  We study the impact of Cu intercalation on the charge density wave (CDW) in
1T-Cu$_{\text{x}}$TiSe$_{\text{2}}$ by scanning tunneling microscopy and
spectroscopy. Cu atoms, identified through density functional theory modeling,
are found to intercalate randomly on the octahedral site in the van der Waals
gap and to dope delocalized electrons near the Fermi level. While the CDW
modulation period does not depend on Cu content, we observe the formation of
charge stripe domains at low Cu content (x$<$0.02) and a breaking up of the
commensurate order into 2$\times$2 domains at higher Cu content. The latter
shrink with increasing Cu concentration and tend to be phase-shifted. These
findings invalidate a proposed excitonic pairing as the primary CDW formation
mechanism in this material.
