[BUG] Claude leaves behind locked panels in VSCode
What's Wrong?
Opening new tabs using the VSCode/Cursor extension creates new locked tab groups when you have other files already open. This is slightly annoying behaviour when I want to manage multiple Claude Code tabs + files.
What Should Happen?
Other extensions explicitly expose an 'Auto Lock Groups' setting to control this:
<img width="941" height="119" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3793de15-ec4c-4200-a7d3-63508229ee9e" />
It would be great if the Claude Code extension could do the same.
This issue was previously raised here: #7752
However, that issue was incorrectly labelled as a duplicate of #6917 and is now locked.
Steps to Reproduce
- Open VSCode.
- Open a file.
- Open Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P on Mac)
- Select 'Claude Code: Open in New Tab'
- A new Claude Code tab is created as a locked side group.
<img width="1512" height="803" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/4c3436b8-688e-44a6-9f02-4a89a3834f58" />
Claude Code Version
2.1.17
Terminal/Shell
Cursor
Showing cached comments. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗
12 Comments
Found 2 possible duplicate issues:
This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.
🤖 Generated with Claude Code
Agreed! This is quite annoying. Please let the Claude Code window behave like any other VSCode tab so that users can manage it normally.
My preferred behavior is what VSCode does when opening a new file by default: open it in whatever panel is currently focused/selected.
Agree! 👍
Temporary fix: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=josdyr.auto-unlock-editor-group
This is an annoying issue.
👍🏼 yesss, i created one because indeed is annoying!
Comment to ward off the stale bot. This is still an issue, and https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/20324#issuecomment-3861513013 (separate extension) worked as a fix for me.
Still an issue!
Still an issue
Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.
can be resolved with setting
Preferred LocationassidebarThis is not a resolution to the described problem. It's just _doing something totally different_. We obviously want to click the Claude Code button and have it open normally in a new tab in the same window / tab group.
How can I spend tokens if im slowed down by a lock.
If I want to click and drag I would play OSU.