Dynamic tab naming for SSH/Telnet via PuTTY terminal title tracking by Copilot · Pull Request #3153 · mRemoteNG/mRemoteNG

Copilot · 2026-02-20T13:42:50Z

Tab names for PuTTY-based connections (SSH, Telnet, etc.) are set once at connection time and never updated, making it impossible to track which server you're actually on after chaining SSH sessions.

Approach

Monitor the PuTTY process window title on a 500ms timer. When the shell updates the terminal title (via OSC escape sequences), PuTTY reflects this in its window title — mRemoteNG now propagates that change to the tab text as {terminal_title} ({connection_name}).

Example: Connect to "Server A", then SSH to 192.168.1.2 as test:

Tab shows → test@192.168.1.2 (Server A)

Changes

ProtocolBase — added TitleChanged event + Event_TitleChanged protected method
PuttyBase — polls PuttyProcess.MainWindowTitle every 500ms via System.Threading.Timer; fires TitleChanged on change; disposes timer on close
ConnectionInitiator — wires Prot_Event_TitleChanged handler in SetConnectionFormEventHandlers
ConnectionWindow — Prot_Event_TitleChanged updates ConnectionTab.TabText with proper thread-safe invoke; formats as {title} ({connectionName})
OptionsTabsPanelsPage — new UseTerminalTitleForTabs boolean setting (default: false, opt-in)
TabsPanelsPage — new checkbox "Use terminal title for tab names (SSH/Telnet)" in Options → Tabs & Panels
Language.resx / Language.Designer.cs — localization string for the new option

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Dynamic tab name</issue_title>
<issue_description>It would be very useful to have dynamic tab naming for ssh connections.
Example:

Connect to "Server A" as user "testor" where hostname is "servera"

Tab should be named "testor@servera (Server A)"

SSH from "Server A" to another server at IP 192.168.1.2 with user "test"

Tab should be named "test@192.168.1.2 (Server A)"

This is extremely useful when you manage hundred of servers.
This is the same with:
https://mremoteng.atlassian.net/browse/MR-571

Could not find the same ticket on github.</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)
@Kvarkas hello, unfortunately we are moving forward and its a lot of changes in 1.77.x version including .Net 6 framework... so please wait for a new stable release of 1.77

Fixes Dynamic tab name #351

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Co-authored-by: Kvarkas <3611964+Kvarkas@users.noreply.github.com>

sonarqubecloud · 2026-02-20T13:53:21Z

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds opt-in dynamic tab naming for PuTTY-based protocols by tracking the PuTTY window title and propagating title changes into the tab text, improving usability when chaining SSH sessions.

Changes:

Introduces a TitleChanged event on ProtocolBase and wires it through connection initiation to the UI.
Implements periodic PuTTY MainWindowTitle polling in PuttyBase and raises title-change events on updates.
Adds a new user option + localized UI string to enable/disable terminal-title-based tab naming.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 7 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
mRemoteNG/UI/Window/ConnectionWindow.cs	Handles `TitleChanged` to update the active connection tab text (thread-safe).
mRemoteNG/UI/Forms/OptionsPages/TabsPanelsPage.cs	Loads/saves/applies language for the new “Use terminal title…” option.
mRemoteNG/UI/Forms/OptionsPages/TabsPanelsPage.Designer.cs	Adds the checkbox control to the Tabs & Panels options UI.
mRemoteNG/Properties/OptionsTabsPanelsPage.settings	Adds a new persisted user setting `UseTerminalTitleForTabs`.
mRemoteNG/Properties/OptionsTabsPanelsPage.Designer.cs	Adds generated property accessor for `UseTerminalTitleForTabs`.
mRemoteNG/Language/Language.resx	Adds localized string for the new option label.
mRemoteNG/Language/Language.Designer.cs	Adds generated resource accessor for `UseTerminalTitleForTabs`.
mRemoteNG/Connection/Protocol/PuttyBase.cs	Starts a 500ms timer to poll PuTTY window title and raises `TitleChanged`.
mRemoteNG/Connection/Protocol/ProtocolBase.cs	Adds the `TitleChanged` event and protected raiser method.
mRemoteNG/Connection/ConnectionInitiator.cs	Wires `TitleChanged` to `ConnectionWindow` event handler.

Files not reviewed (3)

mRemoteNG/Language/Language.Designer.cs: Language not supported
mRemoteNG/Properties/OptionsTabsPanelsPage.Designer.cs: Language not supported
mRemoteNG/UI/Forms/OptionsPages/TabsPanelsPage.Designer.cs: Language not supported

Copilot · 2026-02-20T14:07:05Z

mRemoteNG/Connection/Protocol/PuttyBase.cs

+                Runtime.MessageCollector.AddMessage(MessageClass.InformationMsg,
+                    "PuTTY title monitoring stopped: " + ex.Message, true);


This MessageCollector entry uses a hard-coded English string ("PuTTY title monitoring stopped..."). Since these messages are user-visible elsewhere in the app, it should be moved into Language.resx (similar to other PuTTY messages in this class) to keep localization consistent.

Suggested change

Runtime.MessageCollector.AddMessage(MessageClass.InformationMsg,

"PuTTY title monitoring stopped: " + ex.Message, true);

Runtime.MessageCollector.AddMessage(

MessageClass.InformationMsg,

Language.PuttyTitleMonitoringStopped + Environment.NewLine + ex.Message,

true);

Copilot · 2026-02-20T14:07:06Z

mRemoteNG/UI/Window/ConnectionWindow.cs

+            string connectionName = protocolBase.InterfaceControl.Info?.Name ?? "";
+            string tabText = string.IsNullOrEmpty(newTitle)
+                ? connectionName
+                : $"{newTitle} ({connectionName})";
+            tabText = tabText.Replace("&", "&&");


When terminal-title tracking is enabled, this handler overwrites ConnectionTab.TabText with {title} ({connectionName}), which drops existing tab naming preferences (e.g., ShowProtocolOnTabs / ShowLogonInfoOnTabs) that are applied when the tab is created. This makes the corresponding options ineffective after the first title update. Consider reusing the same base tab-title construction used in AddConnectionTab (or preserving the current suffix) so the dynamic title composes with existing tab text settings.

Copilot · 2026-02-20T14:07:06Z

mRemoteNG/UI/Forms/OptionsPages/TabsPanelsPage.cs

            chkShowLogonInfoOnTabs.Checked = Properties.OptionsTabsPanelsPage.Default.ShowLogonInfoOnTabs;
            chkShowProtocolOnTabs.Checked = Properties.OptionsTabsPanelsPage.Default.ShowProtocolOnTabs;
+            chkUseTerminalTitleForTabs.Checked = Properties.OptionsTabsPanelsPage.Default.UseTerminalTitleForTabs;
            chkIdentifyQuickConnectTabs.Checked = Properties.OptionsTabsPanelsPage.Default.IdentifyQuickConnectTabs;


The new UseTerminalTitleForTabs option is persisted in user settings, but it isn't integrated into the existing registry-policy mechanism used on this page (controls are disabled when corresponding OptRegistryTabsPanelsPage entries are set). As-is, admins cannot enforce/lock this new option via registry like the other Tabs & Panels settings. Consider adding a WinRegistryEntry<bool> UseTerminalTitleForTabs to OptRegistryTabsPanelsPage and disabling chkUseTerminalTitleForTabs in LoadRegistrySettings when it’s set.

Copilot · 2026-02-20T14:07:06Z

mRemoteNG/Connection/Protocol/PuttyBase.cs

+                // Start monitoring PuTTY window title for dynamic tab naming
+                _lastWindowTitle = PuttyProcess.MainWindowTitle;
+                _titleMonitorTimer = new System.Threading.Timer(MonitorPuttyTitle, null, TitleMonitorIntervalMs, TitleMonitorIntervalMs);
+


The PuTTY window-title polling timer is started unconditionally on every PuTTY-based connection, even when the new UseTerminalTitleForTabs option is disabled. This makes the feature effectively not opt-in and adds a periodic Process.Refresh()/MainWindowTitle poll for all SSH/Telnet sessions. Consider only creating/starting the timer when the option is enabled (and optionally stopping it if the option is later turned off).

robertpopa22 · 2026-02-24T17:18:25Z

Superseded — Feature Already Implemented (Superior Version)

Dynamic tab naming based on PuTTY terminal title is already fully implemented in the current codebase with a significantly more robust architecture.

What this PR does

Adds a 500ms polling timer on PuttyBase monitoring PuttyProcess.MainWindowTitle
Fires TitleChanged event up to ConnectionWindow which updates tab text
Adds UseTerminalTitleForTabs opt-in toggle in Options > Tabs & Panels

What the codebase already has

Aspect	This PR	Current codebase
Title reading	`Process.MainWindowTitle`	P/Invoke `ReadTerminalWindowTitle()` with 512-char buffer
Thread safety	None (lock-free)	`_terminalTitleSync` lock-based synchronization
Lifecycle	Timer start in constructor	`StartTerminalTitleTracking()` / `StopTerminalTitleTracking()` with proper cleanup on all exit paths (ProcessExited, Connect, Close, error)
Fallback	None	Restores original tab text when terminal title reverts to initial value or becomes empty
Tab updates	Event bubbled to `ConnectionWindow`	Direct `ApplyTabText()` via `connectionTab.TabText` with `InvokeRequired` check
Unread activity	Not handled	Sets `HasUnreadActivity` on inactive tabs when title changes
Extensibility	Hardcoded	Virtual methods: `UseTerminalTitlePollingTimer`, `UpdateTabTitleFromTerminalTitle()`, `ReadTerminalWindowTitle()`
Logon info	Not handled	Integration with `ShowLogonInfoOnTabs` setting (appends logon suffix)

Additional merge blockers

Even if the feature weren't implemented, this PR has heavy conflicts across all 10 files:

TabsPanelsPage.Designer.cs — layout completely different (12+ new controls added since PR base)
OptionsTabsPanelsPage.settings — grew from ~42 to 80 settings
ProtocolBase.cs — TitleChanged event pattern not used in current architecture
ConnectionWindow.cs — handler for non-existent event

Only gap

The current codebase has terminal title tracking always active for PuTTY connections — no opt-in toggle exists. If desired, it can be added as a ~15 line follow-up.

Thank you @Kvarkas for the feature request. Closing as superseded.

We sincerely appreciate the mRemoteNG maintainers and the wonderful community that has kept this project alive and thriving for over a decade. Your work powers thousands of IT professionals worldwide, including us. Our fork builds entirely on your foundation — we're preparing a consolidated Pull Request to contribute these improvements back to the official project. Thank you for everything you've built.

— robertpopa22, community contributor

Initial plan

d39f2b7

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and Kvarkas Feb 20, 2026

Copilot started work on behalf of Kvarkas February 20, 2026 13:43 View session

Implement dynamic tab naming for SSH/Telnet PuTTY connections

f882aaf

Co-authored-by: Kvarkas <3611964+Kvarkas@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Add dynamic tab naming for SSH connections~~ Dynamic tab naming for SSH/Telnet via PuTTY terminal title tracking Feb 20, 2026

Copilot AI requested a review from Kvarkas February 20, 2026 13:53

Copilot finished work on behalf of Kvarkas February 20, 2026 13:53

Kvarkas requested a review from Copilot February 20, 2026 13:58

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of Kvarkas February 20, 2026 13:59 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Feb 20, 2026

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Dynamic tab naming for SSH/Telnet via PuTTY terminal title tracking#3153

Dynamic tab naming for SSH/Telnet via PuTTY terminal title tracking#3153
Copilot wants to merge 2 commits intov1.78.2-devfrom
copilot/add-dynamic-tab-naming

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		Runtime.MessageCollector.AddMessage(MessageClass.InformationMsg,
		"PuTTY title monitoring stopped: " + ex.Message, true);

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Superseded — Feature Already Implemented (Superior Version)

What this PR does

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