[BUG] [VS Code] Dragging Claude Code view to editor area fails from primary (left) sidebar, works from secondary (right) sidebar
Bug Description
Docs state you can drag the Claude Code panel's tab/title bar to reposition it anywhere in VS Code, including into the editor area as a tab. This works when the panel is docked in the secondary sidebar (right side), but dragging fails silently when the panel is docked in the primary sidebar (left side) — the default location.
Steps to Reproduce
- Open Claude Code in VS Code with default settings (panel docked in the primary/left sidebar via the Activity Bar Spark icon).
- Try to drag the panel's tab/title bar directly onto the editor tab strip.
- Observe: the drag does not produce an editor tab — it does not behave like dragging from the right sidebar does.
- As a workaround, first drag the panel from the left sidebar to the secondary (right) sidebar, then drag again from the right sidebar into the editor area — this second drag succeeds.
Expected Behavior
Dragging the Claude Code view's tab/title bar to the editor area should work consistently regardless of whether it currently sits in the primary (left) or secondary (right) sidebar, matching the documented behavior at https://code.claude.com/docs/en/vs-code#choose-where-claude-lives.
Actual Behavior
Drag-to-editor-area only works reliably from the secondary (right) sidebar. From the primary (left) sidebar, the same drag gesture does not move the view into the editor area.
Workarounds found
- Two-step drag: left sidebar to right sidebar to editor area.
- Command Palette, "Claude Code: Open in New Tab" (Cmd+Shift+Esc), opens a new conversation directly as an editor tab, bypassing drag, but does not move the existing session — it starts a new one (resumable via Session History).
- Setting claudeCode.preferredLocation to panel (the default) makes new sessions open as editor tabs from the start.
Environment
- VS Code (macOS, Darwin 24.6.0)
- Claude Code VS Code extension, current version as of 2026-09-10