[FEATURE] `/new` command to end current session and start a new named session

[AbeHaruhiko]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

Summary

Add a /new slash command that ends the current session and immediately
starts a new named session, without requiring the user to exit and
relaunch Claude Code manually.

Motivation

When working on multiple unrelated tasks, it's useful to keep each task
in its own named session for easy retrieval via /resume.

Currently, starting a new named session requires:

1. Typing exit to leave the current session
2. Running claude -n "session name" in the terminal

This interrupts the flow, especially when switching tasks frequently.

Related

• /resume for session management
• /clear for resetting context within a session

Proposed Solution

Proposed behavior

/new "session name"

• Saves and closes the current session
• Immediately starts a new session with the given name
• If no name is provided, starts an unnamed new session (equivalent
  to current /clear behavior, but as a fresh session)

Alternative Solutions

Current workaround

• exit + claude -n "name" from the terminal
• Shell alias: alias cn='claude -n'

Priority

Medium - Would be very helpful

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

No response

Additional Context

No response

[github-actions]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. [FEATURE]: Feature Request: Allow naming sessions for easier resumption #31926
2. [Feature Request] CLI session management: resume by name, auto-naming, and --list flag #34318
3. [Feature Request] /clear --keep-session: clear conversation context without creating a new session #31220

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[hampsterx]

/clear is destructive to session history

/clear truncates the conversation from the active context, which means those messages are lost from the session transcript entirely. Tools that query session history won't find anything from before the clear.

This makes /new more than a convenience feature. Right now the only way to preserve a conversation AND start fresh is exit + claude -n "name". /new would let you do that without breaking flow, and without silently destroying history the way /clear does.

[hampsterx]

Session history trail

This has been requested repeatedly under different framings since Dec 2025. The core issue is that /clear is internally aliased as ["reset", "new"] and creates a fresh session UUID (#37451), but its name implies "wipe context, keep session." That mismatch cascades:

• /resume can't find the pre-clear conversation ([BUG] claude --resume shows "No conversations found" despite session directories existing #18311, Sessions-index.json: summaries not generated and new sessions not indexed since ~v2.1.31 #24729)
• /rename names vanish because /clear creates a new session (Feature request: persistent project-level session name #33029)
• Typed input lost during the hidden session transition (/clear starts a new session instead of clearing in-place, causing lost input #32871)

/new isn't just a convenience shortcut. It's the explicit version of what /clear already does implicitly, but with proper session preservation and naming. Splitting the two would fix the semantic confusion and all the downstream bugs in one go.