If you keep a few projects open in tabs and run Claude Code or Codex in each, the tab names keep changing. The shell shows up as zsh, claude becomes claude, and moving into a folder renames the tab to that folder. With just a few tabs open, it’s hard to tell which is which.
Ghostty 1.3.0 (March 9, 2026) lets you fix this. You can now pin a tab’s title so it stops changing.
Two kinds of title: tab and surface
First, the terms. In Ghostty, a single tab can hold more than one terminal view. When you split a tab left/right or top/bottom, each pane is one view, and Ghostty calls a single view a surface. If you haven’t split, the tab just holds one surface.
- Tab title: the name shown for the tab in the tab bar
- Surface title: the title of a single view, set by whatever program or shell is running in it
These two used to be tied together. A tab’s name was just the current surface’s title, so whenever a program or shell changed its title, the tab name changed with it — which is why cd, vim, claude, or ssh all shifted it around.
Pinning a tab title
Since 1.3.0 you can set the tab title separately from the view’s title. Run the tab-title command from the command palette, or bind a key to the prompt_tab_title action. (It’s a keybind action, not a config option.)
Once you set a name, it sticks for the whole tab. Name a tab backend-api and it stays backend-api no matter what you run inside it — the program’s own title is ignored.
Bind it in your config to make it quick:
# Pop-up prompt to rename the tab
keybind = ctrl+shift+i=prompt_tab_title
# Set a value directly (1.3.1+)
keybind = ctrl+alt+one=set_tab_title:backend-api
keybind = ctrl+alt+two=set_tab_title:frontend-web
# Clear it (empty value → back to automatic names)
keybind = ctrl+alt+zero=set_tab_title:Renaming with the mouse
You don’t have to use a keybind — the mouse works too.
- Ubuntu (Linux): right-click the tab to open its context menu, then choose the rename option. A popup appears where you type the name. (The same item also lives in the headerbar’s hamburger menu.)
- macOS: double-click the tab to edit the name inline.
Either way, confirm with the name left blank to return to automatic titles.
Wrap-up
When you’re running Claude Code or Codex across several projects, giving each tab a fixed name keeps the workspace readable. Small feature, big everyday payoff.
References
- Ghostty 1.3.0 release notes: https://ghostty.org/docs/install/release-notes/1-3-0
- Keybind action reference: https://ghostty.org/docs/config/keybind/reference
