.rs", "action": "read", "timestamp": 1714500059 }
  ]
}

Subagent Metadata (`subagents/N/metadata.json`, optional)

{
  "subagent_type": "explore",
  "session_id": "sub-abc123"
}

Present alongside subagent transcripts to identify the subagent type.

JSON Response Fields (`--json`)

`oobo anchors --json`

Array of objects: sha, project, subject, timestamp, tool, tokens, sessions, ai_pct.

`oobo anchor show <sha> --json`

Object: sha, parents[], timestamp, author.raw, subject, tools[], tokens.{input,output,cache_read,cache_write,total}, attribution.{ai_lines,human_lines,ai_pct}, sessions[], files_changed[].

`oobo recall --json`

Object: query, sources[], total_hits, hits[] for local and/or remote matches.

`oobo blame --json`

Per-line attribution with cross-commit tracing. Each line is traced to its originating commit via git blame --porcelain, and the anchor for that commit is loaded to resolve AI/human attribution. Includes origin_sha, ai, agent, session_ids, tokens, committed_at, and message per line. See the blame command reference for the full schema.

`oobo goto --json`

Object: action: "goto", target, stashed (bool), memory_path (optional).

`oobo back --json`

Object: action: "back", label, stash_applied (bool), remaining_depth (int).

`oobo settings --json`

Object/array of effective setting rows. Valid keys: key, api_url, remote, transparency, tools.experimental, setup.scan_roots.

Bare `oobo --json` (outside a repo)

Object: projects[] and aggregate stats. Each project includes id, name, path, remote, enabled, last_activity, anchors, tokens, ai_pct.

Get Started

Usage

Deep Dives

Anchor Schema

Anchor (`metadata.json`)

Field Reference

`author_type` Enum

`contributors[].role` Enum

`file_changes[].attribution` Enum

`line_attributions[].ranges`

`file_interactions[].sessions[].role` Enum

`turns[]` Fields

SessionLink (`N/metadata.json`)

Field Reference

Supported `agent` Values

Transcript (`N/transcript.json`)

Timeline (`timeline.json`, optional)

Subagent Metadata (`subagents/N/metadata.json`, optional)

JSON Response Fields (`--json`)

`oobo anchors --json`

`oobo anchor show <sha> --json`

`oobo recall --json`

`oobo blame --json`

`oobo goto --json`

`oobo back --json`

`oobo settings --json`

Bare `oobo --json` (outside a repo)

​Anchor (metadata.json)

​Field Reference

​author_type Enum

​contributors[].role Enum

​file_changes[].attribution Enum

​line_attributions[].ranges

​file_interactions[].sessions[].role Enum

​turns[] Fields

​SessionLink (N/metadata.json)

​Field Reference

​Supported agent Values

​Transcript (N/transcript.json)

​Timeline (timeline.json, optional)

​Subagent Metadata (subagents/N/metadata.json, optional)

​JSON Response Fields (--json)

​oobo anchors --json

​oobo anchor show <sha> --json

​oobo recall --json

​oobo blame --json

​oobo goto --json

​oobo back --json

​oobo settings --json

​Bare oobo --json (outside a repo)

Anchor (`metadata.json`)

Field Reference

`author_type` Enum

`contributors[].role` Enum

`file_changes[].attribution` Enum

`line_attributions[].ranges`

`file_interactions[].sessions[].role` Enum

`turns[]` Fields

SessionLink (`N/metadata.json`)

Field Reference

Supported `agent` Values

Transcript (`N/transcript.json`)

Timeline (`timeline.json`, optional)

Subagent Metadata (`subagents/N/metadata.json`, optional)

JSON Response Fields (`--json`)

`oobo anchors --json`

`oobo anchor show <sha> --json`

`oobo recall --json`

`oobo blame --json`

`oobo goto --json`

`oobo back --json`

`oobo settings --json`

Bare `oobo --json` (outside a repo)