While testing https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-jupyter/issues/9768, I was quite confused by the kernel picker UI. 1. I select "Python 3" unstarted (the only kernel at the start) 2. I run a cell 3. The kernel picker says the unstarted kernel is the currently selected kernel 4. There is a new entry that is the newly started kernel which is truly the currently selected kernel Perhaps there is a solution in the proxy/lazy kernel work.