Feature: Expose VS Code session names in CLI and allow moving sessions across project contexts
Status Open
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 0 comments · opened Aug 11, 2026
Problem
The Claude Code VS Code extension allows users to assign custom names to sessions graphically (in the sidebar). However:
- These names are not accessible from the CLI — there is no
claude sessions listcommand that shows the session ID alongside its human-readable name set in VS Code. Finding a session by name requires manually inspecting~/.claude/projects/<slug>/*.jsonlfiles.
- Sessions cannot be moved to a different project context — sessions are indexed by the working directory they were started in. If a session was started in
myproject/but covers work specific tomyproject/terraform/digital/, there is no way to reassign it. It remains listed under the parent project in the VS Code sidebar instead of the relevant sub-project.
Proposed Solution
1. claude sessions list — expose custom names set in VS Code
$ claude sessions list
ID NAME CWD LAST ACTIVE
dc48606b... VPC setup c:\...\myproject 2026-08-11 23:23
f6b38c42... MGN migration c:\...\myproject 2026-08-11 17:52
1362f035... EC2 launch templates c:\...\myproject 2026-08-11 17:52
85abab96... Active Directory c:\...\myproject 2026-08-04 13:12
2. claude sessions move <id> <target-directory> — reassign a session to a sub-project
$ claude sessions move dc48606b c:\...\myproject\terraform\digital
Re-indexes the session under the target project slug so it appears in the VS Code sidebar when the sub-project folder is open. A VS Code sidebar action (right-click → Move to project…) would complement this.
Use Case
On a large project, users name sessions after workstreams (VPC, MGN, EC2, AD, Load Balancer…) using the VS Code UI. When resuming a session from the terminal or opening it in the correct VS Code window, there is no way to match the human-readable name to its UUID, and no way to consolidate sessions under the correct sub-project.
Additional Context
- Sessions stored as
~/.claude/projects/<project-slug>/<uuid>.jsonl - VS Code custom names are visible in the sidebar but not surfaced in the CLI
- Moving a session = re-indexing the
.jsonlunder a different<project-slug>directory