[Feature Request] Add --session-name and /session-name for custom session identification

I like how you make the "name" of the session more easily discoverable but we should make this the case for the Session ID as well as i don't want to lose that. Currently the only way I am aware of getting the session ID is programmatically looking through the messages. However I wouldn't want to use the "name" as a primary key for the session, and instead just treat this as an alias for humans. You need to prevent name collisions and a human needs to set it and it could get messy. But keeping as an option.

In that case change the No. column to actually be the ID and nuke the concept of a number (not that helpful). So if you add this have the columns be:

Session ID, Last Updated, Name, Description

@michael-hedgineer

• 💯 Session ID visibility and easy to get it super important!

To me adding note/description is just a helper, to get session id later and use it later via session id.

E.g. one can imagine putting "tags" in session name/commnent, then via "tags" retrieve lists of session ids that maybe relevant etc... basically I just see both things playing well with each other like UNIX KISS lego blocks.

thanks for this input. would you still want auto-summarization as well?

thanks for this input. would you still want auto-summarization as well?

I see value in having both , as separate columns / separate json output fields.

I would personally use this notes section to put "tags" "keywords" not real descriptions, so I could "grep by them", while auto summarization as "human take a look" nice to have of course!

It is medium useful however in practice I have so many sessions that it is a bit difficult to decifer through which is which in a large description. Just a name similar to a branch in git would be more helpful as there is less entropy. I am wrapping the claude sdk in a python sub process, exposing as a web socket, and running withing a task queue so the summary is not as helpful for this.

Any plans for making this meta data storage option available outside to the local machine? Currently we have to store the outputs of of json-stream, session ids, and prompts within our own internal store to get around this but would be nice if you supported this natively.

Any plans for making this meta data storage option available outside to the local machine?

If we get CLI/SDK access to metadata (summary, session ID, notes) in text/JSON formats, you could export it anywhere. @michael-hedgineer - remote storage/sync deserves its own issue/discussion thread.

Let's refocus here on the core feature: adding name/description fields to sessions for better local organization. The key decisions seem to be:

• Column order: Session ID, Last Updated, Name, Description
• Keep both manual notes AND auto-summary as separate fields
• Make Session ID easily visible (not just programmatic access)

Does this capture what we need for the basic session naming feature?

Sounds good to me!

________________________________
From: Grzegorz Wierzowiecki @.*>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2025 10:14:56 PM
To: anthropics/claude-code @.*>
Cc: Michael Watson @.>; Mention @.>
Subject: Re: [anthropics/claude-code] [Feature Request] Add --session-name and /session-name for custom session identification (Issue #2112)

[https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/221403?s=20&v=4]gwpl left a comment (anthropics/claude-code#2112)<https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/2112#issuecomment-2985713325>

Any plans for making this meta data storage option available outside to the local machine?

If we get CLI/SDK access to metadata (summary, session ID, notes) in text/JSON formats, you could export it anywhere. @michael-hedgineer<https://github.com/michael-hedgineer> - remote storage/sync deserves its own issue/discussion thread.

Let's refocus here on the core feature: adding name/description fields to sessions for better local organization. The key decisions seem to be:

• Column order: Session ID, Last Updated, Name, Description
• Keep both manual notes AND auto-summary as separate fields
• Make Session ID easily visible (not just programmatic access)

Does this capture what we need for the basic session naming feature?

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I would find it really useful if i could do something like this claude --continue --session-name $(git branch) and it would either start a new session OR continue the latest session with that name.

Just wanted to say that I too have been looking for this feature. Sessions become impossible to find after just a few hours of heavy usage with multiple sessions.

It also doesn't help that once resumed, summaries appear to change into This session is being continued from a previo... forcing me to go into each session to be like Oh that's not the right one

!Image

@gwpl are those real outputs? side issue - but i notice the dates are referring to January... which is something i catch it doing all the time...

also, i don't remember when this was added, but session IDs are visible mid-session with /status now fwiw, i know that's not the main problem ppl are discussing. (also I think they're in hook outputs but i can't remember)

+1 for this feature request. Became an absolute necessity within 1 day of starting to use Claude Code.
@gwpl perfect spec for this feature + ability to resume session by name from claude command line.

IMHO no need to enforce name uniqueness; resolve to most recently updated if multiple exist (to access older same named session, use session-ID).

I also really want this feature, just like it's described. Hope it gets added soon.

Yes Please!

Slightly related—would love to be able to merge, consolidate, purge sessions. The fact that claude --continue isnt' the default is wild. It should be claude --new or claude --new-session, but I digress, and distract from your feature request (which I support!) 👍🏼

May be useful for someone -- I built this simple claude session finder that finds claude sessions by keyword, either for the current project, or globally, and provides a UI to select the session to resume, and auto-switches to the project if needed:

https://github.com/pchalasani/claude-code-tools?tab=readme-ov-file#-find-claude-session

Looks like this --

<img width="901" height="524" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b38a79c6-481a-48cd-af41-e1128e768bac" />

Install using uv tool install claude-code-tools.

Besides this you'll get the tmux-cli tool as well, recently discussed in HackerNews

I would also love the possibility to rename/describe sessions because at the moment my top 3 recent chats are identically described as "This session is being continued from a previo..."

Would also love if the sessions were visible on claude.ai and all conversations were available from all Claude Code installations.

Rename a session is critical when multiple agents are working on the same project.

yes please add, would love this to be added to the session status JSON as well. so that I can tell what claude session is doing...

Also be cool to start a session with the name...

Image shows the same directory but hard to tell what the session was used for....
<img width="1846" height="953" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/10e78ef9-8598-44f3-8710-07c1f7f91895" />

+1 for this, super important from my POV. also, i often see these kind of hallucinated session summary:
"Debugging Python Script for Data Processing", for session that obviously had nothing to do with that summary.

<img width="1535" height="39" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/138f356a-b4d0-4758-b3dc-257d0d4b3715" />

Wen?

Could we get a status on if this is going to be addressed at all?

With all the duplicates floating around and the bot closing them every three days, is this indeed the DE FACTO Feature request for naming and visualizing sessions?

+1 on this. I don't understand how this hasn't been addressed yet. My /resume list is full of " This session is being continued from a previo…" which is useless.

+1 - i'm seeing lots of This session is being continued from a previous conversation that ran out of context. in my resume menu and other generic titles

+1

please address this!

Hey yall, I've been getting notifications on this Issue for a long time... I'm inviting the community to get together and build the right solution ourselves - I want to do it by organizing a "Feature Bounty" friendly competition (with cash prize) over on my Claude Code repo. I want to organize it in a fun, collaborative way, and we need your participation (as a user, developer, reviewer) in order to make it happen. Check out the announcement and let me know if you're interested!

+1

Right now, it's very complex to find the correct session when you have dozens of sessions throughout the day

I wondered if this could be done with hooks and custom slash commands, and it's doable. AFAICT, it needed a wrapper to add the CLI argument(s), so I implemented that too.

If anyone wants to try, or do more, it's here with instructions and notes.

• the SessionStart hook obtains the session ID and writes it as an env var in CLAUDE_ENV_FILE
• a custom slash command, /session-name [name] saves the ID with the name ($ARGUMENTS)
• a Python wrapper around claude adds --session-name [name] and --resume [name], and stores pairs in SQlite. It lacks any UI, menu, etc.

I think it wouldn't take much more to make it a plugin.

I likely won't use it, since the external implementation has a few drawbacks. Also, the native resume menu with / has been adequate for me.

I'd still appreciate a native feature though. (Or, allow deeper extension of claude with custom command line options and non-model custom-slash commands.)

Great idea! I'd also add the session name on terminals tabs (regular terminals+ vscode terminals)

Hello everyone! I'm the maintainer of tweakcc, an automated patcher/customizer for Claude Code. (It adds a bunch of features like system prompt customization, toolsets, theme customization, etc.) I just added a feature that adds a /title slash command to Claude Code that you can use to manually name your sessions.

If you'd like to try it, all you need to do is run npx tweakcc --apply. Then run claude and use the slash command like this: /title fixing payment bug #234. Here's a demo video:

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e37b162a-0c81-4252-9adf-e812a9b7df6a

npx tweakcc --apply

Getting an error when installing

Version: 2.0.31
Loading system prompts...
Applying customizations...
patch: conversationTitle: enableRenameConversationCommand: failed to find pattern
patch: conversationTitle: step 5 failed (enableRenameConversationCommand)

Hi @tommdq, I think it's because you're using an older version of CC I didn't test with. I'll take a look and see if it's simple to add compatibility for that version. (Let's move the conversation here: https://github.com/Piebald-AI/tweakcc/issues/204.)

@bl-ue tweakcc looks awesome, but it would be even better if it worked within the Claude Code for VS Code extension, and for an existing conversation that you have already opened with claude --resume. Could you maybe look into supporting these when you get a chance?

Feature Request: Session Lifecycle Management & Project Configuration

## Problem Statement

Issue #2112 ([Feature Request] Add --session-name and /session-name for custom session identification)
excellently covers session naming. However, there are still gaps in the complete session lifecycle:

1. No safe way to delete old sessions - Users must manually delete ~/.claude/sessions/<guid>/ folders
2. No git branch integration - Manual context switching between branches and sessions
3. No project-level configuration - All settings are global, making multi-project workflows difficult

## Proposed Features

### 1. Session Deletion Command

Syntax:
```bash
# Delete by GUID
claude session delete <session-id>

# Delete by name (if #2112 is implemented)
claude session delete --name "refactoring auth"

# Interactive deletion with confirmation
claude session prune
# Lists all sessions with last modified date
# Prompts: "Delete sessions older than 30 days? [y/N]"

# Dry-run mode
claude session delete <session-id> --dry-run
```

Features:

• ✅ Show session name, last modified date, message count before deletion
• ✅ Confirmation prompt (bypass with --force)
• ✅ Safety: prevent deleting active session
• ✅ Bulk operations: claude session delete --older-than 30d

Use case: Currently ~10 sessions, hard to identify which to keep. Need safe cleanup.

---
### 2. Git Branch Integration

Syntax:
```bash
# Auto-associate new session with current branch
claude --branch
# Reads git branch, stores in session metadata

# Show sessions for specific branch
claude session list --branch feature/auth

# Auto-switch branch when resuming
claude --resume --switch-branch
# If session was on feature/auth, runs: git checkout feature/auth
```

Metadata stored in session:
{
"session_id": "a1b2c3d4...",
"name": "Auth refactoring",
"git": {
"branch": "feature/auth-refactor",
"commit": "abc123def",
"repo": "local:user/repo.git" | "git@github.com:user/repo.git"
}
}

Use case: Working on 3 features in parallel with time sharing. Each has dedicated branch + session. Need to map them.

---
### 3. Project-Level Configuration (.clauderc)

Concept: Per-project settings file (like .gitignore, .editorconfig)

Location: <project-root>/.clauderc (YAML or JSON)

Example .clauderc:
``bash
# Claude Code project configuration
project:
name: "Super site creating system"
``

session:
```bash
# Auto-naming pattern for new sessions
naming_pattern: "${project}-${branch}-${date}"
# Result: "SuperSite-feature/site222-20331225"

# Auto-associate with git branch
git_integration: true

# Default model for this project
default_model: "sonnet"
```

tools:
```bash
# Pre-approved tools (no user confirmation needed)
auto_approve:

• "Read"
• "Grep"
• "Glob"

```

```bash
# Always require approval
require_approval:

• "Bash:rm*"
• "Bash:git push*"

```

files:
```bash
# Files to exclude from context (like .gitignore)
exclude:

• "*.compiled"
• "build/**"
• ".cache/**"

```

mcp:
```bash
# Project-specific MCP servers
servers:

• name: "custom-compiler"

command: "python"
args: ["tools/mcp_server.py"]
```

Benefits:

• ✅ Team collaboration: commit .clauderc to repo
• ✅ Consistent settings across team members
• ✅ Per-project tool permissions
• ✅ Automatic session naming for easier identification
• ✅ Multi-project workflows (different settings per project)

Use case:

• Team of 5 devs, all use Claude Code
• Want consistent settings: pre-approved tools, naming conventions
• Commit .clauderc → new team member gets settings automatically

---
## Implementation Priority

#### High priority:

1. Session deletion (claude session delete)
2. Session list filtering (claude session list --older-than)

#### Medium priority:

1. Git branch metadata storage
2. .clauderc basic support (project name, naming pattern)
3. Auto-branch switching on resume

#### Nice to have:

1. .clauderc advanced features (tool permissions, MCP servers)

---
## Backward Compatibility

• .clauderc is optional - Claude Code works without it
• Session deletion doesn't affect active sessions
• Git integration is opt-in (--branch flag)
• All features gracefully degrade if git is not installed

---
## Related Issues

• #2112 - Session naming (main issue)
• #5357 - Custom naming (duplicate)
• #4707 - Multi-project workflow
• #6452 - Session summary bugs

---
## Summary

This feature request extends #2112 by adding:

1. Deletion - safe session cleanup
2. Git integration - branch-session mapping
3. .clauderc - project-level configuration

Together with #2112's naming features, this creates a complete session management solution.

+1

While this doesn't land on main CLI, feel free to check out this lil wrapper I released recently: https://github.com/fgrehm/clotilde. It has support for naming chats and also for forking

Yes please!!

it seems to me this is now a problem with 100 acceptable solutions. i attempted to organize a forum for people to agree on a consensus-approved community solution until an official one is provided, but was unsuccessful. i'm pretty confident that if you have a specific need that isn't already addressed somewhere in this thread, it wouldn't be that hard for Claude to write you your own customized solution probably in one shot. it was able to do so for me when i asked it, anyway. 🤷🏽‍♀️

+1 for this feature, especially the compaction persistence aspect.

My use case: Long sessions that undergo multiple /compact cycles lose their original context entirely. After several hours of work on "DayStatusType integration", the session summary becomes "deployed frontend and backend" - completely losing the original project scope.

The session name surviving compaction (as proposed in point 4) would solve this. Currently I work around it with plan files and branch names, but native session naming would be much better UX. Flexibility to rename sessions manually at any point of the interaction would be really useful.

It looks like this was added in 2.0.64:

Added named session support: use /rename to name sessions, /resume <name> in REPL or claude --resume <name> from the terminal to resume them

I'm running Version: 2.0.64 but still doesn't work: Unknown slash command: rename

Thank you for the feedback! We now support /rename <name> in the latest version.

@catherinewu please don't close this thread, it's like a second home for some of us. ❤️ 🤣
Just joking, thanks for adding this in to the product. 🙏🏽

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