fix(cli): show Goal objectives in session picker

packages/cli/src/ui/components/SessionPicker.tsx

@@ -142,7 +142,11 @@ function SessionListItemView({
         ? prefixChars.scrollDown
         : prefixChars.normal;
 
-  const promptText = session.customTitle || session.prompt || '(empty prompt)';
+  const promptText =
+    session.customTitle ||
+    session.prompt ||
+    session.goalObjective ||
+    '(empty prompt)';
   // Reserve space for the checkbox when multi-select is active so the
   // prompt column doesn't shift between modes.
   const checkboxWidth = isChecked === undefined ? 0 : 4; // "[x] "
@@ -274,7 +278,11 @@ export function SessionPicker(props: SessionPickerProps) {
       <SessionPreview
         sessionService={sessionService}
         sessionId={picker.previewSessionId}
-        sessionTitle={previewed?.customTitle ?? previewed?.prompt ?? undefined}
+        sessionTitle={
+          previewed?.customTitle ||
+          previewed?.prompt ||
+          previewed?.goalObjective
+        }
         messageCount={previewed?.messageCount}
         mtime={previewed?.mtime}
         gitBranch={previewed?.gitBranch}

packages/cli/src/ui/components/StandaloneSessionPicker.test.tsx

@@ -460,6 +460,33 @@ describe('SessionPicker', () => {
   });
 
   describe('Display', () => {
+    it('falls back to the Goal objective when the session has no title or prompt', async () => {
+      const sessions = [
+        createMockSession({
+          customTitle: undefined,
+          prompt: '',
+          goalObjective: 'Ship the requested change',
+        }),
+      ];
+      const mockService = createMockSessionService(sessions);
+
+      const { lastFrame } = render(
+        <KeypressProvider kittyProtocolEnabled={false}>
+          <SessionPicker
+            sessionService={mockService as never}
+            onSelect={vi.fn()}
+            onCancel={vi.fn()}
+          />
+        </KeypressProvider>,
+      );
+
+      await flush();
+
+      const output = lastFrame() ?? '';
+      expect(output).toContain('Ship the requested change');
+      expect(output).not.toContain('(empty prompt)');
+    });
+
     it('should show session metadata', async () => {
       const sessions = [
         createMockSession({
@@ -759,6 +786,33 @@ describe('SessionPicker', () => {
       };
     }
 
+    it('uses the Goal objective as the preview title', async () => {
+      const sessions = [
+        createMockSession({
+          sessionId: 's1',
+          prompt: '',
+          goalObjective: 'Ship the requested change',
+        }),
+      ];
+      const service = createMockSessionService(sessions);
+      service.loadSession.mockResolvedValue(fakeResumedData('s1'));
+
+      const { stdin, lastFrame } = renderPicker(
+        <SessionPicker
+          sessionService={service as never}
+          onSelect={vi.fn()}
+          onCancel={vi.fn()}
+          enablePreview
+        />,
+      );
+
+      await flush();
+      stdin.write(' ');
+      await flush();
+
+      expect(lastFrame() ?? '').toContain('Ship the requested change');
+    });
+
     it('renders tool_group items without crashing (stub Providers mounted)', async () => {
       // The previewed session contains a function call + tool_result, which
       // produces a `tool_group` HistoryItem that exercises ToolGroupMessage

packages/cli/src/ui/utils/sessionPickerUtils.test.ts

@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ describe('sessionPickerUtils', () => {
       s({ sessionId: 'b', customTitle: 'Add OAuth flow', gitBranch: 'feat' }),
       s({ sessionId: 'c', prompt: 'random work', gitBranch: 'hotfix/login' }),
       s({ sessionId: 'd', prompt: 'unrelated', gitBranch: 'main' }),
+      s({ sessionId: 'e', goalObjective: 'Ship release notes' }),
     ];
 
     it('passes everything through when no filter is set', () => {
@@ -98,6 +99,11 @@ describe('sessionPickerUtils', () => {
       expect(result.map((x) => x.sessionId)).toEqual(['b']);
     });
 
+    it('matches the query against the Goal objective', () => {
+      const result = filterSessions(sessions, false, undefined, 'release');
+      expect(result.map((x) => x.sessionId)).toEqual(['e']);
+    });
+
     it('composes branch filter and query as AND', () => {
       // Branch filter narrows to main; query then drops the unrelated row
       // even though 'unrelated' is on main.

packages/cli/src/ui/utils/sessionPickerUtils.ts

@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ function truncateToDisplayWidth(text: string, maxWidth: number): string {
 
 /**
  * Returns true when the session matches the query as a substring on any of:
- * customTitle, first prompt, gitBranch.
+ * customTitle, first prompt, Goal objective, gitBranch.
  *
  * Empty queries match everything. The query is expected pre-normalized —
  * `filterSessions` does the trim+lowercase once before the per-session
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ function matchesQuery(
   const haystacks: Array<string | undefined> = [
     session.customTitle,
     session.prompt,
+    session.goalObjective,
     session.gitBranch,
   ];
   for (const h of haystacks) {
@@ -91,8 +92,9 @@ function matchesQuery(
  *
  * Branch filter and query filter compose (AND): when both are active, a
  * session must satisfy both. Query is matched case-insensitively against
- * customTitle, prompt, and gitBranch — branch is included in query matching
- * so users can type a branch name without first toggling branch-filter.
+ * customTitle, prompt, Goal objective, and gitBranch — branch is included in
+ * query matching so users can type a branch name without first toggling
+ * branch-filter.
  */
 export function filterSessions(
   sessions: SessionListItem[],