Browser-like hotkeys and reliable focus for VS Code terminals — with built-in Claude Code integration.

Why?

If you keep multiple terminals open in VS Code, switching between them is awkward:

No default keyboard shortcut for jumping to terminal N
Clicks sometimes leave focus on a stray Quick Open / palette instead of the terminal input
Spawning a fresh Claude Code session is "toggle panel → new terminal → type claude"

This extension fixes all three.

The first two features work for any terminal (tail -f, dev servers, REPLs, shells). The Claude Code integration (one-click new session, terminal profile, name-aware filtering) is the cherry on top.

Features

Browser-like terminal hotkeys

Hotkey (Mac)	Linux/Win	Action
`Cmd+1` … `Cmd+9`	`Ctrl+1..9`	Jump to terminal #1..9
`Cmd+Shift+0`	`Ctrl+Shift+0`	Start a new Claude Code session

Like browser tabs. Cmd+1..9 overrides VS Code's default "focus editor group N" — re-bind in your keybindings.json if you miss it.

Focus bulldozer

When the active terminal changes, the extension:

Closes any open Quick Open / command palette
Forces focus into the terminal input

So you can immediately type into Claude without clicking around. Toggle with claudeCodeTerminalTabs.enforceFocusOnSwitch or run command Toggle Enforce Focus On Switch.

One-click new session

Three ways to start a new Claude Code terminal:

Hotkey Cmd+Shift+0
Terminal profile Claude Code in the + ▾ dropdown next to the terminal tab list
Command Palette → New Terminal Session

All three open a terminal in your workspace root and run claude immediately.

Auto-focus when Claude finishes a response

When Claude finishes a turn, focus snaps to the active terminal so you can keep typing without clicking back. This is wired through a Stop hook in ~/.claude/settings.json.

Setup — one-time:

Set claudeCodeTerminalTabs.autoFocusOnWaitingPrompt to true.
Run command Install Auto-Focus Hook (from the Command Palette, or click the link that appears under the setting in Settings UI). It writes the hook into ~/.claude/settings.json with a confirmation dialog and an automatic settings.json.bak backup.
In any running Claude session, type /hooks to reload — new sessions pick it up automatically.

To revert: run Uninstall Auto-Focus Hook. It removes our entry while leaving every other hook you may have configured intact.

Limitation: Claude's Notification event has a built-in delay (~60s) and does not fire for inline "Do you want to proceed?" permission prompts. Auto-focus works for the common "Claude finished, waiting for next prompt" case via Stop; mid-task permission prompts still require a manual click. Tracked upstream as anthropics/claude-code#13922.

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`claudeCodeTerminalTabs.enforceFocusOnSwitch`	`true`	Force focus into terminal when active terminal changes
`claudeCodeTerminalTabs.dismissQuickPick`	`true`	Close open Quick Open before forcing focus
`claudeCodeTerminalTabs.onlyClaudeTerminals`	`true`	Only act on terminals running Claude Code. Detection: regex on terminal name first; if no match, the terminal's process tree is scanned for a `claude` descendant (cached per terminal). Set `false` to bulldoze every terminal.
`claudeCodeTerminalTabs.claudePattern`	`claude\|·\|\\*`	Fast-path regex for detecting Claude terminals by name (case-insensitive). When a terminal name doesn't match, the process tree is scanned as fallback.
`claudeCodeTerminalTabs.launchCommand`	`claude`	Command run by the New Session action
`claudeCodeTerminalTabs.autoFocusOnWaitingPrompt`	`false`	Auto-focus the active terminal when Claude finishes a response (requires Install Auto-Focus Hook to wire the hook into `~/.claude/settings.json`)
`claudeCodeTerminalTabs.waitingPromptPattern`	`^\s\`	Fallback regex for detecting a "waiting for input" state by terminal name change (used when the Claude hook is not installed)

Commands

New Terminal Session — open new terminal and run Claude
Focus Active Terminal — manual focus bulldozer
Toggle Enforce Focus On Switch — flip the auto-focus setting
Install Auto-Focus Hook — wire the Claude Stop hook into ~/.claude/settings.json
Uninstall Auto-Focus Hook — remove our hook from ~/.claude/settings.json (preserves all other hooks)

Installation

Build from source

npm install
npx vsce package
code --install-extension claude-code-terminal-tabs-*.vsix

Caveats

The terminal profile uses an exec-trick (claude; exec $SHELL -i) so the terminal stays alive after Claude exits. Works on bash / zsh. On other shells (fish, nu) behavior may differ.
Cmd+1..9 will shadow VS Code's editor-group focus shortcuts. To restore them, add negated overrides in your user keybindings.json:
```
{ "key": "cmd+1", "command": "-workbench.action.terminal.focusAtIndex1" }
```
Inline icon in the terminal toolbar (next to + ▾) is not added — VS Code's public extension API doesn't expose that surface.

License

MIT

Terminal Tabs — Hotkeys, Focus & Claude Code