Ctrl+N New Conversation shortcut broadcasts to all open panels instead of the focused one

Status Open
Reported on v2.1.251
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 0 comments · opened Aug 31, 2026

Environment

  • Claude Code VS Code extension version: 2.1.251 (win32-x64)
  • OS: Windows 11

Setting involved

  • claudeCode.enableNewConversationShortcut: true

Description

When claudeCode.enableNewConversationShortcut is enabled, pressing Ctrl+N (Cmd+N on mac) is meant to start a new conversation. However, if more than one Claude Code panel is open at the same time (e.g. one in the sidebar and one in an editor tab/panel), pressing Ctrl+N once starts a new conversation in every open panel, not just the one that currently has focus.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Enable claudeCode.enableNewConversationShortcut.
  2. Open two Claude Code panels at once (e.g. via "Claude Code: Open in Side Bar" and "Claude Code: Open in Editor").
  3. Focus either panel and press Ctrl+N.

Expected behavior

Only the currently focused panel starts a new conversation; the other panel(s) are left untouched.

Actual behavior

All open panels start a new conversation simultaneously.

Likely cause (from reading the bundled extension.js)

The claude-vscode.newConversation command handler calls notifyCreateNewConversation(), which loops over every open communication channel unconditionally:

notifyCreateNewConversation(){
  for(let $ of this.allComms) $.notifyCreateNewConversation()
}

There doesn't appear to be any concept of an "active"/"focused" comm/panel tracked anywhere in the bundle (no activeComm, focusedComm, etc.), so the broadcast has no way to target just the focused panel.

Request

Please scope the Ctrl+N shortcut (and the claude-vscode.newConversation command) to only the currently focused/active panel when multiple panels are open, instead of broadcasting to all of them. This would let users who intentionally keep multiple panels open (e.g. sidebar + editor tab) use the keyboard shortcut without unintentionally spawning a new session in every panel.

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