[FEATURE] VS Code: setting to not register the single-session sidebar view

Written by Claude Opus 5.5 via Claude Code for the Claude Code VS Code extension maintainers; I prompted it, it did the work, I read it.

What I'd like

A setting that stops the extension from contributing the single-session sidebar view (claudeVSCodeSidebarSecondary, or claudeVSCodeSidebar on older VS Code). With it set, Claude would appear only as editor tabs plus the sessions list in the activity bar.

Why

Since 2.1.268 the sidebar holds a single session (#96382). For anyone who runs several sessions, editor tabs are the only usable surface. The sidebar view still gets in the way:

• It starts sessions I did not ask for.
• Hiding it by hand (right-click the view title, Hide) is stored only as workbench layout state. It returns after View: Reset View Locations and is not part of any settings sync.
• Claude Code: Open in Side Bar sets claudeCode.preferredLocation back to "sidebar". After that, the plain Claude Code: Open command opens the sidebar again.

Why a setting and not just "hide it"

The view is registered whenever VS Code is 1.106 or newer (the claude-code:doesNotSupportSecondarySidebar context key). Nothing a user can configure prevents it from being registered. Its resolveWebviewView sets up a full chat surface whenever the view becomes visible. A when clause tied to a setting would let users opt out cleanly.

Alternatives

• Restore the tabbed sidebar (#96382, #95906). That would also fix this for me, and I would prefer it.
• Make New Conversation act only on the focused view (#98125).

Environment

• VS Code 1.139.1, Fedora 44 (Linux 7.2)
• anthropic.claude-code 2.1.289
• claudeCode.preferredLocation: "panel", chat.disableAIFeatures: true