diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8bcc8b82f..b3df5d8d2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -98,6 +98,15 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   machine with no agent it opened a card that died on
   `claude: command not found`. It now opens a shell — where the install command
   from those links can be pasted — and says so before you press it.
+- **The new worktree can be named in plain words.** The name field only ever
+  took a branch name: anything with a space in it was refused as invalid, so
+  naming the work meant inventing the hyphens yourself, and leaving the field
+  blank handed the branch a name like `calm-glacier` — which is fine until it
+  is the name on a pull request, and renaming a branch after the PR is open
+  closes the PR. Type what the work is instead — `fix the auth redirect` — and
+  the branch becomes `fix-the-auth-redirect`, shown under the field before
+  anything is created. A name git already accepts is still used exactly as
+  typed, and a blank field still auto-generates one.
 - **A project tab comes back to the screen you left it on.** Stepping over to
   another project and back always dropped you onto the first project's
   terminals, whatever you had been reading there: its Settings, the pull request
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/sidebar/WorktreeDialog.tsx b/frontend/src/components/sidebar/WorktreeDialog.tsx
index ec5867eac..e98005bed 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/sidebar/WorktreeDialog.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/sidebar/WorktreeDialog.tsx
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import {
 } from "@/components/ui/dialog"
 import { Input } from "@/components/ui/input"
 import { Label } from "@/components/ui/label"
-import { isValidBranchName } from "@/lib/git/branch-name"
+import { toBranchName } from "@/lib/git/branch-name"
 import { useSandboxChoice, type SandboxAnswer } from "@/lib/use-sandbox-choice"
 import { cn, errorText } from "@/lib/utils"
 
@@ -110,10 +110,10 @@ function Group({ title, items, base, onSelect }: GroupProps) {
   )
 }
 
-// WorktreeDialog collects a worktree name (blank = random adjective-noun) and a
-// base picked from a searchable list — existing worktrees to resume, then local
-// and remote branches (remote bases are fetched and tracked). It stays open on
-// failure so git's error is readable in place.
+// WorktreeDialog collects a worktree name (blank = random adjective-noun, plain
+// words = a slug of them) and a base picked from a searchable list — existing
+// worktrees to resume, then local and remote branches (remote bases are fetched
+// and tracked). It stays open on failure so git's error is readable in place.
 export function WorktreeDialog({
   open,
   onOpenChange,
@@ -138,8 +138,9 @@ export function WorktreeDialog({
   const vis = filterBranches(branches, filter)
   const flat = flatValues(vis)
   const noMatches = branches !== null && flat.length === 0
-  const trimmed = name.trim()
-  const nameInvalid = trimmed !== "" && !isValidBranchName(trimmed)
+  // What the typed name creates: itself when git takes it, a slug of the first
+  // few words when it is a phrase, blank when nothing usable was typed.
+  const newBranch = toBranchName(name)
   const isResume = base.startsWith("worktree:")
 
   // Keep the selected base in view as it changes — the preselected current
@@ -208,7 +209,7 @@ export function WorktreeDialog({
       move(-1)
     } else if (event.key === "Enter") {
       event.preventDefault()
-      if (!nameInvalid && base && !submitting) {
+      if (base && !submitting) {
         void submit()
       }
     }
@@ -228,7 +229,7 @@ export function WorktreeDialog({
     setSubmitting(true)
     setSubmitError("")
     try {
-      await onCreate(trimmed, id, group === "remote", sandbox.answer)
+      await onCreate(newBranch, id, group === "remote", sandbox.answer)
     } catch (err) {
       setSubmitError(errorText(err))
       setSubmitting(false)
@@ -255,20 +256,15 @@ export function WorktreeDialog({
             id="worktree-name"
             value={name}
             onChange={(e) => setName(e.target.value)}
-            placeholder="Leave blank to auto-generate (e.g. swift-rabbit)"
+            placeholder="A branch name, or the task in plain words (e.g. fix the auth redirect)"
             disabled={isResume}
-            aria-invalid={nameInvalid || undefined}
             autoFocus
           />
-          {nameInvalid ? (
-            <span className="text-xs text-destructive">Invalid branch name</span>
-          ) : (
-            <span className="font-mono text-xs text-muted-foreground">
-              {isResume
-                ? "Opens the selected worktree"
-                : `Branch: ${trimmed || "<auto-generated>"}`}
-            </span>
-          )}
+          <span className="font-mono text-xs text-muted-foreground">
+            {isResume
+              ? "Opens the selected worktree"
+              : `Branch: ${newBranch || "<auto-generated>"}`}
+          </span>
         </div>
 
         <div className="flex min-h-0 flex-col gap-1.5">
@@ -346,7 +342,7 @@ export function WorktreeDialog({
 
         <DialogFooter>
           <DialogClose render={<Button variant="ghost" />}>Cancel</DialogClose>
-          <Button onClick={() => void submit()} disabled={nameInvalid || !base || submitting}>
+          <Button onClick={() => void submit()} disabled={!base || submitting}>
             {submitting ? "Creating…" : isResume ? "Open worktree" : "Create worktree"}
           </Button>
         </DialogFooter>
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/git/branch-name.test.ts b/frontend/src/lib/git/branch-name.test.ts
index 558d29b64..b4e085df1 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/git/branch-name.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/git/branch-name.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest"
-import { isValidBranchName } from "./branch-name"
+import { isValidBranchName, toBranchName } from "./branch-name"
 
 describe("isValidBranchName", () => {
   const valid = ["main", "feat/x", "a-b_c.d", "v1.0", "wt/deep/nesting", "UPPER"]
@@ -35,3 +35,49 @@ describe("isValidBranchName", () => {
     expect(isValidBranchName(name)).toBe(false)
   })
 })
+
+describe("toBranchName", () => {
+  const kept = ["main", "feat/x", "a-b_c.d", "wt/deep/nesting", "!!!"]
+  it.each(kept)("keeps %j, which git already accepts", (name) => {
+    expect(toBranchName(name)).toBe(name)
+  })
+
+  it("trims before deciding", () => {
+    expect(toBranchName("  feat/x  ")).toBe("feat/x")
+  })
+
+  it("slugifies a typed phrase", () => {
+    expect(toBranchName("Fix the auth redirect loop")).toBe("fix-the-auth-redirect-loop")
+  })
+
+  it("keeps letters that are not ASCII", () => {
+    expect(toBranchName("corrigir a sessão órfã")).toBe("corrigir-a-sessão-órfã")
+  })
+
+  it("stops at five words", () => {
+    expect(toBranchName("one two three four five six")).toBe("one-two-three-four-five")
+  })
+
+  it("stops before the character maximum once the minimum is met", () => {
+    expect(toBranchName("refactor the authentication middleware completely")).toBe(
+      "refactor-the-authentication-middleware",
+    )
+  })
+
+  it("grows past the character maximum while under the character minimum", () => {
+    expect(toBranchName(`go on ${"z".repeat(40)}`)).toBe(`go-on-${"z".repeat(34)}`)
+  })
+
+  it("clamps a word that alone runs past the maximum", () => {
+    expect(toBranchName(`${"z".repeat(50)} x`)).toBe("z".repeat(40))
+  })
+
+  it("leaves no trailing separator when the clamp lands on one", () => {
+    expect(toBranchName(`${"a".repeat(39)} b`)).toBe("a".repeat(39))
+  })
+
+  const nothing = ["", "   ", "@", "..."]
+  it.each(nothing)("returns nothing for %j, so the caller auto-generates", (input) => {
+    expect(toBranchName(input)).toBe("")
+  })
+})
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/git/branch-name.ts b/frontend/src/lib/git/branch-name.ts
index af31834a2..8d905452e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/git/branch-name.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/git/branch-name.ts
@@ -27,3 +27,52 @@ export function isValidBranchName(name: string): boolean {
         part !== "" && !part.startsWith(".") && !part.endsWith(".") && !part.endsWith(".lock"),
     )
 }
+
+// A name typed as words is grown one word at a time: to at least a minimum, so
+// a run of very short words still reads as a phrase, and stopped before a
+// maximum, so a pasted sentence does not become the branch. Both bounds are
+// counted in words and in characters — either one alone lets the other run away.
+const MIN_WORDS = 2
+const MAX_WORDS = 5
+const MIN_CHARS = 10
+const MAX_CHARS = 40
+
+/**
+ * The branch a typed worktree name creates: what was typed when git already
+ * accepts it, a kebab-case slug of the first few words when it does not, and
+ * "" when nothing usable is left — which is the same blank the caller
+ * auto-generates a name for.
+ *
+ * The point is the name a branch carries into a pull request. A blank field
+ * takes the random adjective-noun, and renaming that branch after the PR is
+ * open closes the PR, so the only cheap moment to say what the work is called
+ * is before the worktree exists. Typing the task in plain words is that moment.
+ */
+export function toBranchName(input: string): string {
+  const trimmed = input.trim()
+  if (trimmed === "" || isValidBranchName(trimmed)) {
+    return trimmed
+  }
+  // Letters and numbers in any script, not just ASCII: git takes a non-ASCII
+  // branch name, and stripping the accents off a phrase would spell it wrong.
+  const words = trimmed
+    .toLowerCase()
+    .replace(/[^\p{L}\p{N}]+/gu, " ")
+    .trim()
+    .split(/\s+/)
+    .filter(Boolean)
+  const picked: string[] = []
+  let length = 0
+  for (const word of words) {
+    const next = length === 0 ? word.length : length + 1 + word.length
+    const haveMinimum = picked.length >= MIN_WORDS && length >= MIN_CHARS
+    if (picked.length >= MAX_WORDS || (next > MAX_CHARS && haveMinimum)) {
+      break
+    }
+    picked.push(word)
+    length = next
+  }
+  // A single word longer than the maximum is picked before the bound applies —
+  // it is that or nothing — so the clamp is enforced here, on the joined name.
+  return picked.join("-").slice(0, MAX_CHARS).replace(/-+$/, "")
+}