Hey, thanks for the detailed report and versions, that helps. The symptoms disappearing bars + Stop disabled + “session already running” + orphaned flutter run --machine look more like a floating toolbar layout getting out of sync when the window state changes, not the usual panel being hidden.
To narrow it down, could you check three things when it happens again:
View → Appearance → Status Bar in newer versions “Show Status Bar”. Is it unchecked, or still checked while the bar isn’t visible? This helps separate a stuck hidden setting workbench.statusBar.visible from a viewport desync.
Do the bars come back specifically when you click maximize or restore in the window title bar? Asking about maximize or restore, not normal resizing. That’s the most likely trigger, and if it reproduces the issue it’s a good diagnostic signal.
What is debug.toolBarLocation set to, and was a second Cursor window or Agents Window open at the time? Your screenshot shows an Agents Window open, I want to see if it’s related.
For now, some temporary workarounds:
If the status bar got stuck hidden, bring it back via View → Appearance → Status Bar.
For the toolbar, try debug.toolBarLocation: docked. It pins the controls in the Run and Debug panel and avoids losing the floating toolbar. Note one docked limitation: the session drop-down isn’t visible, and starting a second session while one is active is harder, which matches the “session already running” message. As an alternative, try debug.toolBarLocation: commandCenter which moves controls to the title area, but it requires Command Center enabled and window.titleBarStyle: custom.
For orphaned flutter run --machine processes, you’ll need to kill them via Task Manager for now.
Share what you find and I can pass it to the team with concrete details.
If deanrie’s “layout getting out of sync when the window state changes” read is right, there are two quick checks that would confirm it and usually restore the bars without a full reinstall:
Command Palette → Developer: Reload Window (Cmd/Ctrl+R in the palette). If the toolbar and status bar come back after a reload but vanish again on the next window-state change, that points squarely at layout state, not a corrupted install.
If a reload doesn’t do it, Command Palette → View: Reset View Locations resets the workbench layout to defaults, which clears an orphaned floating-toolbar position.
To rule out an extension nudging the layout, it’s worth launching once with --disable-extensions and repeating whatever triggered it (looks like the flutter run --machine session in your case). If the bars stay put with extensions off, the culprit is one of them re-registering a toolbar contribution on session start.
Curious whether the reload alone brings them back for you — that answer narrows it a lot.
