[BUG] VSCode: the Remote Control banner's × disables Remote Control instead of dismissing the notice
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?
My simple summary: when I click the X, I want to dismiss this because it takes up space. Not turn remote control off, which is what it really does. I don't know if this is a bug or an annoyance, but you should have a way to dismiss it without turning it off.
<img width="869" height="191" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/4ad83174-83cc-4855-859f-a481d22c1b77" />
The rest is claude:
Summary — In the VSCode extension, the "Remote Control is active · Continue here, on your phone, or at claude.ai/code" banner sits above the composer with an × in the corner. Clicking × does not hide the notice — it turns Remote Control off, printing Remote Control disabled. in the transcript. One control, two meanings. There is no way to acknowledge the notice and keep the feature.
Environment — Claude Code 2.1.226, VSCode extension, Windows 10 Pro 19045
Repro — 1. Start a session in the VSCode extension with Remote Control enabled. 2. Observe the persistent banner above the composer. 3. Click the × at its right edge. 4. Remote Control shuts down; transcript shows Remote Control disabled.
Expected — × dismisses the banner for the session. Remote Control stays connected. Disabling stays an explicit action (/remote-control, or the status pill).
Why it matters — The banner is persistent, not transient — it occupies composer space for the entire session. The only affordance offered for reclaiming that space silently costs you the feature you deliberately turned on. Users who want a quieter UI end up disabling Remote Control by accident, then wonder why their phone stopped mirroring the session.
Related — #65794 (VSCode, × does nothing because a retry loop re-raises the banner — opposite failure of the same control) · #34350 (disable RC mid-session without terminating it — same conflation, other direction) · #65184 (terminal got the footer pill in 2.1.162; the VSCode composer banner didn't).
What Should Happen?
The close button should dismiss the notice, not turn remote control off, or there should be two buttons. Or why is it not just a small icon like the microphone?
Error Messages/Logs
Steps to Reproduce
Repro — 1. Start a session in the VSCode extension with Remote Control enabled. 2. Observe the persistent banner above the composer. 3. Click the × at its right edge. 4. Remote Control shuts down; transcript shows Remote Control disabled.
Claude Model
Opus
Is this a regression?
I don't know
Last Working Version
_No response_
Claude Code Version
2.1.226
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
Windows
Terminal/Shell
Other
Additional Information
_No response_
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3 Comments
Confirming on a second platform and a later build: macOS 15, VSCode extension 2.1.238. Same behavior.
Code pointer, in case it saves a maintainer the hunt. In the extension's
webview/index.js, the banner component is rendered with the close handler wired directly to the disconnect path:and the toggle it calls is
toggleRemoteControl(), which flips the bridge state rather than the banner's visibility. So the × is doing exactly what the tooltip says. The gap is that there is no separate dismiss affordance, and the tooltip only reveals the difference on hover, after the notice has already been read as a dismissable toast.One detail not in the original report: the banner recurs on every new session, not just once, because
remoteControlAtStartupstarts the bridge automatically each session. So the cost is per thread, and for anyone who opens a lot of short sessions it reads as a notice that will not go away.Workaround for anyone landing here who wants the space back and does not need Remote Control, in
~/.claude/settings.json:That stops the auto-start, so the banner never appears. Remote Control remains reachable on demand via the in-session toggle or
--rc. It is not a fix for the reported bug, since it trades the feature away rather than dismissing the notice, which is the same trade the × already makes.Third platform, third build: macOS 15.5, VSCode extension 2.1.241. Unchanged.
Adding a data point on the workaround question, since it comes up on threads like this: there is no setting that suppresses the banner. I went through the extension's settings schema and its
claudeCode.*contributions. The only three remote-control keys aredisableRemoteControl(kills the feature),remoteControlAtStartup(auto-connect on or off), andforceRemoteSettingsRefresh(managed-settings fetch). None of them touch the banner. Inwebview/index.jsthe render condition isremoteControlState.status !== "disconnected", so connected means visible, with no dismissed state in between. The only other thing that hides it isotherPopupsVisible, which is transient.So the × is not just mislabeled, it is the only affordance that exists. Users who want the space back have exactly one lever and it costs them the feature.
Strong preference for the icon option already raised above: a small status icon in the composer row, next to the microphone, instead of a full-width banner. Persistent state that never changes does not need a persistent sentence. The icon carries connected / connecting / error as color, with the session URL on click or hover.
In VSCode, this ugly bar can be suppressed by adding "remoteControlAtStartup": true to your ~/.claude/settings.json.
If you do that you see a nice blue badge that RC is on, and the nagging bar is gone. With the additional advantage that it is now always on (Why would you ever want it off?)
<img width="416" height="108" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f598f396-d132-459d-90de-5cc26b746c9e" />