fix(tui): set terminal title without renaming process

.changeset/fix-terminal-title-process-name.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@moonshot-ai/kimi-code": patch
+---
+
+Set terminal tab titles without renaming the running process.

apps/kimi-code/src/main.ts

@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ import { CLI_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT_MS, CLI_UI_MODE } from './constant/app';
 import { cleanupStaleNativeCacheForCurrent } from './native/native-assets';
 import { installNativeModuleHook } from './native/module-hook';
 import { runNativeAssetSmokeIfRequested } from './native/smoke';
-import { initProcessName } from './utils/process/proctitle';
 
 export async function handleMainCommand(opts: CLIOptions, version: string): Promise<void> {
   let validated: ReturnType<typeof validateOptions>;
@@ -116,7 +115,6 @@ const MIGRATE_CLI_OPTIONS: CLIOptions = {
 };
 
 export function main(): void {
-  initProcessName();
   installCrashHandlers();
   installNativeModuleHook();
   if (runNativeAssetSmokeIfRequested()) return;

apps/kimi-code/src/tui/constant/terminal.ts

@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ export const OSC11_RESPONSE_PREFIX_NO_ESC = "]11;rgb:";
 // Keep notification/title payloads bounded so terminal tabs and desktop
 // notifications stay readable.
 export const MAX_TERMINAL_NOTIFICATION_MESSAGE_LENGTH = 240;
-export const MAX_PROCESS_TITLE_LENGTH = 32;
+export const MAX_TERMINAL_TITLE_LENGTH = 32;
 
 // OSC 11 probing must be short because unsupported terminals do not reply.
 export const TERMINAL_THEME_DETECT_TIMEOUT_MS = 250;

apps/kimi-code/src/tui/controllers/auth-flow.ts

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ export interface AuthFlowHost {
   appendStartupNotice(extra: string): void;
   readonly sessionEventHandler: SessionEventHandler;
   fetchSessions(): Promise<void>;
-  refreshSessionTitle(): void;
+  updateTerminalTitle(): void;
   refreshSkillCommands(session?: SkillListSession): Promise<void>;
 }
 
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ export class AuthFlowController {
     await host.syncRuntimeState(session);
     host.sessionEventHandler.startSubscription();
     void host.fetchSessions();
-    host.refreshSessionTitle();
+    host.updateTerminalTitle();
     void host.refreshSkillCommands(host.session);
   }
 

apps/kimi-code/src/tui/controllers/session-event-handler.ts

@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@ import {
   selectMcpStartupStatusRows,
 } from '../utils/mcp-server-status';
 import { openUrl } from '#/utils/open-url';
-import { setProcessTitle } from '../utils/proctitle';
 import { errorReportHintLine } from '../constant/feedback';
 import { formatStepDebugTiming } from '#/utils/usage/debug-timing';
 import { nextTranscriptId } from '../utils/transcript-id';
@@ -91,6 +90,7 @@ export interface SessionEventHost {
   showStatus(msg: string, color?: string): void;
   showNotice(title: string, detail?: string): void;
   appendTranscriptEntry(entry: TranscriptEntry): void;
+  updateTerminalTitle(): void;
   sendQueuedMessage(session: Session, item: QueuedMessage): void;
   shiftQueuedMessage(): QueuedMessage | undefined;
   readonly btwPanelController: BtwPanelController;
@@ -296,6 +296,7 @@ export class SessionEventHandler {
       case 'cron.fired':
       case 'error':
       case 'warning':
+      case 'goal.updated':
       case 'session.meta.updated':
       case 'skill.activated':
       case 'subagent.completed':
@@ -592,7 +593,7 @@ export class SessionEventHandler {
     const title = event.title ?? stringValue(event.patch?.['title']);
     if (title !== undefined) {
       this.host.setAppState({ sessionTitle: title });
-      setProcessTitle(title, this.host.state.appState.sessionId);
+      this.host.updateTerminalTitle();
     }
   }
 

apps/kimi-code/src/tui/kimi-tui.ts

@@ -86,7 +86,9 @@ import {
   LLM_NOT_SET_MESSAGE,
   MAIN_AGENT_ID,
   NO_ACTIVE_SESSION_MESSAGE,
+  PRODUCT_NAME,
 } from './constant/kimi-tui';
+import { MAX_TERMINAL_TITLE_LENGTH } from './constant/terminal';
 import { combineStartupNotice, isOAuthLoginRequiredError } from './utils/startup';
 import { adaptPanelResponse } from './reverse-rpc/approval/adapter';
 import { ApprovalController } from './reverse-rpc/approval/controller';
@@ -117,7 +119,6 @@ import { ImageAttachmentStore, type ImageAttachment } from './utils/image-attach
 import { extractMediaAttachments } from './utils/image-placeholder';
 import { hasPatchChanges } from './utils/object-patch';
 import { openUrl } from '#/utils/open-url';
-import { setProcessTitle } from './utils/proctitle';
 import { sessionRowsForPicker } from './utils/session-picker-rows';
 import { installTerminalFocusTracking } from './utils/terminal-focus';
 import { notifyTerminalOnce } from './utils/terminal-notification';
@@ -462,7 +463,7 @@ export class KimiTUI {
     }
     void this.fetchSessions();
     if (this.session !== undefined) {
-      this.refreshSessionTitle();
+      this.updateTerminalTitle();
     }
     void this.refreshSkillCommands(this.session);
   }
@@ -1090,8 +1091,10 @@ export class KimiTUI {
     }
   }
 
-  refreshSessionTitle(): void {
-    setProcessTitle(this.state.appState.sessionTitle, this.state.appState.sessionId);
+  updateTerminalTitle(): void {
+    const trimmed = this.state.appState.sessionTitle?.trim() ?? '';
+    const label = trimmed.length > 0 ? trimmed.slice(0, MAX_TERMINAL_TITLE_LENGTH) : PRODUCT_NAME;
+    this.state.terminal.setTitle(label);
   }
 
   resetSessionRuntime(): void {
@@ -1144,7 +1147,7 @@ export class KimiTUI {
     this.resetSessionRuntime();
     await this.setSession(session);
     await this.syncRuntimeState(session);
-    this.refreshSessionTitle();
+    this.updateTerminalTitle();
     try {
       await this.refreshSkillCommands(this.session);
     } catch {

apps/kimi-code/test/cli/main.test.ts

@@ -260,6 +260,18 @@ describe('main entry command handling', () => {
     expect(mocks.parse).toHaveBeenCalledWith(process.argv);
   });
 
+  it('does not rewrite the process title during startup', () => {
+    const originalTitle = process.title;
+    try {
+      process.title = 'kimi-test-runner';
+      main();
+
+      expect(process.title).toBe('kimi-test-runner');
+    } finally {
+      process.title = originalTitle;
+    }
+  });
+
   it('exits early when update preflight requests process exit', async () => {
     const opts = defaultOpts();
     mocks.validateOptions.mockReturnValue({ options: opts, uiMode: 'shell' });

apps/kimi-code/test/tui/kimi-tui-message-flow.test.ts

@@ -2809,6 +2809,30 @@ describe('KimiTUI message flow', () => {
     expect(write).toHaveBeenCalledWith(deleteAllKittyImages());
   });
 
+  it('updates terminal title through pi-tui without changing process title', async () => {
+    const originalTitle = process.title;
+    const { driver } = await makeDriver(makeSession({ id: 'ses-1' }));
+    const setTitle = vi.spyOn(driver.state.terminal, 'setTitle').mockImplementation(() => {});
+
+    try {
+      process.title = 'kimi-test-runner';
+      driver.sessionEventHandler.handleEvent(
+        {
+          type: 'session.meta.updated',
+          sessionId: 'ses-1',
+          agentId: 'main',
+          title: 'Implement terminal title',
+        } as Event,
+        () => {},
+      );
+
+      expect(setTitle).toHaveBeenCalledWith('Implement terminal title');
+      expect(process.title).toBe('kimi-test-runner');
+    } finally {
+      process.title = originalTitle;
+    }
+  });
+
   it('forks the active session and switches to the returned session', async () => {
     const originalTitle = process.title;
     const source = makeSession({
@@ -2821,8 +2845,10 @@ describe('KimiTUI message flow', () => {
     });
     const forkSession = vi.fn(async () => forked);
     const { driver, harness } = await makeDriver(source, { forkSession });
+    const setTitle = vi.spyOn(driver.state.terminal, 'setTitle').mockImplementation(() => {});
 
     try {
+      process.title = 'kimi-test-runner';
       driver.handleUserInput('/fork ignored args');
 
       await vi.waitFor(() => {
@@ -2832,7 +2858,8 @@ describe('KimiTUI message flow', () => {
         });
         expect(driver.getCurrentSessionId()).toBe('ses-fork');
       });
-      expect(process.title).toBe('Fork: Source title');
+      expect(setTitle).toHaveBeenCalledWith('Fork: Source title');
+      expect(process.title).toBe('kimi-test-runner');
       expect(source.close).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
       expect(forked.onEvent).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
       expect(harness.resumeSession).not.toHaveBeenCalled();