Support configuring the default click behavior of 'Open Recent' for projects in the settings.

[PeterlitsZo]

What are you proposing?

Add a configurable setting to control the default behavior when clicking the project name in the Zed title bar (which currently triggers "Open Recent"). Specifically, allow users to choose between opening a project in the same window (closing the current project and its associated shell/Codex session) or in a new window (preserving the current session).

Why does this matter?

Currently, clicking the project name in the title bar and selecting another project immediately closes the current project — including any active Codex CLI sessions, terminal state, or unshelled context — without warning. This can be frustrating and disorienting, especially for users who rely on persistent AI coding sessions across multiple projects.

This change would solve:

• Loss of session state – No more accidentally losing a Codex session or shell history when switching projects via the title bar.

• Lack of discoverability – Currently, there's no obvious way to know that clicking the title bar will discard the current session. A configurable default would make behavior predictable and user-controlled.

• Workflow flexibility – Some users want the same-window behavior (to reduce window clutter), while others (e.g., AI coding users) strongly prefer new-window behavior. A setting respects both.

Are there any examples or context?

• VS Code: Clicking a project from "Open Recent" replaces the current window by default.

• Zed's existing modal (Cmd-Opt-O): This already supports opening projects in new windows via configuration (create_new_window), which is great. But the title bar click currently ignores that setting, causing inconsistency.

• User expectation: Clicking a visible UI element in the current project feels like navigation, not termination. A warning or a preference would align better with user intuition.

  I know I can hold Cmd while clicking to open a project in a new window. However, having a configurable default would be really nice. Otherwise, I feel truly frustrated when I lose my shell state or any unsaved changes.

Possible approach

Add a new setting, for example:

project_click_behavior = "new_window" # "same_window" | "new_window"

Default could be "same_window" for backward compatibility, but documented clearly.

Optionally, add a confirmation dialog when "same_window" is selected and there's an active terminal/Codex session.

Alternatively, make the title bar click respect the existing create_new_window setting already used by Cmd-Opt-O, ensuring consistent behavior across different ways of opening projects.

Expose the setting in the UI under "Project" or "Window" settings, searchable by keywords like "project click", "title bar", or "open recent".

Background

#8651 (comment)

Note

This proposal is similar to #37703, but that discussion focuses on the behavior of cmd-opt-o, while it does not appear to specifically address the behavior of the project picker in the top-left corner.