VS Code extension: since 2.1.268 there is no way to see, switch between, or close ACTIVE sessions from the IDE (tabbed sidebar removed with no opt-out)

Environment

• Extension: anthropic.claude-code 2.1.268 running (2.1.273 / 2.1.274 / 2.1.280 staged on disk, auto-installed 9/11 -> 9/23)
• VS Code 1.137.0, Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200
• claudeCode.preferredLocation: "sidebar" set explicitly in settings.json
• Related open issues: #94499 (new sessions ignore the sidebar setting since 2.1.268), #95379 (sessions list does not reflect real state without a window reload), #96348 (cannot move Claude to editor area / second window)

Summary
Before 2.1.268 the Claude pane in the right sidebar showed every open session as a tab. One glance told me what was open, one click switched, one click closed. After an automatic update, with no notice and no setting to keep the old behavior, the sidebar holds a single session and everything else moved to a "sessions list" in the Activity Bar. That list is a history list, not a list of what is running, and it mislabels state. The result today: I cannot tell from the IDE which sessions are alive, and I cannot end them from the IDE.

What I found on this machine today (2026-09-23)

1. The Claude mobile/desktop app shows 4 "connected" sessions. The IDE shows 1 (the sidebar). Get-Process claude shows 4 processes: two started 9/15 6:14 PM (8 days ago, no tab anywhere, listed as stale history rows), one this morning that I had closed the tab on (process still alive), and the one I am typing in.
2. The Activity Bar list shows the session I am actively chatting in as "closed", and the 8-day-old zombie processes as ordinary past sessions. Nothing distinguishes a live process from a transcript on disk.
3. Closing a session tab does not end its process. Only the app's Connected list revealed that. If I did not run the app side by side there would be no way to know these processes existed.
4. The list groups everything under "Ungrouped", which gives no hint that the rows are previous sessions. Session groups are a feature I did not ask for and cannot use to answer the one question I have: what is open right now.
5. Switching between two editor-tab sessions discards the draft I was typing in the tab I left.
6. preferredLocation: sidebar is honored for resumed sessions but not new ones (#94499), and the extension rewrites the setting when Claude is opened elsewhere, so the preference drifts.

What I am asking for

• Restore session tabs inside the Claude sidebar pane, or at minimum a setting to opt back into the pre-2.1.268 tabbed sidebar.
• The sessions list must distinguish RUNNING sessions (process alive) from saved transcripts, with a visible count and an explicit end/stop action per running session. "Archive" is not "close".
• Fix the open/closed state so it reflects the process, not whether a tab happens to be visible.
• Preserve the input draft when switching between session tabs.
• Do not ship a UI removal of this size as a silent auto-update with no opt-out.

Filed after a session spent reverse-engineering the new UI just to find out which of my own sessions were alive.