anthropics / anthropics/claude-code
[FEATURE] Let /branch register the new session in agent view without a separate /bg
- Dominant language
- Python
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- 145k
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Description
### Preflight Checklist
- [x] I have searched [existing requests](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20label%3Aenhancement) and this feature hasn't been requested yet
- [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)
### Problem Statement
`/branch` and agent view are disjoint. Agent view lists only backgrounded sessions, so a branched session is reachable through the `/resume` picker but never appears in `claude agents` until it is separately backgrounded. Branching and putting the branch in the fleet feel like one intent, but they are two commands across two subsystems, and `/branch`'s own output points only at `/resume`.
This was raised before in #69712, which was auto-closed as stale with no maintainer response. That issue bundled this with a `/merge` command. This one asks only for the visibility half.
### Proposed Solution
Make a branched session able to land in agent view as part of branching, instead of as a follow-up action. Any one of these is enough:
- an argument on the command, e.g. `/branch --bg`, where the new session appears as an agent-view row and the current terminal stays on the original
- a settings key that defaults new branches into agent view
- a second branch action in the TUI that registers the new session
The branch is already identifiable at creation time: since v2.1.214, `SessionStart` fires with `source: "fork"` for `/branch`, `/fork`, and `--fork-session`. The signal this would key on is already plumbed.
### Alternative Solutions
The workaround is `/branch `, then `/bg` or `←` on an empty prompt inside the new session. It works, but it is a separate step and is not discoverable from `/branch`.
There is no setting that defaults a session into agent view. `disableAgentView` and `CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_AGENT_VIEW` are disable-only, and `--bg` applies at launch, not to a session created mid-flight by `/branch`.
### Priority
Medium - Would be very helpful
### Feature Category
Interactive mode (TUI)
### Use Case Example
1. At a known-good point, branch `approach-a` so it becomes an agent-view row.
2. Branch `approach-b` the same way.
3. Arrow between the original and both branches from agent view.
Today each branch has to be backgrounded individually after it is created.
### Additional Context
Related: #69712 (same ask, stale-closed, bundled with merge-back), #73053 (branch lineage for hooks; `source: "fork"` shipped from it).
Contributor guide
No contributing guide indexed for this repository
Research direction
Start at the `/branch` command and the agent-view registration path, then trace how `SessionStart` with `source: "fork"` is handled. The issue names no files or tests; done means one supported branching interaction registers the new session in `claude agents` without requiring a separate `/bg`, with the resulting navigation behavior matching the chosen interface.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- cli
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 42/100