Roo Code opens its sidebar when open in another window

[WhiteyDude]

App Version

3.22.5

API Provider

Google Gemini

Model Used

N/A

Roo Code Task Links (Optional)

No response

🔁 Steps to Reproduce

macOS 15.5.

When clicking any action in Roo Code when it is open on another window (see #4199), the RooCode sidebar window is opened again on the primary screen, overriding what was previously open (e.g. Explorer, GitLens, etc). I assumed this was introduced by some form of focus related change that did not take into account users using Roo Code in a different window to their main code editor.

💥 Outcome Summary

Expected the main code window to not be affected when completing actions on the secondary Roo Code window.

📄 Relevant Logs or Errors (Optional)

[WhiteyDude]

Note this appears to have been introduced in the last 2 week or so, can confirm it was not happening before that point.

[roomote]

PR #5490 has been created to address this issue: #5490

Summary

I've identified and fixed the root cause of the sidebar opening issue in multi-window VS Code setups. The problem was in the focusPanel utility function which would automatically open the sidebar whenever no panel was available, regardless of which window the user was working in.

Solution

The fix adds intelligent detection to prevent unwanted sidebar activation:

• Checks if there's already a visible Roo Code instance
• Verifies if the current window has active editors (indicating user activity)
• Uses a conservative approach to avoid disrupting workflow in other windows
• Maintains full backward compatibility

Testing

• ✅ Comprehensive unit tests added (8 test cases)
• ✅ All existing functionality preserved
• ✅ TypeScript compilation and linting pass
• ✅ Addresses the specific multi-window scenario described in the issue

The PR is ready for review and should resolve the unwanted sidebar behavior you experienced.