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Claude Code Issues / #76633

[BUG] VS Code extension stuck on "Reloading..." after `claude --resume`

Status Fixed / completed
Reported on v2.1.116
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 4 comments · opened Jul 11, 2026 · closed Jul 11, 2026

Preflight Checklist

  • [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
  • [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
  • [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

VS Code extension gets stuck on "Reloading..." after claude --resume

Summary

After using claude --resume <session-id> (also triggered from my own browser tool that launches the same command), the Claude Code VS Code extension became permanently stuck.

The Claude Code sidebar only displays "Reloading..." forever and never loads the chat UI.

The problem persists across VS Code restarts.

---

Environment

  • Windows 11
  • VS Code (latest stable)
  • Claude Code v2.1.116

---

How it started

I built a small browser tool that exports my Claude chat history.

From the browser, clicking "Open in VS Code" copies and executes a command like:

claude --resume 5aea377d-91ad-43f7-9958-ff9357f23386

After using this workflow, the Claude Code extension entered a broken state.

Now every time I open the Claude Code view in VS Code, it only displays:

Reloading...

and never finishes loading.

---

Symptoms

  • Claude Code extension is installed and enabled.
  • The Claude Code sidebar opens.
  • The sidebar remains on "Reloading..." indefinitely.
  • The chat UI never appears.
  • Restarting VS Code does not resolve the issue.

---

What I have already tried

Restarting

  • Restarted VS Code
  • Restarted Windows

No change.

Extension cleanup

  • Disabled and re-enabled the Claude Code extension
  • Uninstalled and reinstalled the extension

No change.

VS Code cache cleanup

Deleted:

%APPDATA%\Code\User\workspaceStorage
%APPDATA%\Code\Backups

No change.

Extension isolation

Running

code --disable-extensions

starts VS Code normally.

This suggests VS Code itself is healthy.

---

Developer Console

The Developer Console repeatedly reports:

Extension host is unresponsive.

Later it becomes responsive again, then unresponsive again.

Claude Code also logs:

Created lock file at
C:\Users\user\.claude\ide\xxxxx.lock

Set CLAUDE_CODE_SSE_PORT=xxxxx

try: 8082
ok: 8082

This suggests the Claude CLI starts successfully and communication begins, but the WebView never finishes loading.

---

Additional observations

The problem consistently starts after using:

claude --resume <session-id>

or the equivalent browser workflow.

Even after clearing normal VS Code caches and reinstalling the extension, the issue persists.

---

Expected behavior

Claude Code should either:

  • successfully resume the chat session, or
  • fail gracefully and return to a normal empty chat.

It should not become permanently stuck on "Reloading...".

---

Question

Does Claude Code store any internal state related to:

  • resume history
  • last opened session
  • WebView state
  • session cache

outside of the standard VS Code cache directories?

If so, where are those files located, and is there a supported way to clear them?

I would also appreciate any debugging steps that could help identify why the WebView remains stuck on "Reloading...".

Running claude --resume directly in Command Prompt does not reproduce the issue. The issue occurs when the resume workflow is launched through the VS Code extension/browser integration.

What Should Happen?

Claude Code should resume the chat normally or fail gracefully.

The chat UI should load instead of remaining on "Reloading...".

Error Messages/Logs

Extension host is unresponsive.

Created lock file at C:\Users\user\.claude\ide\xxxxx.lock

Set CLAUDE_CODE_SSE_PORT=xxxxx

try: 8082
ok: 8082

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open an existing Claude chat.
  2. Run claude --resume <session-id> (or launch the same command from a browser workflow).
  3. Open the Claude Code view in VS Code.
  4. The view remains on "Reloading..." forever.
  5. Restarting VS Code does not resolve the problem.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.116 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

The issue only started after using claude --resume.

I also tried:

  • deleting %APPDATA%\Code\User\workspaceStorage
  • deleting %APPDATA%\Code\Backups
  • reinstalling the Claude Code extension

Running code --disable-extensions starts VS Code normally.

The problem appears to be related to the Claude Code extension or resume state rather than VS Code itself.

View original on GitHub ↗

4 Comments

moaokoo · 3 months ago

Note: I accidentally clicked "Close issue" — GitHub does not allow me to reopen it. Please reopen if
needed. Adding follow-up info below.

## Additional investigation (follow-up)

After the initial report, I upgraded to Claude Code v2.1.207 but the issue still reproduces. I also
ran extensive local investigation. Sharing the results so triage is easier.

### Confirmed

  • Reproduces on v2.1.207 (was v2.1.116 in the initial report)
  • code --disable-extensions starts VS Code normally
  • Running claude --resume <id> directly in cmd.exe works fine
  • Extension host activates Anthropic.claude-code (`activationEvent:

'onView:claudeVSCodeSidebarSecondary'`), then becomes unresponsive ~3 seconds later — every
startup

  • This is followed by repeating cycles: Extension host is unresponsive → is responsive → `is

unresponsive (from %APPDATA%\Code\logs\...\window1\renderer.log`)

### Things I tried that did NOT fix it

  • Moved ~/.claude/projects/C--Users-user/ aside (1.3 GB / 144 session files)
  • Moved the specific broken session JSONL aside
  • Moved %APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage\emptyWindowChatSessions\ aside
  • Deleted the following keys from %APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage\state.vscdb:
  • Anthropic.claude-code
  • workbench.view.extension.claude-sidebar-secondary.state.hidden
  • workbench.view.extension.claude-sessions-sidebar.state.hidden
  • Emptied permissions.allow (567 entries) in ~/.claude/settings.json
  • Removed a broken .bak residue folder in %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions\
  • Removed anthropic.claude-code entry from %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions\extensions.json and

reinstalled the extension from the Marketplace

### Extension Bisect result (false positive)
Help: Start Extension Bisect pointed to ritwickdey.liveserver, but the issue also reproduces
when Live Server is disabled. So Bisect misidentified the culprit.

### Suspicion
Something in the extension's activation path is synchronously blocking the extension host for a long
time (long enough for VS Code to mark it unresponsive within ~3s of activation). Since none of the
local-state clearing helped, and reinstall did not help either, I suspect the blocking work happens
inside the extension itself, possibly interacting with something in my environment (large history? MCP
servers? account/auth state?).

### Environment

  • Windows 11 Pro
  • VS Code (latest stable)
  • Claude Code extension v2.1.207
  • Claude Code CLI installed via npm

(C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@anthropic-ai\claude-code\bin\claude.exe, ~249 MB,
functional in cmd)

  • ~144 session JSONL files in ~/.claude/projects/C--Users-user/ before I moved them aside
  • No proxy, no antivirus interference detected

Happy to run any additional diagnostic commands or share more logs if useful.

moaokoo · 3 months ago

Update: Resolved on my end.

Disabling a large number of unused extensions (other than Claude Code) fixed the issue — the chat UI now loads normally on Windows 11 Pro / VS Code stable.

I disabled many extensions at once, so I couldn't identify which specific extension was the culprit. This suggests the "Extension host is unresponsive" state was caused by a conflict with (or resource contention from) another extension, not by Claude Code's session data — which is consistent with my earlier finding that deleting local storage / session files had no effect.

Hope this helps others hitting the same "Reloading..." hang.

moaokoo · 3 months ago

Additional detail for anyone debugging this: here is the exact list of the 19 extensions I disabled. The only ones left enabled are Claude Code, the Japanese language pack (ms-ceintl.vscode-language-pack-ja), and Live Server (ritwickdey.liveserver) — and the issue has not reproduced since.

Disabled extensions:

continue.continue
cweijan.vscode-autohotkey-plus
esbenp.prettier-vscode
github.vscode-github-actions
google.geminicodeassist
kortina.vscode-markdown-notes
ms-python.debugpy
ms-python.python
ms-python.vscode-pylance
ms-python.vscode-python-envs
ms-vscode.powershell
openai.chatgpt
pkief.material-icon-theme
redhat.vscode-yaml
rooveterinaryinc.roo-cline
taiyofujii.novel-writer
usernamehw.errorlens
vscode-icons-team.vscode-icons
xfilipe.keyboard-sounds

Note that four other AI assistant extensions were installed alongside Claude Code (Continue, Gemini Code Assist, ChatGPT, Roo Code). Given that the extension host became unresponsive ~3 seconds after startup, contention between multiple AI extensions on the extension host startup path seems like the most plausible suspect group, though I haven't bisected to confirm a specific one.

github-actions[bot] · 1 month ago

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.

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