Agent Sessions

Manage independent terminal sessions running interactive coding agents (Claude Code and others) from a dedicated view in VS Code — sessions survive window reloads, and even quitting VS Code entirely, by living in a persistent tmux server outside the editor.

Why

Long-running coding-agent sessions (Claude Code, etc.) don't like being tied to VS Code's own terminal lifecycle: a window reload or an accidental restart kills the process and loses your in-progress conversation. Agent Sessions launches each agent inside an isolated tmux server instead, and the extension host is just a disposable viewer onto it — reload the window as often as you like, the agents keep running and reattach automatically.

Features

New Agent Session — launch one of several configured agent CLIs (defaults: Claude Code, Codex, opencode, pi), each in its own tmux session.
Pick the agent type per session — a "New session" row per configured agent sits at the bottom of the session list (shifting down as more sessions are added); the toolbar "+" always launches the configured default agent.
Persistent across reloads — sessions live in a tmux server independent of the extension host; the previously active session reattaches automatically on activation.
Live session list — a tree view in the Activity Bar showing every running session, labeled from the agent's own terminal title, with a per-agent icon, exit detection, and one-click kill.
Integrated terminal panel — a reused webview tab (via xterm.js) renders the active session's live output and forwards your input/resize back to tmux.
Configurable agents, with a UI — the gear icon ("Configure Agents") opens an editor for the agent list: id, label, command, args, working directory, environment variables, an icon (built-in codicon or a custom image), and which one is the default — no hand-editing settings.json required, though that still works too.

Requirements

macOS or Linux (Windows is out of scope — tmux isn't available there).
tmux reachable on PATH (or point agentSessions.tmuxPath at it). The extension checks tmux -V on activation and disables "New Agent Session" with an error if it's missing.
At least one agent CLI installed and on PATH — defaults include claude (Claude Code), codex, opencode, and pi; only the ones you actually have installed matter, and unwanted defaults can be removed via Configure Agents.

Getting started

Install the extension and make sure tmux is on PATH.
Open the Agent Sessions icon in the Activity Bar.
Click one of the "New session" rows at the bottom of the list for the agent type you want (or the toolbar "+", which always launches the configured default agent; or run Agent Sessions: New Agent Session from the Command Palette).
The session opens in the terminal panel and appears in the list. Switch between sessions by selecting them in the tree; kill one with the trash icon, or all of them via Agent Sessions: Kill All Agent Sessions.

Sessions keep running in their tmux server even if you close the panel, reload the window, or quit VS Code — reopen the workspace and they're still there.

Configuration

The friendliest way to edit these is the Configure Agents command (gear icon on the Agent Sessions view, or Agent Sessions: Configure Agents from the Command Palette) — an in-editor form for the agent list and the default agent, instead of hand-editing JSON. Everything is still backed by regular settings under agentSessions.* (Settings UI → search "Agent Sessions", or edit settings.json directly):

Setting	Default	Notes
`agentSessions.agents`	Claude Code, Codex, opencode, pi	Array of `{ id, label, command, args?, icon?, iconPath?, cwd?, env? }`. `icon` is a codicon id (e.g. `"terminal"`, `"rocket"`); `iconPath` (absolute, `~`-relative, or workspace-relative path to an svg/png/etc.) overrides it with a custom image.
`agentSessions.defaultAgentId`	`"claude-code"`	Id of the agent launched by the toolbar "+" and by `New Agent Session` when invoked with no explicit agent. Pick a specific type instead via the "New session" rows at the bottom of the session list.
`agentSessions.followTerminalTitle`	`true`	Derive the session label from the agent's own terminal title (OSC 0/2) instead of a static `"<label> N"` name.
`agentSessions.confirmKill`	`false`	Ask before killing a single session. `Kill All Agent Sessions` always confirms via a modal, regardless of this setting.
`agentSessions.tmuxPath`	`"tmux"`	Path to the tmux binary, if not on `PATH`.
`agentSessions.pollIntervalMs`	`1500`	Background poll interval for session state/title updates (also polls on window focus and when the view becomes visible).
`agentSessions.fontFamily`	`""`	Terminal pane font. Empty inherits `terminal.integrated.fontFamily`, then `editor.fontFamily`, then falls back to `\"CaskaydiaCove Nerd Font Mono\"`. Applies live — no reload needed.
`agentSessions.coalesceCursorRedraws`	`true`	Collapse rapid cursor show/hide escape sequences (e.g. Claude Code's animated status line redrawing several times a second while processing) into a single change after a brief pause, instead of flashing the cursor on every redraw. Disable to forward every cursor visibility change unmodified.

Uninstalling / cleaning up

Sessions live in a dedicated tmux server, independent of the extension. Uninstalling the extension does not stop running agents. To kill everything:

tmux -L agent-sessions kill-server

(or run Agent Sessions: Kill All Agent Sessions before uninstalling). The tmux server also exits on its own once its last session ends.

Troubleshooting

Bottom panel pops open randomly

The bottom Panel keeps popping open with a terminal while an agent is working, stealing focus from the Agent Sessions tab.

This extension only ever renders sessions in its own webview tab and never creates or reveals a native VS Code terminal.

If you also have the official Claude Code extension installed, check its claudeCode.useTerminal setting. When set to true, that extension runs the claude CLI in a real integrated terminal instead of its own native UI, and VS Code reveals the Panel group each time that terminal needs to run or update. For some reason (IDE integration?), that seems to interfere with processing of a prompt in a session run by this extension. Set "claudeCode.useTerminal": false in settings.json to have it use its native UI instead, which doesn't touch the Panel.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Agent Terminal Sessions

Eric Mountain