signal-history-search

• You need to quote or summarize prior Signal conversations.
• You already have Signal Desktop installed on macOS.
• You want fast, instant search without export delays.

1. Retrieves the encryption key from macOS Keychain (Signal Safe Storage)
2. Decrypts the key using PBKDF2 (same as Signal Desktop)
3. Opens the SQLite database directly with SQLCipher
4. Runs SQL queries against messages and conversations tables
5. No files are written; searches happen in memory

First run caches the Python environment path (~5-10s setup), subsequent runs are sub-second.

```bash

# List all available chats

signal-search list

# Dump all messages from a specific day

signal-search dump --date "2026-01-25"

# Dump a specific day's chat with one person

signal-search dump --date "2026-01-25" --chat "Dariush"

# Search within a specific chat

signal-search search --query "istanbul" --chat "Monika"

# Search with context (messages before/after matches)

signal-search search --query "flight" --chat "Monika" --context 3

# Regex search across all chats

signal-search search --query "invoice.*\d{4}"

# Literal string search (not regex)

signal-search search --query "100$" --literal

# Case-sensitive search

signal-search search --query "API" --case-sensitive

# Limit number of results

signal-search search --query "meeting" --max-count 10

```

Commands

| Command | Description |

| ------- | ----------- |

| list | List all available chats (name and type) |

| dump | Dump all messages from a specific day |

| search | Search messages |

Dump Flags

| Flag | Short | Description |

| ---- | ----- | ----------- |

| --date | -d | Date to dump (required) |

| --chat | -c | Filter to chats containing this string |

Search Flags

| Flag | Short | Description |

| ---- | ----- | ----------- |

| --query | -q | Search pattern (regex by default) |

| --chat | -c | Filter to chats containing this string |

| --context | -C | Show N messages before and after matches |

| --max-count | -m | Stop after N matches |

| --case-sensitive | -s | Case-sensitive search (default: smart-case) |

| --literal | -F | Treat query as literal string, not regex |

```

> [2026-01-15 12:01:11] Monika Schmid | Monika Schmid: Habe Fluge gebucht!

[2026-01-15 12:40:53] Monika Schmid | Me: Schon!

```

• Lines starting with > are matches
• Format: [timestamp] Chat Name | Sender: Message
• Context lines (if requested) don't have the > prefix

| Operation | Time |

| --------- | ---- |

| First run (env setup) | ~5-10s |

| Subsequent searches | <0.5s |

| Full chat search (1000s of messages) | <1s |

• The database key is retrieved from macOS Keychain using security find-generic-password
• No data is written to disk; all searches happen in memory
• The cached Python path is stored in ~/.cache/signal-search/
• Searches happen locally; nothing leaves your machine

The old export-based script (signal-history-search) is still available but deprecated. It uses sigexport to create a temporary export, then searches with ripgrep. This is slower (~15-30s) but may be useful if the direct DB access fails.

```bash

# Old method (slower, requires full export)

signal-history-search search --chat "Name" --query "pattern"

```

• "Failed to get keychain password": Ensure Signal Desktop has been opened at least once and you've granted keychain access
• "Signal Desktop not found": Check that ~/Library/Application Support/Signal exists
• First run slow: This is normal; nix-shell is setting up the Python environment with SQLCipher bindings
• "nix-shell: command not found": Install Nix package manager