Cannot find toggle chat panel icon

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There used to be an icon to expand/collapse the Chat panel, but I can no longer find it.

I frequently need to toggle the Chat panel because it sometimes takes up too much window space. I’d prefer to do this via a visible UI control rather than relying on the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Alt + B) every time.

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Version: 2.4.18 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: d6b5b3d9811e239b5de518f7d9d4cbb38b917300
Date: 2026-01-22T05:02:22.845Z
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: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

4

Hey, this isn’t a bug. The icon was intentionally removed in v2.3 in the Agent layout in favor of configurable layouts.

Here’s how to close the Chat panel now:

Quick options:

  • Shortcut Ctrl+Alt+B toggles the chat panel
  • Switch to the Editor layout Ctrl+E. The button is there, so you can close it with one click

Alternative:

  • Click the gear icon (top right). Pick a layout you want, or set up a custom one for your workflow

I get that a shortcut isn’t a replacement for the familiar button. If you want to leave feedback about this change, the team is collecting all UI comments here: [Megathread] Cursor layout and UI feedback (already 290+ comments, so the team will definitely see it).