Followups & Lineage

--followup chains a new run onto an existing session. Oracle selects the continuation path from the parent: ChatGPT browser sessions reopen the exact saved conversation, while OpenAI and Azure Responses API sessions use the stored provider response id. You can supply an additional prompt + files, and oracle status shows the parent/child lineage.

#Why followup instead of starting fresh

• Cheaper. You don't re-pay for the original input tokens.
• Coherent. The model remembers its earlier conclusions and can reason about changes.
• Auditable. oracle status shows the parent/child tree.

#Basic flow

# Initial run
oracle --model gpt-5.5-pro --slug arch-review \
  -p "Audit the auth flow end-to-end" \
  --file "src/auth/**"

# Later — continue with new files
oracle --followup arch-review \
  -p "Re-evaluate now that the rate-limiter is wired in." \
  --file "src/auth/rate-limiter.ts"

For API sessions, --followup accepts:

• A stored session id (a1b2c3…)
• A session slug (arch-review)
• An OpenAI / Azure response id (resp_abc1234…) — useful for chaining onto runs that didn't originate in Oracle.

For a saved ChatGPT browser session, pass its session id or slug:

oracle --followup browser-architecture-review \
  -p "Review this additional file in the same conversation." \
  --file "src/auth/rate-limiter.ts"

Oracle creates a child session, reopens the parent's exact ChatGPT conversation, and submits the new prompt there. It inherits the parent's browser profile, browser configuration, and model, bypasses the model picker, disables Deep Research for the resumed turn, and leaves the conversation unarchived.

Browser resume is fail-closed: Oracle refuses to submit if the saved URL is not a recoverable HTTPS ChatGPT conversation, the page has no stable prior turns, or the browser lands on a different conversation.

#Multi-model parents

When the parent used --models a,b,c, pick which lineage to continue from with --followup-model:

oracle --followup arch-review --followup-model gpt-5.5-pro \
  -p "Continue from the Pro answer" \
  --file "src/auth/rate-limiter.ts"

Without --followup-model, Oracle errors with the available lineage.

#What's chainable

If you try to follow up on an unsupported provider, Oracle errors clearly instead of silently starting fresh.

#Same-run browser multi-turn

In browser mode, --browser-follow-up adds planned prompts to the same ChatGPT conversation during one Oracle run:

oracle --engine browser --model gpt-5.5-pro \
  -p "Review this migration plan" --file docs/migration.md \
  --browser-follow-up "Challenge your previous recommendation" \
  --browser-follow-up "Give the final decision"

Each --browser-follow-up is sent after the previous turn completes. Not supported in Deep Research mode.

#Lineage in oracle status

Status    Model         Mode    Timestamp           Chars    Cost  Slug
completed gpt-5.5-pro   api     05/06 09:00 AM      1800  $2.110  arch-review
completed gpt-5.5-pro   api     05/06 09:14 AM      2200  $2.980  ├─ arch-review-rate-limiter
running   gpt-5.5-pro   api     05/06 09:22 AM      1400       -  │  └─ arch-review-implementation
pending   gpt-5.5-pro   api     05/06 09:25 AM       900       -  └─ arch-review-risk-check

Children inherit the parent's slug prefix unless you pass --slug explicitly.

#Common patterns

• Plan → challenge → final. Three turns: ask Pro to plan, follow up with "find the weakest assumption," follow up again with "given the above, give the final plan."
• Bug → repro → fix. Turn 1 sends the failing test + error. Turn 2 sends the suspected file. Turn 3 sends the proposed fix and asks for review.
• Architecture → implementation. Parent run does design; children focus on individual modules. The tree in oracle status becomes the audit trail.

#Limitations

• Followups don't move between providers. You can't follow up an OpenAI run with a Gemini one — open a new session and re-bundle.
• Browser followup requires a recoverable HTTPS ChatGPT conversation URL and an authenticated browser profile. Gemini web sessions are not supported.
• previous_response_id retention on OpenAI / Azure varies by tier. If a followup fails with "response not found," the parent has aged out — start fresh.
• Custom --base-url proxies (LiteLLM, etc.) often strip the response id. Test once before relying on it.