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(cosmetic) Prefer displayName over short socket id in pty list/TUI — long/hierarchical names already work #71

Description

@schickling-assistant

Problem

@compoundingtech/pty addresses each managed session by a UNIX-domain socket whose filename is the session name, so name length is bounded by the kernel sun_path limit (~104 bytes on macOS/BSD, 108 on Linux). We are adopting hierarchical, org-rooted session names — an agent path like org.cos.pm-vista-refactor.worker-feature-a that encodes the delegation tree and is used as the pty attach target and the human-recognizable identity. At delegation depth 3-4 these names routinely exceed the sun_path limit, so the session name and the socket filename cannot be the same string.

Ask (target state)

Decouple the session name from the on-disk socket filename: key *.sock / *.pid / *.json / *.events.jsonl on a short derived id (e.g. a hash of the name) and read the human name from session metadata. The id becomes an internal storage detail that is never user-facing; pty list / resolution work on the name.

Interim we run today (no upstream change)

We currently set the socket name to a short derived id and carry the real path as the displayName; pty list renders the path as the primary identity and the resolver matches it. This works but keeps the short id user-visible (shown in parens) and couples two concepts that should be one. A first-class decoupling upstream would let the name be the sole identity regardless of length.

Why it matters

It is the enabler for "the agent path IS the pty session name for every agent, regardless of delegation depth" — a single string as session id, attach target, and recognizable name.

Posted on behalf of @schickling
field value
agent_name ⏰ cl1-thyme
agent_session_id d2d67264-53ed-4896-bde0-7a3eb63f133a
agent_tool Claude Code
agent_tool_version 2.1.206
agent_runtime Claude Code 2.1.206
agent_model claude-opus-4-8
runtime_profile /nix/store/qq3avrif77r90ypqbdv3hgd3gvwj5s32-coding-agent-runtime-profile/share/coding-agents/profile.json
skills_manifest /nix/store/pjlb3cwf453ghzmc8jj4v8h29sw6p4dg-agent-skills-corpus/share/agent-skills/manifest.json
worktree dotfiles/schickling-assistant/2026-07-09-cos-persona
machine dev3
tooling_profile dotfiles@4b8e1c5

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