Stop AI-generated titles overwriting user-renamed session names

db.js

@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ db.exec(`
     created TEXT,
     modified TEXT,
     messageCount INTEGER DEFAULT 0,
-    slug TEXT
+    slug TEXT,
+    aiTitle TEXT
   )
 `);
 
@@ -85,6 +86,19 @@ const migrations = [
     try { db.exec('DROP TABLE IF EXISTS search_fts'); } catch {}
     searchFtsRecreated = true;
   },
+  // v3: Add aiTitle column for AI-generated session titles. Clear cache so a
+  // re-index repopulates the column. Also clear session_meta.name entries that
+  // were clobbered by AI titles in v0.0.29 (when ai-title was written into the
+  // user-name column). We cannot tell with certainty which names came from an
+  // AI title vs a manual rename, but the safe heuristic is: drop names whose
+  // value matches the JSONL aiTitle on next index. That post-index cleanup is
+  // not done here — instead we accept that any pre-fix AI-title pollution
+  // remains until the user renames manually, and only future indexes are clean.
+  (db) => {
+    try { db.exec('ALTER TABLE session_cache ADD COLUMN aiTitle TEXT'); } catch {}
+    try { db.exec('DELETE FROM session_cache'); } catch {}
+    try { db.exec('DELETE FROM cache_meta'); } catch {}
+  },
 ];
 
 const currentDbVersion = (() => {
@@ -138,13 +152,14 @@ const stmts = {
   cacheCount: db.prepare('SELECT COUNT(*) as cnt FROM session_cache'),
   cacheGetAll: db.prepare('SELECT * FROM session_cache'),
   cacheUpsert: db.prepare(`
-    INSERT INTO session_cache (sessionId, folder, projectPath, summary, firstPrompt, created, modified, messageCount, slug)
-    VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
+    INSERT INTO session_cache (sessionId, folder, projectPath, summary, firstPrompt, created, modified, messageCount, slug, aiTitle)
+    VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
     ON CONFLICT(sessionId) DO UPDATE SET
       folder = excluded.folder, projectPath = excluded.projectPath,
       summary = excluded.summary, firstPrompt = excluded.firstPrompt,
       created = excluded.created, modified = excluded.modified,
-      messageCount = excluded.messageCount, slug = excluded.slug
+      messageCount = excluded.messageCount, slug = excluded.slug,
+      aiTitle = excluded.aiTitle
   `),
   cacheGetByFolder: db.prepare('SELECT sessionId, modified FROM session_cache WHERE folder = ?'),
   cacheGetFolder: db.prepare('SELECT folder FROM session_cache WHERE sessionId = ?'),
@@ -231,7 +246,7 @@ const upsertCachedSessionsBatch = db.transaction((sessions) => {
     stmts.cacheUpsert.run(
       s.sessionId, s.folder, s.projectPath, s.summary,
       s.firstPrompt, s.created, s.modified, s.messageCount || 0,
-      s.slug || null
+      s.slug || null, s.aiTitle || null
     );
   }
 });

public/app.js

@@ -745,7 +745,7 @@ function openNewSession(project) {
 }
 
 async function showTerminalHeader(session) {
-  const displayName = cleanDisplayName(session.name || session.summary);
+  const displayName = cleanDisplayName(session.name || session.aiTitle || session.summary);
   terminalHeaderName.textContent = displayName;
   terminalHeaderId.textContent = session.sessionId;
   terminalHeader.style.display = '';

public/dialogs.js

@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ async function showResumeSessionDialog(session) {
     `<button class="permission-option dangerous${dangerousSkip ? ' selected' : ''}" data-mode="dangerous-skip"><span class="perm-name">Dangerous Skip</span><span class="perm-desc">Skip all safety prompts (use with caution)</span></button>`;
   }
 
-  const sessionName = session.name || session.summary || session.sessionId.slice(0, 8);
+  const sessionName = session.name || session.aiTitle || session.summary || session.sessionId.slice(0, 8);
 
   dialog.innerHTML = `
     <h3>Resume Session — ${escapeHtml(sessionName)}</h3>

public/grid-view.js

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ function wrapInGridCard(sessionId) {
   const session = sessionMap.get(sessionId) || (entry && entry.session);
   if (!session || !entry) return;
 
-  const displayName = cleanDisplayName(session.name || session.summary) || sessionId;
+  const displayName = cleanDisplayName(session.name || session.aiTitle || session.summary) || sessionId;
   const shortProject = session.projectPath ? session.projectPath.split('/').filter(Boolean).slice(-2).join('/') : '';
 
   // Create card wrapper

public/jsonl-viewer.js

@@ -559,7 +559,7 @@ async function showJsonlViewer(session) {
   terminalArea.style.display = 'none';
   jsonlViewer.style.display = 'flex';
 
-  const displayName = session.name || session.summary || session.sessionId;
+  const displayName = session.name || session.aiTitle || session.summary || session.sessionId;
   jsonlViewerTitle.textContent = displayName;
   jsonlViewerSessionId.textContent = session.sessionId;
   jsonlViewerBody.innerHTML = '';

public/sidebar.js

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ function buildSlugGroup(slug, sessions) {
     const bTime = lastActivityTime.get(b.sessionId) || new Date(b.modified);
     return bTime > aTime ? b : a;
   });
-  const displayName = cleanDisplayName(mostRecent.name || mostRecent.summary || slug);
+  const displayName = cleanDisplayName(mostRecent.name || mostRecent.aiTitle || mostRecent.summary || slug);
   const mostRecentTime = lastActivityTime.get(mostRecent.sessionId) || new Date(mostRecent.modified);
   const timeStr = formatDate(mostRecentTime);
 
@@ -654,7 +654,7 @@ function buildSessionItem(session) {
 
   const modified = lastActivityTime.get(session.sessionId) || new Date(session.modified);
   const timeStr = formatDate(modified);
-  const displayName = cleanDisplayName(session.name || session.summary);
+  const displayName = cleanDisplayName(session.name || session.aiTitle || session.summary);
 
   const row = document.createElement('div');
   row.className = 'session-row';
@@ -746,21 +746,22 @@ function startRename(summaryEl, session) {
   const input = document.createElement('input');
   input.type = 'text';
   input.className = 'session-rename-input';
-  input.value = session.name || session.summary;
+  input.value = session.name || session.aiTitle || session.summary;
 
   summaryEl.replaceWith(input);
   input.focus();
   input.select();
 
   const save = async () => {
     const newName = input.value.trim();
-    const nameToSave = (newName && newName !== session.summary) ? newName : null;
+    const fallback = session.aiTitle || session.summary;
+    const nameToSave = (newName && newName !== fallback) ? newName : null;
     await window.api.renameSession(session.sessionId, nameToSave);
     session.name = nameToSave;
 
     const newSummary = document.createElement('div');
     newSummary.className = 'session-summary';
-    newSummary.textContent = nameToSave || session.summary;
+    newSummary.textContent = nameToSave || fallback;
     newSummary.addEventListener('dblclick', (e) => {
       e.stopPropagation();
       startRename(newSummary, session);
@@ -775,7 +776,7 @@ function startRename(summaryEl, session) {
       input.removeEventListener('blur', save);
       const restored = document.createElement('div');
       restored.className = 'session-summary';
-      restored.textContent = session.name || session.summary;
+      restored.textContent = session.name || session.aiTitle || session.summary;
       restored.addEventListener('dblclick', (ev) => {
         ev.stopPropagation();
         startRename(restored, session);

read-session-file.js

@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ function readSessionFile(filePath, folder, projectPath) {
       summary, firstPrompt: summary,
       created: stat.birthtime.toISOString(),
       modified: stat.mtime.toISOString(),
-      messageCount, textContent, slug, customTitle: customTitle || aiTitle,
+      messageCount, textContent, slug, customTitle, aiTitle,
     };
   } catch {
     return null;

session-cache.js

@@ -110,7 +110,10 @@ function refreshFolder(folder) {
     const s = readSessionFile(filePath, folder, projectPath);
     if (s) {
       sessionsToUpsert.push(s);
-      const name = s.customTitle || getMeta(s.sessionId)?.name || '';
+      // Title precedence: user rename (session_meta.name) > JSONL custom-title > JSONL ai-title.
+      // Only customTitle (Claude /title) promotes to session_meta.name — AI titles must NEVER
+      // be written there or they'd overwrite the user's UI rename on the next index pass.
+      const name = getMeta(s.sessionId)?.name || s.customTitle || s.aiTitle || '';
       searchEntriesToUpsert.push({
         id: s.sessionId, type: 'session', folder: s.folder,
         title: (name ? name + ' ' : '') + s.summary, body: s.textContent,
@@ -193,6 +196,7 @@ function buildProjectsFromCache(showArchived) {
       messageCount: row.messageCount,
       projectPath: row.projectPath,
       slug: row.slug || null,
+      aiTitle: row.aiTitle || null,
       name: meta?.name || null,
       starred: meta?.starred || 0,
       archived: meta?.archived || 0,
@@ -330,11 +334,13 @@ function populateCacheViaWorker() {
         sessionCount += sessions.length;
         upsertCachedSessions(sessions);
         for (const s of sessions) {
+          // Only JSONL custom-title (genuine user title) promotes to the DB name column.
+          // AI titles must not — see refreshFolder for the rationale.
           if (s.customTitle) setName(s.sessionId, s.customTitle);
         }
         upsertSearchEntries(sessions.map(s => {
-          // customTitle comes from jsonl; fall back to session_meta.name (set via rename)
-          const name = s.customTitle || getMeta(s.sessionId)?.name || '';
+          // Search title precedence matches the sidebar: user rename > custom-title > ai-title.
+          const name = getMeta(s.sessionId)?.name || s.customTitle || s.aiTitle || '';
           return {
             id: s.sessionId, type: 'session', folder: s.folder,
             title: (name ? name + ' ' : '') + s.summary,