[FEATURE][Desktop] Keyboard shortcut to move focus between split-view session panes
Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jul 3, 2026 by peterzdhuang
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
In the Claude Desktop Code tab, I open sessions side-by-side (Cmd+click a session in the sidebar) to work across them. Everything else in this workflow is keyboard-driven, but there is no keyboard-only way to move focus between the open panes. Per the docs, changing which pane has focus requires clicking another sidebar session, which forces me back to the mouse and breaks the flow.
Proposed Solution
Add a keybinding that cycles focus across the panes in an active split (works with two or more panes), e.g. focus:nextPane / focus:previousPane, rebindable via ~/.claude/keybindings.json. There is currently no pane:* / focus-switch action in the keybindings reference, so there is nothing to bind for this today.
Alternative Solutions
Ctrl+Tab/Cmd+Shift+]cycle between sessions, but that switches the active session rather than moving focus between panes already shown together in split view.- Clicking the target pane in the sidebar works but requires the mouse.
Priority
Low - Nice to have
Feature Category
Other
Use Case Example
- Open session A, then Cmd+click session B in the sidebar to view both side-by-side.
- Type a prompt in A, then want to respond in B.
- Today I have to click into B; with this feature I'd press a shortcut to move focus to B and keep both hands on the keyboard.
Additional Context
- Docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/desktop , https://code.claude.com/docs/en/keybindings
- Environment: Claude Desktop, Code tab, macOS.