Panel Auto Hide

Automatically hides the panel (terminal, output, problems) when you switch to an editor tab.

The problem

If you prefer working with the panel in only two states — fully maximized or completely hidden — VS Code gets you halfway there with:

"workbench.panel.opensMaximized": "always"

This ensures the panel always opens maximized. But there are cases where the panel still ends up minimized (half-height) instead of fully hidden:

• Opening a file from the Explorer while the panel is visible
• Clicking a file link in the terminal output
• Various other editor focus changes

In all these cases VS Code minimizes the panel to half-height instead of hiding it completely. You end up with a useless half-panel covering your code, and have to manually close it.

The solution

This extension listens for editor focus changes and automatically closes the panel completely whenever you switch to a different editor tab. No more half-height panel state — it's either fullscreen or gone.

Settings

Recommended setup

"workbench.panel.opensMaximized": "always"

License

MIT