Aux window: allow detaching views and panels

[zocky]

I would like to detach bottom panel tabs (especially "terminal", but also "problems" and others) into a separate window that I can place on my secondary monitor, but still be attached to the same main window. Possibly the whole bottom panel could be detached as a single window, like developer tools in chrome.

These now take valuable screen space in my main window, but if e.g. a monitor session is detached and attached to a different main window, ctrl-clicking filenames in error messages will open the file in that window, and not in my editing window, which defeats the purpose.

Note This feature request is only about detaching bottom panels, specifically for dual monitor use.

Please don't close this as a duplicate of #34442 (a 2017 issue which discusses using VS code's terminal as a standalone replacement for windows terminal apps, and is never going to get implemented so should be closed), nor #10121 (a 2016 issue which discussed a more general issue of moving all panels, primarily editor tabs, to new windows and was closed due to acrimony).

[gjsjohnmurray]

Item 2 on the Workbench section of #192822, the current iteration plan, makes me hopeful that enough prerequisites are finally in place and there can be some progress on floating windows. I doubt they'll only do it for Panel though, so I think this is effectively a duplicate.

[zocky]

Ah, so apparently there was work done on #10121 in the last 4 years since it was closed. Good to know.

I'm not sure what that should mean for this issue. My specific feature request is basically to have the same button that chrome developer tools has for the placement of the bottom panel. I understand that it requires capabilities (i.e. floating windows) that are still under development, but that's really a separate and much wider issue, and there will surely be requests for other features based on those same capabilities.

[gjsjohnmurray]

I'm not sure what that should mean for this issue

pinging @bpasero

[vscodenpa]

This feature request is now a candidate for our backlog. The community has 60 days to upvote the issue. If it receives 20 upvotes we will move it to our backlog. If not, we will close it. To learn more about how we handle feature requests, please see our documentation.

Happy Coding!

[vscodenpa]

:slightly_smiling_face: This feature request received a sufficient number of community upvotes and we moved it to our backlog. To learn more about how we handle feature requests, please see our documentation.

Happy Coding!

[bpasero]

I am updating the title to also include sidebar views, so that in general you are able to move views around to auxiliary windows.

[hahoyer]

Don't forget debug-views like watch, stack and variables

[m4ckde]

With the new detachable window feature, one can already use a workaround, at least for the terminal. Configure the terminal's default location to be the editor, then you can detach it. See also https://stackoverflow.com/a/73742869

Yet, it would be nice to have this also for the other views / panels, especially for debugging.

[zeel01]

Related, but possible better as its own request (let me know): We should be able to dock panels to any window alongside whatever editors, and ideally be able to have more than one of a given panel active at the same time. For instance, having the explorer available on all windows rather than just the main one.

[pavangayakwad]

I lately started working on flutter and I constantly need to have the debug window on my second monitor to track the API output and other stuffs. Android Studio supports moving panels as a separate window out-of-the-box and I am surprised to learn this feature is missing in VSCode. Please prioritize and implement this feature.

[pktiuk]

With the new detachable window feature, one can already use a workaround, at least for the terminal. Configure the terminal's default location to be the editor, then you can detach it. See also https://stackoverflow.com/a/73742869

Yet, it would be nice to have this also for the other views / panels, especially for debugging.

To make searching easier:

just edit settings to: "terminal.integrated.defaultLocation": "editor",

[Zenahr]

What's the status on allowing us to have e.g. the explorer (files outline) as its own floating window? Use case example:

Before (1 monitor):

After (2 monitors):

(imagine the detached floating window to have just the files outline showing and not have a main panel)

Thinking this a bit further you could allow for having a separate floating window showing the files outline (explorer) and another one showing the git outline or any other view panel one of your extensions might harbor.

[dongwa]

Is there any progress or a related PR for this issue?

[k138z]

Any updates on if this is planned would help - have found myself missing this feature ever since I started using vscode

[tcastelli]

The two monitor setup with "files tree" on one and the code on the other is the only thing i'm missing before fully switching from Webstorm to vscode. Lets hope this gets done in 2025 🤞 🤞