Bug Report: Session Export Fails with "unknown variant conversationCompacted"

Summary

Unable to export session 20251028_7 using goose session export command. The command fails with error: unknown variant 'conversationCompacted', indicating a serialization format incompatibility.

Environment

• OS: macOS (Darwin Kernel Version 25.1.0, ARM64)
• Goose CLI Version: 1.14.0
• Goose Desktop Version: 1.14.0-block.202511121907-38eb9
• Installation Method: Unknown (cargo not found, likely pre-built binary)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Launch Goose Desktop app and have a conversation (session created: 20251028_7)
2. Attempt to export the session using CLI:

   goose session export --session-id 20251028_7

3. Error occurs

Expected Behavior

The session should export successfully to a file, allowing users to back up or share their conversation history.

Actual Behavior

Command fails with error:

unknown variant `conversationCompacted`, expected one of `text`, `image`, `toolRequest`, `toolResponse`, `toolConfirmationRequest`, `frontendToolRequest`, `thinking`, `redactedThinking`, `systemNotification` at line 1 column 32

Additional Context

Session Visibility

• The session IS visible in goose session list:

  20251028_7 - C4B dispute process - 2025-10-28 23:46:49 UTC
  

• The session was created in the Desktop app

Affected Tools

This issue affects multiple tools:

1. CLI session export command - Primary failure
2. chatrecall tool - Also fails when trying to load this session with the same error
3. Other sessions (e.g., 20251117_1, 20251110_1) work fine with both tools

Error Analysis

The error message suggests:

• Desktop app is writing sessions using a conversationCompacted message variant
• CLI and chatrecall tool don't recognize this variant in their deserialization logic
• This appears to be a new message type not yet supported in the session export/read code paths

Impact

• Severity: Medium-High
• No workaround available for affected sessions
• Chat session shown in CLI and Desktop but not exportable or resumeable

Workaround

None available. Older sessions using the previous format can still be exported successfully.

Suggested Fix

Update the session export and chatrecall deserialization code to handle the conversationCompacted message variant, or ensure Desktop app uses a format compatible with CLI tools.

Questions for Maintainers

1. Is conversationCompacted a new optimization for session storage?
2. Should CLI tools be updated to support this variant?
3. Or should Desktop app avoid using this variant for now?
4. Is there a migration path for affected sessions?

Reporter: User via Goose Desktop 1.14.0
Date: 2025-11-18