Tell Your Claude Code Sessions Apart at a Glance

TL;DR Use /rename to name your session and /color to change the prompt bar color. When you have multiple sessions open or need to find an old one with /resume, name + color is the difference between "which one was it?" and knowing instantly.

Managing sessions in Claude Code is one of its weakest areas. Everything looks the same: same bar, same color, no title. If you work with parallel sessions or need to pick up a conversation from days ago, telling them apart is a memory exercise.

/rename and /color don't solve the root problem, but they make it much more manageable. With a descriptive name and a distinct color, each session has visual identity. And when you use /resume to browse past sessions, the name you gave it shows up as searchable text.

Result:

> /rename auth-refactor
> /color blue

# The prompt bar now shows "auth-refactor" with a blue border.
# When you run /resume, the session is listed as "auth-refactor".

How to use it

1. Name at startup (recommended)

claude -n "auth-refactor"

The name appears on the prompt bar and in /resume. You can resume the session directly:

claude -r "auth-refactor"

2. Rename during the session

/rename auth-refactor

Without arguments, /rename auto-generates a name based on the conversation. My recommendation: name it yourself. Auto-generated names are generic and hard to remember.

3. Assign a color

/color blue

Changes the border color of the input bar. Useful when you have multiple terminal tabs open — each with a different color.

4. Find sessions with /resume

/resume

Opens an interactive picker. You can search by name, press R to rename a session, or P to preview it.

Reference

Command	What it does
`claude -n "name"`	Name the session at startup
`/rename name`	Rename the current session
`/rename` (no args)	Auto-generate name from context
`/color color`	Change the prompt bar border color
`/resume`	Interactive session picker (`R` = rename, `P` = preview)
`claude -r "name"`	Resume a session by name from CLI

Limitation	Detail
Directory	Sessions are tied to the working directory. `/resume` only shows sessions from the current directory.
Color persistence	Color applies to the current session. It does not persist when resuming.

Official docs: CLI reference — Session flags