Claude Terminal Title

Stop guessing which terminal is which.
Let Claude give them real names — automatically.

Before: tabs say 'node' / 'zsh'. After: tabs say 'Auth Refactor', 'review · PR [#42](https://github.com/ranmedina/claude-terminal-title/issues/42)', etc.

Install

One step. In Cursor / VS Code:

Open the Extensions panel (Cmd+Shift+X)
Search "Claude Terminal Title"
Click Install

That's it. No terminal commands. No config.

What happens after you click Install

🔍 The extension finds every terminal already running Claude and labels them Claude • <folder>. New ones get labeled the moment Claude starts.

✨ Claude renames its own tab once it understands what you're working on — usually after the first prompt or two. It picks short, meaningful titles like Auth Refactor or BUG-42 Login Fix.

🔒 Once renamed, the title sticks. No more flip-flopping every prompt. (Switch this in settings if you want continuous updates.)

🎯 Override anytime — /title <name> from inside Claude, or Cmd+Shift+P → Claude: Set Terminal Title.

Settings

Open settings → search "claude terminal title":

Setting	What it does
`updateMode`	`firstOnly` (default) — Claude renames once per terminal, then it's locked. `always` — Claude can rename whenever.
`skipClaudeIntegrationPrompt`	Mute the one-time install prompt.

Commands

All under Cmd+Shift+P:

Command	When to use
`Claude: Set Terminal Title`	Manual rename. Also on the terminal right-click menu.
`Claude: Reset Terminal Title`	Undo the lock — let Claude rename again.
`Claude: Re-scan Terminals For Claude`	Found a Claude terminal that didn't get labeled? Run this.
`Claude: Install Claude Code Integration`	Re-runs the one-time skill setup if you skipped it.

🔒 Privacy & safety

Short version: tiny, local, easy to read.

No network calls. Ever. The extension is fully offline.
No telemetry, no analytics, no error reporting. Nothing leaves your machine.
Only touches ~/.claude/ and ~/.claude-terminal-title. That's the whole file-access scope.
Asks before installing anything. The Claude Code integration is opt-in — you'll see a prompt with Install / Not now / Don't ask again.
Backs up ~/.claude/settings.json to settings.json.bak before changing it, and uses an atomic write (temp-file + rename) — a crash can't leave it half-written.
Refuses malformed settings. If your settings.json is broken JSON, the extension tells you and aborts — never silently overwrites.
Refuses symlink redirection. The installer lstats every destination and refuses to write through a planted symlink.
No shell exec. Process detection uses spawn with array arguments — no string interpolation, no injection surface.
Strips control characters from titles so a hostile title can't corrupt your terminal UI.
Open source, MIT. Read the source on GitHub.

How it works (one diagram)

   Claude (or you)            file watcher              your tab
   ───────────────            ─────────────             ─────────
   writes a title    ─►   ~/.claude-terminal-title  ─►  renamed ✨

OSC \e]0;TITLE\a doesn't propagate reliably through Claude's Bash subshell. A file is dumb and reliable — anything that can write a file can rename your tab.

🤖 What gets installed in ~/.claude/?

When you accept the one-time prompt:

~/.claude/skills/terminal-title/SKILL.md — tells Claude when to rename
~/.claude/skills/terminal-title/scripts/set_title.sh — what Claude actually runs
~/.claude/commands/title.md — the /title <name> slash command
~/.claude/settings.json — gets a SessionStart hook that auto-titles new + resumed conversations to the current folder/branch

All of it removable from the extension's command palette.

📦 Distribute to your team

Tell them to install the extension from the Cursor/VS Code marketplace. That's it.

🔧 Build from source

git clone https://github.com/ranmedina/claude-terminal-title.git
cd claude-terminal-title/extension
npx @vscode/vsce package --no-dependencies
cursor --install-extension ./claude-terminal-title-*.vsix --force

🚀 Cut a new release (maintainers)

./publish.sh           # patch bump
./publish.sh minor
./publish.sh major

export OVSX_PAT="<from https://open-vsx.org/user-settings/tokens>"
./publish-openvsx.sh

_{MIT · made because tabs that say node are an insult.}