Support per-session custom terminal title without disrupting status updates

[devinro]

Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve

Add a mechanism to set a custom resting-state title per session

Proposed solution

Description:

Currently, the update_terminal_title setting is all-or-nothing. When enabled, the CLI shows helpful status updates (e.g., "Thinking...", current intent) but always resets to "GitHub Copilot" when idle. When disabled, no title updates occur at all.

There's no way to have per-session custom titles while keeping status updates. A global config option wouldn't work because users often have multiple Copilot CLI tabs open, each needing a different title.

Request:

Add a mechanism to set a custom resting-state title per session, such as:

• Command-line flag: copilot --title "🤖 Project X"
• Slash command: /title "🤖 Project X" (or extend /rename to also set terminal title)
• Respect user-set titles: Detect when the user has set a custom title (via escape sequences) and restore that instead of "GitHub Copilot"

Use case:

• I use Windows Terminal with multiple Copilot CLI tabs for different projects
• I want to distinguish tabs with custom titles (e.g., "🐍 Python API", "⚛️ React App")
• I want to see status updates during operations
• When idle, each tab should restore its own custom title, not a global default

Proposed behavior:

• During operations: show status updates as usual
• When idle: restore the session's custom title (if set) or fall back to "GitHub Copilot"

Example prompts or workflows

Example usage:

# Set title at launch
copilot --title "🤖 My Project"

# Or set during session
/title "🤖 My Project"

Additional context

No response

[DUBSOpenHub]

+1. I regularly have 10+ Copilot CLI sessions open across projects. Every tab reads "GitHub Copilot," so context-switching means clicking
through each one to figure out where I left off. A custom idle title (via /rename or --title) would eliminate that friction entirely.

Separately: on macOS with volume muted, I miss the audible bell completely. A visual indicator (colored tab flash or badge) when a
session needs attention would be a nice complement to this feature.

(see screenshot attached)

[andyfeller]

@devinro @DUBSOpenHub : Thank you for raising and chiming in on this issue! 🙇 I'd like to ask you some questions to understand how much of this is terminal configuration versus Copilot CLI behavior and share some thoughts.

Questions

1. What version of copilot are you using?
2. How much have you explored your terminal's default preferences around tab titles?
3. Can you confirm whether /rename shows up in the title?

Thoughts

Every terminal has different behaviors and settings around terminal titles, which affects all CLIs within it.

MacOS Terminal preferences

@devinro : I'd genuinely appreciate any screenshots you'd share of what this looks like while I do a little testing on my local PC based on Configure tab titles in Windows Terminal.

@DUBSOpenHub : I think you're using the MacOS Terminal app based on your screenshot and would like to hear about toggling some of the system preferences help.

Outside of any actual bugs, I wonder if we should have guidance on customizing terminal tab preferences. 🤔

[jantzenw]

I'm not the earlier posters, but for me:

On version v0.0.421. Tested on ubuntu 25 using GNOME Terminal v3.56.2, Terminal (by Christian Hergert) v49.1, and Console (by GNOME) v48.0.1.

The update_terminal_title setting works fine to update my terminal titles, but the problem is that there's not enough control around it. Just like OP, I want it to maintain a ticket number and description automatically. The terminal title doesn't need to change to a generic title every time an agent is performing some common task like "browser testing" or "setting up this and that".

I've tried directing an agent to include a ticket number during report_intent calls. That sort of works, but only while the agent is thinking. At idle it reverts back to the session name. And my understanding is that there is no API for an agent to call to set the session name (e.g. similar to me running /rename manually).

If there were an API to set session name, that might be enough. The agent could set session name periodically to the ticket number, AND remember to set intents to the ticket number. So the title maintains the ticket number at all times. Would be nice if there were a less intensive way though.

[lflores-ms]

+1 on this. I run multiple Copilot CLI sessions and the current title behavior makes tab management painful.

To @andyfeller's question: yes, /rename does show as the terminal title. Otherwise it displays the auto-generated session summary, and falls back to "GitHub Copilot" if no summary.

A few things I'd love to see:

1. Default custom title template via config
   A default title template in ~/.copilot/config.json (or similar) would cover the common case without flags every launch. Something like 🤖 ${directory} resolving to the working directory basename. Combined with the existing update_terminal_title: false setting, this would also handle the static title case: users who just want a fixed, descriptive title without any dynamic "Thinking..." updates could set a default template and disable updates.

2. /title slash command for active sessions
   Agree with OP. A /title command would let users override the default mid-session, also addressing @jantzenw's use case without report_intent workarounds.

Template with variables would keep it flexible. /rename works as a workaround but requires manual setup every session and couples session name with tab, which aren't necessarily the same thing.

To @andyfeller's point about terminal configuration: the challenge is that the CLI actively overwrites whatever title the terminal sets. Terminal-side config can't solve that since the CLI takes ownership of the title. So this really does need to be addressed on the CLI side.

[thomas11]

This would increase usability a lot. To keep it simple and not get into complicated templating, these additions would probably solve 90% of the issue:

1. a --title CLI argument
2. a configuration setting to replace "GitHub Copilot" as the default title.

[examon]

I believe this has been addressed. The /rename command now sets your session name, which doubles as the terminal tab title when the CLI is idle. Status updates still display during activity and the session name returns when idle. The --title CLI flag and config-based default title mentioned in the thread are not yet available. If you believe this isn't fully resolved, feel free to reopen.