[BUG] [v0.0.7] cortex sessions shows date without seconds (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM) but cortex export picker shows date with seconds (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS) — inconsistent timestamp precision for the same session

[vasylchow]

Project

cortex

Description

cortex sessions truncates session timestamps to 16 bytes (timestamp[..16]), producing YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM (no seconds). cortex export (session picker) truncates to 19 bytes (timestamp[..19]), producing YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS (with seconds). The same session viewed through these two commands displays different date precision, confusing users who try to cross-reference sessions between them.
In src/cortex-cli/src/cli/handlers.rs line 806-807:

let date = if session.timestamp.len() >= 16 {
  session.timestamp[..16].replace('T', " ")

In src/cortex-cli/src/export_cmd.rs line 268-269:

let date = if session.timestamp.len() >= 19 {
  session.timestamp[..19].replace('T', " ")

Both operate on the same SessionInfo objects returned by list_sessions(), so the source timestamp is identical. The only difference is the hard-coded slice length: 16 vs 19.

Error Message

Debug Logs

System Information

Ubuntu 24.04

Screenshots

Steps to Reproduce

1. Run a session so at least one session exists (e.g. cortex run "hello")
2. Run cortex sessions and note the Date column for a session — it shows YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM (e.g. 2026-03-31 14:30)
3. Run cortex export and note the date for the same session ID — it shows YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS (e.g. 2026-03-31 14:30:45)
4. Observe that the same session displays different timestamp precision in the two commands

Expected Behavior

Both cortex sessions and cortex export should use the same timestamp precision for session dates. Either both should show seconds ([..19]) or both should omit them ([..16]), so users can consistently identify sessions across commands.

Actual Behavior

cortex sessions shows 2026-03-31 14:30 (no seconds) while cortex export shows 2026-03-31 14:30:45 (with seconds) for the same session, making cross-referencing unnecessarily difficult.

Additional Context

No response

[echobt]

Bug Validation

Verdict: VALID

Reason:
The issue reports an inconsistency in timestamp precision between cortex sessions and the cortex export session picker. Specifically, cortex sessions truncates the timestamp to 16 bytes (omitting seconds), while cortex export truncates it to 19 bytes (including seconds).

I verified the codebase and found the exact lines mentioned in the issue:
In src/cortex-cli/src/cli/handlers.rs (around line 806):

        let date = if session.timestamp.len() >= 16 {
            session.timestamp[..16].replace('T', " ")
        } else {
            session.timestamp.clone()
        };

In src/cortex-cli/src/export_cmd.rs (around line 268):

        let date = if session.timestamp.len() >= 19 {
            session.timestamp[..19].replace('T', " ")
        } else {
            session.timestamp.clone()
        };

The code confirms the bug: the two commands use different hardcoded slice lengths ([..16] vs [..19]) to format the timestamp from the same SessionInfo object, leading to inconsistent display precision (minutes vs seconds) for the same session.

The screenshots are accessible and coherent with the issue description, showing the output of both commands with the differing timestamp formats. No exact duplicates were found. The bug is valid and verified in the code.

Bug Process:

graph TD
    A[User runs cortex sessions] --> B[Expect consistent timestamp precision]
    A --> C[Shows YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM without seconds]
    D[User runs cortex export] --> B
    D --> E[Shows YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS with seconds]
    C --> F[Inconsistent timestamp precision for same session]
    E --> F
    style C fill:#ff6b6b
    style E fill:#ff6b6b
    style F fill:#ff6b6b

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