VS Code terminal tab title not restored / not refreshed after window reload
Status Open
Reported on v2.1.241
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 0 comments · opened Aug 24, 2026
Description
Claude Code sets the VS Code integrated terminal tab title via OSC escape sequences (observed format: <version> <workspace/folder-name>, e.g. "2.1.241 Chanfreau_Lab"). This title appears to be assigned once, early in a session's lifetime, and does not refresh on subsequent prompts/turns.
Two related issues:
- Reload Window drops the label. After
Developer: Reload Window, terminal panes that reconnect to still-running Claude Code sessions lose their tab title and fall back to a generic label (e.g. "zsh"), even though the Claude Code process/UI is still running normally in that pane. Sending further prompts to the reconnected session does not restore the title.
- No per-prompt refresh. In one observed case, a session's tab title displayed a topic-derived summary (rather than the version/workspace format) — but this did not update on later prompts either, suggesting title assignment happens once rather than continuously. Most long-running sessions stay on the static version/workspace label indefinitely, even after many further turns.
Expected behavior
- Terminal tab title survives (or is re-emitted after) a VS Code window reload, for sessions that remain connected.
- Ideally, the title could optionally refresh to reflect current conversation topic as the session progresses (similar to how
statusLineis configurable) — aterminalTitlesetting akin tostatusLinewould let users choose static vs. dynamic behavior.
Environment
- Claude Code versions observed: 2.1.239, 2.1.241
- VS Code integrated terminal
- macOS