Update: There’s a better solution now! Check out Command Your Claude Code Army, Reloaded for VibeTunnel integration that gives Claude automatic title management.

TL;DR: Running multiple Claude Code instances? Here’s a ZSH trick to keep your terminal titles organized and your sanity intact.

I’ll admit it - I’ve become a Claude Code power user. At any given moment, I have at least three instances running: one for writing blog posts, another fixing that “quick” bug that’s now in hour three, and a third doing something I definitely forgot about. My terminal looks like a Claude Code convention.

The Problem: Too Many Claudes, Not Enough Context

Ghostty (yes, with two T’s - it’s my favorite terminal) only shows the process name in the title. When you have six tabs all saying “claude”, finding the right one becomes a game of terminal roulette.

This is especially painful when you’re running Claude with the --dangerously-skip-permissions flag (yes, I live dangerously - see my post about Claude Code being my computer). The last thing you want is to accidentally run the wrong command in the wrong directory with full system permissions.

To make matters worse, Claude Code has a habit of changing the terminal title to whatever it feels like - usually something unhelpful like “Running command…” or just “claude”. It’s like having a helpful assistant who keeps reorganizing your desk while you’re trying to work.

The Solution: Terminal Title Magic

Here’s my approach - a clean ZSH setup that keeps terminal management code separate from my main configuration. First, I add one line to my ~/.zshrc:

# Source Claude wrapper with dynamic terminal title
[ -f ~/.config/zsh/claude-wrapper.zsh ] && source ~/.config/zsh/claude-wrapper.zsh

Then I create ~/.config/zsh/claude-wrapper.zsh with the actual implementation:

#!/usr/bin/env zsh
# Simple, elegant terminal title management for Claude

# Set terminal title
_set_title() { 
    print -Pn "\e]2;$1\a" 
}

# Claude wrapper with custom terminal title
cly() {
    local folder=${PWD:t}  # Just the current folder name
    
    # Set title to show we're running Claude
    _set_title "$folder — Claude"
    
    # Start a background process to continuously reset the title
    # (prevents Claude from changing it)
    (
        while true; do
            _set_title "$folder — Claude"
            sleep 0.5
        done
    ) &
    local title_pid=$!
    
    # Run Claude with dangerous permissions
    "$HOME/.claude/local/claude" --dangerously-skip-permissions "$@"
    local exit_code=$?
    
    # Kill the background title setter
    kill $title_pid 2>/dev/null
    wait $title_pid 2>/dev/null  # Clean up zombie process
    
    # Restore normal title
    _set_title "%~"
    
    # Return the original exit code
    return $exit_code
}

# Update terminal title before each prompt (using proper ZSH hooks)
_claude_precmd() {
    _set_title "%~"
}

# Add our precmd function to the array (doesn't overwrite existing hooks)
if [[ -z ${precmd_functions[(r)_claude_precmd]} ]]; then
    precmd_functions+=(_claude_precmd)
fi

When I run cly, my terminal title changes from ~/Projects/blog to ~/Projects/blog — Claude. Revolutionary? No. Life-changing? Absolutely.

Hot tip: Just ask Claude to read this blog post and set it up for you! (in yolo mode, of course)

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to check on my Claude instances. I think one of them is refactoring my entire codebase without asking. Again.