Feature request: composable session naming (naming conventions + project-aware AI titles)
Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jul 10, 2026 by Gruffi-Gummi
Feature description
Please make session naming composable and controllable. Today the pieces exist but cannot be combined:
- The AI auto-generated session title is great, but it cannot be extended or templated.
- The
SessionStarthook can setsessionTitle, but it fires before the AI title exists, so for brand-new sessions there is nothing to append to. - No other hook event (Stop, UserPromptSubmit, ...) may return
sessionTitle, and no hook fires after AI title generation. - Auto-titling can later overwrite titles set by users or hooks (#35810).
- In the session picker, the project is only visible after pressing Ctrl+A (all-projects view).
Desired behavior (any of these would solve it)
- Title template setting, e.g. in settings.json:
"sessionTitleTemplate": "{aiTitle} · {projectDir}" with placeholders like {aiTitle}, {projectDir}, {gitBranch}, {date}.
- A hook event that fires after AI title generation (e.g.
SessionTitleGenerated) receiving the generated title and allowed to return a modifiedsessionTitle. - Respect explicit titles: never auto-overwrite a title set via
/rename,--name, or a hook (related: #35810).
Use case
I work across many projects and want a flat, recency-sorted session list where every session reads as <AI summary> · <project>. Currently this is impossible: hooks only work on resume (not for new sessions), can be overwritten by auto-titling, and do not apply to the desktop app sidebar.
Related issues
- #35810 (auto-rename overwrites user titles)
- #25870 (session name at launch)
- #60954 (session grouping/sorting in the picker)