[FEATURE] Let a plugin (mod) bring the desktop Browser pane on screen

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

A plugin's hooks module (a mod) can open a page in the desktop app's Browser pane:

await $.mcp.call('Claude_Browser', 'preview_start', { url: 'http://localhost:47821/' })

The tab opens and can be scripted, but the pane itself stays hidden (tabs_context reports "The Browser pane is currently hidden"). The person has to find and click the globe icon before they see anything. For a mod whose whole job is to show a web page next to the chat, that extra step is the main friction.

There is no call a mod can make to bring the pane on screen. The ccd_view show_pane tool covers diff, file, terminal, pr, tasks, plan and artifact, but not the Browser pane.

Proposed Solution

Any one of these would do:

• preview_start({ url, reveal: true })
• show_pane accepting "browser" as a pane
• a $.ui call that shows a named pane

It should follow the same rule show_pane already has: it only changes what is on screen for that session, and does nothing when the session is not open in a window.

Alternative Solutions

The workaround I use today: opening a local file (preview_start with a file:// address) does bring the pane on screen. So the mod writes a tiny HTML file into the session's working folder, opens it, switches to its real tab, closes the file's tab and deletes the file. It works, but it is a side effect, and any app update can break it. A file outside the working folder also asks "open this file?" on every open, which is why the temporary file has to live in the person's project.

Priority

Medium - Would be very helpful

Feature Category

Developer tools/SDK

Use Case Example

1. I write long messages on a roomy page instead of in the small message box (the mod: https://github.com/chopsiiev-web/note-page).
2. I type /page, or click the mod's button above the prompt.
3. Expected: the Browser pane comes on screen with the page, in one action.
4. Today: without the workaround, the tab opens in a hidden pane and I have to click the globe icon every time.

The same applies to any mod that shows a dashboard, a preview or a form beside the chat.

Additional Context

• Claude Code 2.1.289 inside the Claude desktop app, macOS 15.
• Related: #78221 describes the same hidden-pane behaviour from the agent's side (preview_start no longer opens the pane by itself). It was closed for inactivity.