terminal-title

What this skill does

<!-- ABOUTME: Terminal title skill that automatically updates terminal window title -->
<!-- ABOUTME: Uses emoji from environment + Claude's project detection + current topic -->

# Terminal Title Management

## Overview

This skill updates the terminal window title to show current context:
- Work/fun emoji (from `$TERMINAL_TITLE_EMOJI` environment variable)
- Project name (intelligently detected by Claude)
- Current topic (what you're working on)

**Format:** `💼 ProjectName - Topic`

## CRITICAL: When to Invoke

**MANDATORY invocations:**
1. **Session start**: Automatically triggered by SessionStart hook. Claude must respond by setting title to "Claude Code" as default topic.
2. **Topic changes**: Claude MUST detect and invoke when user shifts to new topic.

**Topic change patterns (Claude must detect these):**
- ✅ "let's talk about X" / "can you tell me about Y" → invoke immediately
- ✅ User switches domains: debugging → documentation, frontend → backend, feature → tests
- ✅ User starts working on different module/component after sustained discussion
- ✅ User asks about completely unrelated topic after 3+ exchanges on current topic
- ❌ Follow-up questions on same topic ("add a comment to that function") → do NOT invoke
- ❌ Small refinements to current work ("make it blue") → do NOT invoke
- ❌ Clarifications about current task → do NOT invoke

**Claude's responsibility:** Actively monitor conversation flow and invoke this skill whenever topic materially shifts. Do not wait for explicit permission.

**Example titles:**
- `💼 Skills Repository - Terminal Title`
- `🎉 dotfiles - zsh config`
- `💼 OneOnOne - Firebase Config`

## Setup Requirements

**Required Permission:**

This skill runs scripts to update the terminal title. To prevent Claude from prompting for permission every time, add this to your `~/.claude/settings.json`:

**For Unix/Linux/macOS:**
```json
{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": [
      "Bash(bash *skills/scripts/set_title.sh:*)"
    ]
  }
}
```

**For Windows:**
```json
{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": [
      "Bash(pwsh *skills/scripts/set_title.ps1:*)"
    ]
  }
}
```

**Why this permission is needed:** The skill executes a script that sends terminal escape sequences silently in the background to update your window title without interrupting your workflow.

**Cross-platform support:** The plugin includes both bash scripts (`.sh`) for Unix-like systems and PowerShell scripts (`.ps1`) for Windows. The SessionStart hook automatically detects your OS and uses the appropriate script.

## Project Detection Strategy

**Primary method: Claude's intelligence**

Claude analyzes the current context to determine the project name:
- Current working directory and recent conversation
- Files read during the session
- Git repository information
- Package metadata (package.json, README.md, etc.)
- Overall understanding of what the project represents

**Key principle:** Use intelligent understanding, not just mechanical file parsing.

**Detection examples:**
- `/Users/dylanr/work/2389/skills` → "Skills Repository" (not just "skills")
- `/Users/dylanr/work/2389/oneonone/hosting` → "OneOnOne"
- `/Users/dylanr/dotfiles` → "dotfiles"
- `/Users/dylanr/projects/my-app` → "My App" (humanized from directory)

**Supporting evidence Claude checks:**
1. Git remote URL or repository directory name
2. `package.json` name field (Node.js projects)
3. First heading in README.md
4. Directory basename (last resort)

**Fallback:** If Claude cannot determine context, use current directory name.

**Always include project name** - Claude can always determine something meaningful.

## Title Formatting

**Standard format:**
```
$emoji ProjectName - Topic
```

**Component details:**

**1. Emoji (from environment):**
- Read from `$TERMINAL_TITLE_EMOJI` environment variable
- Set by zsh theme based on directory context
- Common values: 💼 (work), 🎉 (fun/personal)
- Fallback: Use 🎉 if variable not set

**2. Project Name (from Claude's detection):**
- Human-friendly name, not slug format
- Proper capitalization (e.g., "OneOnOne" not "oneonone")
- Always present (use directory name as minimum)

**3. Topic (from invocation context):**
- Short description of current work (2-4 words)
- Provided when skill is invoked
- Examples: "Terminal Title", "Firebase Config", "CSS Refactor"

**Script usage:**
```bash
bash scripts/set_title.sh "ProjectName" "Topic"
```

**Note:** The script automatically reads emoji from environment and handles terminal escape sequences.

**Edge cases:**
- No `$TERMINAL_TITLE_EMOJI`: Use 🎉 as default
- Very long project/topic: Let terminal handle truncation naturally
- Empty topic: Use "Claude Code" as default

## Workflow

**When Claude detects a topic change (or session start), immediately invoke this workflow:**

Follow these steps to update the terminal title:

**Step 1: Determine project name**

Use Claude's understanding of the current codebase and context to determine the project name. Check:
- What you know about this project from conversation and files
- Git repository name/remote URL
- package.json name field (if Node.js project)
- README.md first heading
- Directory basename (minimum fallback)

Generate a human-friendly name (e.g., "Skills Repository" not "skills").

**Step 2: Get topic from context**

The topic should come from:
- Invocation parameter (if provided explicitly)
- Current conversation context (what user is working on)
- Default to "Claude Code" for session start

**Step 3: Detect operating system**

Before executing the script, detect the operating system:

```bash
# Check if running on Windows (check for common Windows indicators)
if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "msys" || "$OSTYPE" == "win32" || "$OSTYPE" == "cygwin" ]]; then
    OS="windows"
else
    OS="unix"
fi
```

**Step 4: Execute title update script (cross-platform)**

Find the skill base directory (available in the skill loading message) and execute the appropriate script based on OS:

**For Unix/Linux/macOS:**
```bash
bash <skill-base-dir>/scripts/set_title.sh "Project Name" "Topic"
```

**For Windows:**
```bash
pwsh -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File <skill-base-dir>/scripts/set_title.ps1 "Project Name" "Topic"
```

The scripts handle:
- Reading emoji from `$TERMINAL_TITLE_EMOJI` (Unix) or `$env:TERMINAL_TITLE_EMOJI` (Windows)
- Sanitizing inputs
- Formatting and sending terminal escape sequences

Execute this command silently using the Bash tool (pre-approved via permissions).

**Step 5: Done**

Title updated silently. Continue responding to user without mentioning the title update unless they ask about it.

## Examples

### Example 1: Session Start in Skills Repository

**Context:** User starts Claude Code in `/Users/dylanr/work/2389/skills`

**Environment:** `TERMINAL_TITLE_EMOJI=💼`

**Execution:**
1. Project: "Skills Repository" (Claude's knowledge)
2. Topic: "Claude Code" (session start default)
3. Command: `bash /Users/dylanr/work/2389/claude-plugins/terminal-title/skills/scripts/set_title.sh "Skills Repository" "Claude Code"`

**Result:** Terminal title shows `💼 Skills Repository - Claude Code` (script reads emoji from environment)

---

### Example 2: Topic Change Detection

**Context:** Conversation shifts from "terminal title implementation" to "rare VWs"

**Claude's detection:** User asked "can you tell me about rare vws?" - this is a clear topic shift

**Environment:** `TERMINAL_TITLE_EMOJI=🎉`

**Claude's action:**
1. Detect topic change (from terminal implementation to VWs)
2. Invoke terminal-title skill workflow
3. Project: "Home" (current directory basename)
4. Topic: "Rare VWs" (from new conversation direction)
5. Command: `bash <skill-base-dir>/scripts/set_title.sh "Home" "Rare VWs"`
6. Continue answering user's question about rare VWs

**Result:** Terminal title silently updates to `🎉 Home - Rare VWs` (script reads emoji from environment)

---

### Example 3: Personal Project Without Environment Variable

**Context:** User working in `~/projects/dotfile