Support `/rename` in VS Code agent sessions, and let the agent invoke it
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- Shell
- Stars
- 11.2k
- Forks
- 1.9k
- Avg merge
- 14h 16m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 6
Description
Problem
/rename (added in #1776) works in the terminal CLI, but not for Copilot CLI sessions hosted in VS Code's Agents window:
- Typing
/renamein an agent session's chat has no effect there — renaming is only available through the VS Code UI (verified 2026-07-23). - There is no way for the agent itself to rename its session — no tool, and no slash-command it can run.
Proposal
- Honor
/rename NEW_NAMEin VS Code agent sessions, matching the terminal CLI behavior. - Expose rename to the agent (a tool, or agent-invocable
/rename), so workflows can set titles programmatically.
Use case
Session-hygiene rituals: I keep many long-running agent sessions and prefix titles with a status word as threads settle — DONE …, PARKED …, CONT'D … — so the session picker doubles as a work board. Today every close-out ends with manual rename homework; an agent-invocable rename would let the close-out workflow set the title itself (and lower-stakes: agents could title sessions descriptively from the start, cf. #3365 on auto-naming).
Notes from poking at the internals
- A UI rename syncs into
~/.copilot/session-state/UUID/workspace.yaml(name:+user_named:), so agents can already read current titles (verified 2026-07-24). - Writing
workspace.yamldirectly doesn't work as a workaround: VS Code caches session labels elsewhere (workspacestate.vscdb,agentSessions.model.cache) and doesn't notice the change.
Related
- #1776 — added
/rename(terminal CLI) - #3365 — auto-generated session names not working
- #3415 — show session name at all times
- #2966 — broader session-management tooling
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by tracing the existing terminal /rename implementation from #1776, then inspect workspace.yaml and the VS Code state.vscdb/agentSessions.model.cache behavior described here. Done means /rename NEW_NAME works in VS Code agent chat and an agent has a supported way to rename its session.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- shell, vscode
- Domain
- cli, developer-experience
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 38/100