cs export and cs stats: Export Data and View Totals

Use cs export to download session data as JSON or CSV, and cs stats to view aggregate metrics across all sessions including total cost, time, and tokens.

CostHQ lets you export your session history and view lifetime statistics without leaving the terminal. Whether you are generating a client invoice, doing a weekly spend review, or piping data into another tool, cs export and cs stats give you the numbers you need.

cs export

cs export --format csv
cs export --format json
cs export --format json --limit 10

Options

Flag	Description
`—format json	csv`	Output format (default: json)
--limit <n>	Maximum number of sessions to include (most recent first)
--json	Machine-readable output (same as --format json; included for consistency with other commands)

What’s Included

Each exported record contains:

• Session ID and name
• Start and end times
• Duration
• Files changed
• Commits made
• AI tokens used
• AI cost (USD)
• Notes

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cs stats

cs stats [options]

Display aggregate metrics across every session in your history. Use --json to pipe results into scripts or dashboards.

Flag	Description
--json	Machine-readable output

$ cs stats

Overall Statistics:

┌───────────────────┬──────────┐
│ Total Sessions    │ 52       │
│ Total Time        │ 138h 20m │
│ Average Session   │ 2h 39m   │
│ Files Changed     │ 412      │
│ Total Commits     │ 184      │
│ AI Tokens Used    │ 3.1M     │
│ Total AI Cost     │ $104.72  │
└───────────────────┴──────────┘

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Use Cases

Freelance Billing

Pull the exact time and AI spend for a specific piece of work before writing an invoice:

cs show        # precise duration and AI cost for the most recent session
cs show 12     # target a specific session by ID

Weekly Review

Scan the last twenty sessions and then check lifetime totals:

cs list -l 20
cs stats

Export Reports

Capture a dated snapshot of recent sessions or overall stats as plain-text files:

cs list -l 50 > weekly-report-$(date +%Y%m%d).txt
cs stats > monthly-stats-$(date +%Y-%m).txt

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Advanced: Shell Aliases

Add these aliases to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc to cut down on typing for the commands you use most:

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
alias csr="cs run"
alias css="cs start"
alias cse="cs end"
alias csl="cs list"
alias csst="cs stats"

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Advanced: Dynamic Session Notes

Capture git context automatically when you end a session so the notes always reflect exactly what changed:

cs end -n "Branch: $(git branch --show-current)"
cs end -n "Made $(git rev-list --count HEAD ^origin/main) commits"