[Feature Request] CLI session management: resume by name, auto-naming, and --list flag

[a031070]

Bug Description

Session Management: CLI Improvements

TL;DR

Allow starting claude with a session name or context directly from the command line — no extra clicks, no accumulation of unnamed empty sessions.

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Problem

Every claude invocation creates a new empty unnamed session. To continue yesterday's work, you have to:

1. Open the session list in the UI
2. Find the right one (by date? by project? it's unclear)
3. Click — only then you get back to context

That's three extra steps for the most common use case.

Additional issues:

• Dozens of empty unnamed sessions accumulate over time
• Switching between projects requires UI navigation instead of terminal commands
• The CLI stops being an entry point with context — it just opens a blank slate

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Proposed Changes

P1 — Launch with session name or fuzzy search (high priority)

claude [text]

Behavior:

• If text matches an existing session name (exact or fuzzy) → resume it
• If no match → create a new session with that name
• No arguments → current behavior (new unnamed session)

P2 — Resume flags (high priority)

claude -r / --resume          # resume last session in current directory
claude -r "deploy"            # resume session by name
claude --resume --global      # resume last session regardless of directory

P3 — Auto-naming sessions (medium priority)

If a session has no name after the conversation ends, the CLI suggests one based on the first message — similar to how ChatGPT names chats. Options:

• Apply automatically without confirmation
• Ask on next launch: Name this session "nginx setup"? [Y/n]

P4 — Session list in CLI (low priority)

Sessions are scoped to a directory, so the default list shows only the current project.

claude --list [N]             # last N sessions in current directory (default: 10)
claude --list --all [N]       # last N sessions per project, grouped

Output of --list:

 1  deploy setup         2025-03-13  [5 messages]
 2  config fix           2025-03-11  [2 messages]
 3  (unnamed)            2025-03-10  [1 message]

Output of --list --all:

~/code/home
  1  deploy setup        2025-03-13  [5 messages]
  2  config fix          2025-03-11  [2 messages]
~/code/ws25
  1  survey analysis     2025-03-12  [12 messages]
  2  (unnamed)           2025-03-10  [3 messages]

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Expected Benefits

Before	After
3 steps to resume yesterday's session	claude -r or claude "deploy"
Empty unnamed sessions pile up	Sessions get names at creation or automatically
Session navigation only in UI	claude --list in the terminal
CLI = open a new chat	CLI = enter a context

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Notes

• All changes are backwards-compatible: claude with no arguments keeps working as today
• P1+P2 cover the core pain; P3+P4 are nice-to-have

Environment Info

• Platform: darwin
• Terminal: tmux
• Version: 2.1.76
• Feedback ID: 5126dc9d-a895-4d6f-84f0-b51100275bdb

Errors

[{"error":"Error: NON-FATAL: Lock acquisition failed for /Users/a/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.76 (expected in multi-process scenarios)\n    at FvT (/$bunfs/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:2417:2026)\n    at Lxq (/$bunfs/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:2417:1170)\n    at processTicksAndRejections (native:7:39)","timestamp":"2026-03-14T09:29:11.001Z"}]

[github-actions]

Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.