Activity bar goes behind macOS window buttons when title bar is disabled

[heyisaacr (Isaac Roberts)]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

When the activity bar orientation (workbench.activityBar.orientation) is set to vertical and title bar is disabled (in the layout settings menu in the top right corner), the top activity bar icon goes behind the macOS window buttons.

Steps to Reproduce

Open VS Code settings
Set workbench.activityBar.orientation to vertical
Click the settings icon in the top right corner of the window
Turn the “Title Bar” setting off
Look at the top left corner of the window

Expected Behavior

The activity bar’s position should not be dependent on the title bar setting in macOS.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 2.4.21
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: dc8361355d709f306d5159635a677a571b277bc0
Date: 2026-01-22T16:57:59.675Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.2.7
Chromium: 142.0.7444.235
Node.js: 22.21.1
V8: 14.2.231.21-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 24.4.0

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[deanrie]

Hey, thanks for the report. This is a known issue, and the team is aware of it. Your screenshot and details will help with prioritization.

For now, the workaround is to either keep the title bar enabled, or use the horizontal activity bar layout.

Let me know if you find any other workarounds.