diff --git a/src/servers/api/chat/chat.ts b/src/servers/api/chat/chat.ts
index b06aa246..45c4459f 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/chat/chat.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/chat/chat.ts
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ import { readSttConfig } from '../server-settings/stt';
  * Reachable by a member since 2026-08-12 — see the note below on what replaced the wholesale refusal that
  * used to stand at the top of this router.
  */
-async function chatIdentity(user: { id: number; email: string }): Promise<ChatIdentity> {
+export async function chatIdentity(user: { id: number; email: string }): Promise<ChatIdentity> {
   const resolved = await resolveHomeDir(user.id);
   if (!resolved.ok) throw errors.FORBIDDEN(resolved.reason);
   return { email: user.email, home: resolved.home, osUser: resolved.osUser, isOwner: resolved.isOwner };
diff --git a/src/servers/api/chat/types.ts b/src/servers/api/chat/types.ts
index dcc4f220..5de0f058 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/chat/types.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/chat/types.ts
@@ -76,6 +76,20 @@ export type ClientMessage =
        * first turn is the first moment the preference can be acted on OR written down.
        */
       planMode?: boolean;
+      /**
+       * The name the owner chose for a COMMANDER before its first message.
+       *
+       * Claude Code will not accept a name for a new session — the harness names its own from the first
+       * prompt — so the platform renames the transcript the moment it exists. Carried on the turn rather
+       * than sent afterwards because it must not depend on a browser still being open: the name was chosen
+       * before anything was said, and losing it to a closed tab would leave a commander called after
+       * whatever it happened to say first.
+       *
+       * Applied once, by `fileAsCommander`, via `renameClaudeSession` — which writes a `summary` record and
+       * therefore an EXPLICIT title, and an explicit title is never overwritten by `ai-title` or by the
+       * first-message fallback.
+       */
+      commanderName?: string;
       /**
        * This turn is arming a Command HQ watcher — see `docs/command-hq.md` → "The watcher loop". Set only
        * by `BackgroundJobDialog` submitting a `handoff` job inside a commander (`isCommander` true); every
diff --git a/src/servers/api/chat/websocket.ts b/src/servers/api/chat/websocket.ts
index 227db196..0610e431 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/chat/websocket.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/chat/websocket.ts
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import {
 } from 'officerdb';
 import { resolveHomeDir } from '@@/user-home';
 import { renameClaudeSession, type ChatIdentity } from './claude-sessions';
+import { chatIdentity } from './chat';
 import { claudeLoginState } from '@@/os-user-claude';
 import { mkdirSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { logger } from './logger';
@@ -351,6 +352,15 @@ function createMessageHandler(
   resumeSessionId?: string,
   planMode?: boolean,
   commandHq?: boolean,
+  /**
+   * The name the owner chose before the conversation started, for a commander.
+   *
+   * Claude Code will not accept a name for a NEW session — the harness names its own — so the platform
+   * renames it the moment the transcript exists. Done here rather than by the client because it must not
+   * depend on a browser still being open: the name was chosen before the first message, and losing it to a
+   * closed tab would leave a commander called after whatever it happened to say first.
+   */
+  commanderName?: string,
 ) {
   /*
     The model messages are ATTRIBUTED to, which is not always the model the turn asked for.
@@ -454,13 +464,30 @@ function createMessageHandler(
     if (!commandHq || !transcriptId) return;
     const userId = sessionManager.getSession(sessionId)?.userId;
     if (!userId) return;
-    void createCommandHqSession(userId, transcriptId).catch((err: unknown) => {
-      logger.warn('Could not file this session as a commander', {
-        sessionId,
-        transcriptId,
-        error: err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err),
+    const filedId = transcriptId;
+    void createCommandHqSession(userId, filedId)
+      .then(async () => {
+        // The chosen name, applied once and only if one was chosen.
+        //
+        // `renameClaudeSession` writes a `summary` record, which is what sets `hasExplicitTitle` — and an
+        // explicit title is never overwritten by the harness's own `ai-title` or by the first-message
+        // fallback. So this wins permanently rather than racing the titling.
+        if (!commanderName?.trim()) return;
+        // The same identity resolution every chat route uses, rather than a second copy of it: it is what
+        // decides the home and the OS user, and a rename writes a file as that user.
+        const user = await getUserById(userId).catch(() => null);
+        if (!user?.email) return;
+        const who = await chatIdentity({ id: userId, email: user.email }).catch(() => null);
+        if (!who) return;
+        renameClaudeSession(who, getCommandersDir(who.email), filedId, commanderName.trim());
+      })
+      .catch((err: unknown) => {
+        logger.warn('Could not file this session as a commander', {
+          sessionId,
+          transcriptId: filedId,
+          error: err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err),
+        });
       });
-    });
   };
 
   return (msg: TurnMessage, seq?: number): void => {
@@ -958,6 +985,7 @@ export async function startClaudeTurn(params: {
     msg.resumeSessionId,
     msg.planMode,
     msg.context === 'command-hq',
+    msg.commanderName,
   );
   // Wrapped rather than passed straight to the spawn call, so `onOutcome` sees the transcript id at the
   // exact moment `fileAsCommander` (inside `createMessageHandler`) does — both react to the same