[FEATURE] Rename tabs in VS Code Extension

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/10747
2. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/10305
3. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/3161

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

• If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
• To prevent auto-closure, add a comment or 👎 this comment

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

I agree with OP and +1 to this one.

This issue has been inactive for 30 days. If the issue is still occurring, please comment to let us know. Otherwise, this issue will be automatically closed in 30 days for housekeeping purposes.

Update

This issue is still relevant, for VS Code Claude users, at a minimum. Users are submitting dozens of related issues and they are being closed.

My conclusion

Rename, Delete, and generally session management tools which allow users to more quickly accurately access targeted previous sessions and to manage multi-session workflows continue to be hotly requested, especially in VS Code.

Relevant Issues Lists

VS Code Extension Issues

BOTH Rename & Delete

• #10747 🟢 Open (8 reactions) — Oct 31, 2025 — Delete and rename chats in VS Code extension

RENAME Only

• #11408 🟠 Open (Duplicate) (13 reactions) — Nov 11, 2025 — Add ability to name and organize conversation sessions
• #11145 🟡 Set to autoclose (6 reactions) — Nov 6, 2025 — Rename tabs in VS Code Extension
• #9198 🚫 Closed (Duplicate) — Oct 9, 2025 — Add the ability to manually rename conversation titles in VS Code extension
• #11601 🚫 Closed (Duplicate) — Nov 14, 2025 — Tagging or renaming previous conversation for easier access
• #11694 🚫 Closed (Duplicate) — Nov 15, 2025 — Allow renaming conversations in the VCS panel
• #11808 🚫 Closed (Duplicate) — Nov 17, 2025 — Session Renaming in VS Code Extension
• #11956 🔴 Closed — Nov 19, 2025 — Allow renaming conversation titles in Past Conversations
• #12812 🔴 Closed — Dec 1, 2025 — Add custom naming for conversation sessions
• #15050 🚫 Closed (Duplicate) — Dec 22, 2025 — Ability to rename conversations in the VS Code sidebar

DELETE Only

• #13780 🚫 Closed (Duplicate) — Dec 12, 2025 — Add command to delete chat sessions

---

One Issue re: Both CLI and VS Code

• #15576 🟢 Open — Dec 28, 2025 — Add session management: delete and rename sessions in CLI and VS Code extension

---

CLI / TUI Issues

BOTH Rename & Delete

• #2562 🟢 Open (88 reactions) — Jun 25, 2025 — Need session/conversation deletion and management tools
• #15453 🟢 Open — Dec 26, 2025 — Conversation Branching - Hierarchical sessions for complex multi-theme work

RENAME Only

• #3605 🟡 Set to autoclose (57 reactions) — Jul 16, 2025 — Need an ability to rename the claude code sessions
• #7441 🟢 Open (27 reactions) — Sep 11, 2025 — Rename the conversation
• #4443 🟡 Set to autoclose (7 reactions) — Jul 25, 2025 — Implement Named Conversation Branching for Advanced Session Management
• #7456 🟡 Set to autoclose — Sep 11, 2025 — Add CLI option to rename/resume existing coding sessions
• #12613 🟡 Set to autoclose — Nov 28, 2025 — Add descriptive titles for continued sessions after context limit
• #12181 🚫 Closed (Duplicate) — Nov 23, 2025 — Custom Session Naming for Improved Session Management
• #13119 🚫 Closed (Duplicate) — Dec 5, 2025 — Allow users to set custom titles for conversation sessions in CLI

DELETE Only

• #13514 🟢 Open (5 reactions) — Dec 10, 2025 — Delete Claude Code sessions
• #10791 🟡 Set to autoclose — Nov 1, 2025 — One-shot command to wipe all conversation history
• #6084 🟢 Open — Aug 19, 2025 — How do I delete a single conversation from my chat history?

---

# Relevant Issues Lists ## VS Code Extension Issues ### BOTH Rename & Delete * #10747 🟢 Open (8 reactions) — Oct 31, 2025 — Delete and rename chats in VS Code extension ### RENAME Only ### DELETE Only ## One Issue re: Both CLI and VS Code

Seconding this request and the compilation very nicely put.

I would like to highlight a specific use case regarding the VS Code Extension > Delete requests listed above.

Claude Code in VS Code creates "ghost" sessions (see figure). While these appear empty to the user, they seem to still contain a couple of tokens of usage, and are stored in the history. (The one shown was called "No prompt" created 3h ago)

<img width="942" height="825" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/180475c9-0e6b-49ab-946d-9c16afec109d" />

A feature to detect and clean these specific sessions is needed, making the manual Delete commands requested in this list even more urgent.

* #13514

Hello - #13514 is not the same as this request. #13514 asks for deleting sessions in Claude Code online/desktop - not the VSCode or cli sessions

Apologies! I've moved it to the correct section in my post above, accordingly. Thank you for calling it out @mkalam-cloudzero.

Upvote! I often have 5-8 tabs open at the same time, and it's often impossible to know which tab belongs to which chat.

The /rename command in CLI renames the conversation, and could also rename the tab in VSCode.
Even better would be if the VSCode plugin automatically generated a short, unique name, making it easier to distinguish multiple tabs.

Upvoted. I have two requests: firstly the automatic title should not just be the first few words but it should be generated intelligently just like in Claude desktop and Claude Web and how IDEs like Cursor generate intelligent titles for agents. And then second request is that the user should be able to override the intelligent automatic title and generate their own. This rename is very popular with the /rename in Claude code CLI and very popular with Cursor agents but badly needed for Claude Code in VSCode extension. Regardless many thanks to the team for an amazing product.

I would argue for the rename since the session / tab often start as one thing and move to something related later

+1 for this feature, this has been requested multiple times (#9198, #11808, #15802) and there's already a community extension [[Claude Chats]](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=AlexZanfir.claude-chats) proving significant demand.
MVP suggestion: A simple right-click context menu with "Rename Session" on the tab would solve 90% of use cases, similar to how VS Code allows renaming terminals.

It would also be good if the initial name was automatically generated based on the content and not just based on the few words like in Claude's normal chat UI. But then it's also critical to allow a simple rename.

Related next to the name in the VSCode extension tab, there should be an indicator whether the tab is actively working or not. There is already a dot indicator if the tab is waiting for the user input but there is no indicator to distinguish between "agent is active" and "agent is idle." Thanks!

I absolutely agree with OP regarding this request. Currently the tabs are named like first sentence in the context. But it's obvious that users should be able to rename tabs at their convenience. For example my context starts with "Hi, did you read Claude.MD".. and later we start discussing certain parts of code.. so my tab is permanently named "hi, did you read Claude.MD"....

+1 — and I'd love to push this even further with themed tab groups.
I run multiple Claude Code sessions in parallel across different domains of the same project (data science, 3D rendering, computer vision). Tab renaming is a must, but here's the full vision I'd love to see:

• Renamable tabs — label sessions by feature/domain instead of the first message
• Color-coded tab groups — e.g. green group for data science chats, purple for 3D-related sessions
• Persistent grouping — so the organization survives restarts

Now I realize some of this sits at the frontier between what the Claude Code extension can do (renaming is 100% in scope via WebviewPanel.title) and what depends on VSCode's side. I'm aware that the current VSCode TabGroups API has limitations around programmatic color assignment and group state persistence for extensions — which is exactly why this might need to be pushed from both ends.
So two questions:

• To the Anthropic team — is tab renaming on the roadmap? That alone would be a huge win.
• To anyone here who cares about the full vision — would anyone want to team up on a feature request on the VSCode side to push for better programmatic control over tab groups from extensions? The more multi-session workflows like Claude Code grow, the more VSCode needs to support this properly.

Happy to help draft or co-sign a VSCode issue if others are interested.

Here's my windowshade.md file... I have different vscode windows for drastically different tasks, with subtle BG colors to differentiate them. Doesn't help with tabs, but with projects. Note this is a quick hack, can probably customie a lot more. Cant do tabs though, this is a window / workspace setting.

VS Code Window Shade — Per-Workspace Color Tints

Give each VS Code workspace its own background tint via workbench.colorCustomizations
in that workspace's .vscode/settings.json.

Approved Palette

| Color | Hex | Description |
|--------|-----------|--------------------------|
| Green | #161e18 | Gray with green tint |
| Blue | #1e2a34 | Gray with sky blue tint |
| Red | #261b1b | Gray with red tint |
| Amber | #2a261e | Gray with warm amber |
| Copper | #2a221e | Gray with orange/brown |
| Purple | #241e2a | Gray with purple tint |

Usage

Add to .vscode/settings.json in the workspace root:

{
  "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
    "editor.background": "#161e18",
    "sideBar.background": "#161e18",
    "panel.background": "#161e18",
    "terminal.background": "#161e18"
  }
}

Keys that work

• editor.background — main text area
• sideBar.background — left sidebar (also affects Claude Code webview)
• panel.background — bottom panel
• terminal.background — integrated terminal

Keys that do NOT work

• Webview extensions (like Claude Code) are tinted via sideBar.background, not directly
• activityBar.background, statusBar.background — not tested yet

Notes

• JSON does not support comments — no // in .vscode/settings.json
• Workspace must be opened as a folder (File > Open Folder) for .vscode/settings.json to take effect
• Changes apply immediately, no reload needed (though reload may help for some keys)

__Workaround__

I just made this workaround and tested it in Windows 11 and macOS 15.7.3. May also work with Linux.

__Installation__

1. in .claude (e.g. ~/.claude) create a folder named commands
2. download rename.md into that folder
3. maybe restart VSCode

__Usage__

In a session write /rename foo bar or just /rename to let the model pick a name. Reloads the view instantly.

__Downside__

• Asks you to allow to run the script.
• Probably costs some tokens. For me, it's worth it.
• No support from me. Feel free to use it or leave it.

+1 -- Running multiple Claude sessions for different roles (builder, reviewer, researcher). Can't tell tabs apart since they all show truncated conversation text. Being able to set tab titles programmatically (e.g., via a VS Code command) would also let extensions auto-label tabs with session IDs.

it's even worse now. since the most recent update all tabs are labeled identically, everything is API perf dashboard

wtf how is that even remotely useful? at least before i could type a couple words at the start to name the tab. now even that workaround isn't available. positively ludicrous i can't rename a tab, why even label them?!

Is this what the issue is looking for?👇️

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2f1f546b-f095-4238-9f7f-756d4a671014

Feature Request: Add /rename command to VSCode extension

Is your feature request related to a problem?

Yes. The CLI version of Claude Code supports session naming via:

• claude -n "session name" at startup
• /rename <name> during an active session

However, neither option exists in the VSCode extension. When working with multiple sessions, the only way to rename them is through the UI (hovering over a session in "Past Conversations" and clicking the pencil icon). This is cumbersome when you want to name a session while working.

Describe the solution you'd like

Add the /rename command to the VSCode extension with the same behavior as the CLI:

/rename Add Switch Firmware versions

This would set the session's display name so it appears in the session picker with a descriptive title instead of an auto-generated one.

Describe alternatives you've considered

1. Custom slash command — Not possible because .claude/commands/*.md files are prompt injections that can't access the VSCode extension's session state
2. Hooks — No hook event exposes session naming
3. Manual UI rename — Works but breaks flow when you're in the middle of work

Additional context

This would help users who:

• Work on multiple features simultaneously across sessions
• Resume sessions days later and need descriptive names to find the right one
• Prefer keyboard-driven workflows over mouse interactions

The session naming infrastructure already exists (visible in "Past Conversations"). This request is just to expose it via the /rename slash command like the CLI does.

I can see this feature request was added in the previous quarter-century. Is it on the roadmap? Any estimates of when it will be implemented? I have the same feature request.

I run 3-4 Claude sessions at a time and honestly can't tell which is which. Please let us rename tabs, it's such a basic thing.

I run 3-4 Claude sessions at a time and honestly can't tell which is which. Please let us rename tabs, it's such a basic thing.

it's quite confusing topic... but apparently now (or even before) there is a way to rename tabs. It's described above. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/11145#issuecomment-4103285576 .. but regardless the usability of claude in VsCode is horrible. Search doesn't work. You can't find particular topic. It's a mess!

+1 I use clipboard-based slash commands like /ts (text-scan) that read from clipboard. The VS Code tab just shows "/ts" since the AI namer only has two characters to work with. I built a UserPromptSubmit hook that returns sessionTitle via hookSpecificOutput, but the VS Code extension ignores it (works in the hook response, never applied to the tab). Would love either sessionTitle support from hooks, or the ability to call /rename programmatically.

Seems to be there, the line under the tabs is editable!

<img width="411" height="90" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7b123084-cd97-4090-b130-4106dfdbf42a" />

Yes it has been there for a few weeks, but it is not reliable. It changes sometimes when you keep working or look for the tab after closing it.

I agree that this is crucial in any serious use case. A user-editable session name should always take priority and should never be overwritten. You need to come back to it again sometimes with the same name, at least for a week or so.

Just tested this in the latest VS Code extension and renaming via Session history → hover → rename actually does update the VS Code tab title as well, not just the entry in the history list. Behavior may have changed recently.

Steps that worked for me:

Open the Claude Code panel
Click Session history
Hover the session, click rename, enter a new title
Tab title in VS Code's tab bar updates to match
If others can confirm, this issue may be resolvable.

Also needed for the Desktop app, not just the VS Code extension: sidebar display name is locked to the git-remote repo name with no override.

really need this too, thanks