The “Claude Code” and “Codex” extension views have become permanently stuck at the bottom of the Primary Side Bar (nested under the File Explorer, Outline, and Timeline). They are acting as sub-sections rather than standalone sidebar icons, and the option to move them back to the Activity Bar is completely missing from the right-click context menu.
Steps to Reproduce
Install/open the Claude Code and Codex extensions.
Observe them nested inside the Primary Side Bar instead of sitting as standalone icons on the Activity Bar.
Try right-clicking the section headers (only visibility toggle options appear; the “Move to Activity Bar” action is missing).
Run the “Reset View Locations” command from the Command Palette (the UI reloads, but the views remain stuck).
Attempt to drag and drop the headers directly to the Activity Bar (nothing happens).
When opening the extensions they usually pop up in the sidebar and are completely useable, but not after installing update.
Expected Behavior
The extension views should either default to separate standalone icons on the Activity Bar or allow the user to right-click/drag them back to the Activity Bar. Running “Reset View Locations” should force them back to their default layouts.
Hey, thanks for the detailed report with the screenshot and version. It looks like Claude Code and Codex are showing up under File Explorer, Outline, and Timeline without their own icon in the Activity Bar.
This is a known regression in 3.10. Cursor stopped registering the view-container that these extensions use for their panel, so their views fall into Explorer. Reset View Locations won’t help since there’s nowhere to restore the views until the container is registered. For the same reason, drag-and-drop and Move to Activity Bar don’t show up.
Good news, a fix is already done and is rolling out in 3.10.20+. It’s not in 3.10.17 yet.
Until you can update, the temporary workaround is to roll back to 3.9, where everything works like before.
Starting with version 3.10.20, was the issue resolved? Or does it require a version higher than 3.10.20? I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled both Claude and Codex, but Codex doesn’t appear in the side panel, and Claude is only partially loading (displayed on another panel).
The fix for this regression is included in 3.10.20+. There’s one important detail though. After the fix, the Codex and Claude Code views come back, but they might show up under Explorer instead of as a separate full-height icon in the Activity Bar. They can also appear with a small delay, for some users it’s 1 to 2 minutes after startup.
@Jerry_Hong, since you’re already on 3.10.20, try these in order:
Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P > Codex: New Codex Agent This should bring up the Codex UI directly.
Open a new window: File > New Window This forces extension re-registration.
Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P > View: Reset View Locations
Give Codex and Claude a couple minutes after launch. They may load into Explorer a bit later.
If none of this brings Codex back, please share the exact build: Help > About, Commit field, and what you see right after step 1.
@aplatti, instead of rolling back to 3.9, it’s better to move forward. Update to 3.10.20+ since the fix is already there. If the issue still happens after updating, tell us what you see and try the same steps above.
Same issue for me after updating to latest version yesterday. Now both Codex and Claude Code not showing up in side bar, only shows in Explorer and I tried all steps, and uninstall and reinstalled everything and it changed nothing.
@hugohamelcom@akif quick clarification: that thread was about a regression in 3.10 that we fixed in 3.10.20. What you’re seeing in 3.15.6 is different and it’s an intentional behavior change.
Secondary Side Bar, the right panel where the Cursor Agent tabs live, is now reserved for Cursor’s agent UI. Because of that, third-party extensions like Codex and Claude Code can no longer register their container there. As a result, their views land in Explorer. About a month ago, a change on our side accidentally allowed docking into the right panel again, and 3.15.6 brings the behavior back to what we intended. So yes, the layout you had was real and it’s not something in your settings.
How to bring the icon back to the sidebar:
Find the Codex or Claude Code section at the bottom of Explorer, click and hold the section header, then drag it onto the left Activity Bar. That gives the extension its own top-level icon, and it’s the closest to the old behavior.
If it won’t attach, run Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P > View: Reset View Locations, then Developer: Reload Window, then try dragging again. Sometimes it takes a couple tries.
What not to do: don’t manually move the view into the Secondary Side Bar. It can render empty there, and that’s worse than keeping it in the left sidebar.
I get that for many users the right panel with all AI tabs in one place was the most convenient layout. I’ll pass this to the team as feedback. Let me know if the Activity Bar workaround doesn’t work.
Thanks for the tip, it works! I had to set “workbench.activityBar.orientation” to “vertical”, so that I can follow the steps and drag the explorer tabs in the Activity bar and then move them to the the secondary side bar. Once done, I set back “workbench.activityBar.orientation” to “horizontal”.
Thanks for coming back with an update, glad it’s working.
And thanks for the detail about workbench.activityBar.orientation. If the Activity Bar is set to horizontal, you really can’t drag sections. Switching it to vertical temporarily for the drag, then back to horizontal, is exactly the missing step in the instructions. This is helpful for any user who runs into the same thing.
For anyone landing here from 3.15.6, this is separate from the original 3.10 regression and it’s an intentional change. The Secondary Side Bar is now reserved for the Cursor Agent UI. The current discussion and options for 3.15.6 are here: Cursor 3.15.6: Codex can no longer be moved into the Agent tab group
If anything else gets in the way with panel layout, just message me.
