"Python › Terminal: Focus After Launch" is confusing

[injust]

Behaviour

With the default settings, running a Python file (using the "Python: Run File in Terminal" command) does not focus the terminal. This is fine.

I want to focus the terminal as soon as the Python file starts running (a reasonable use case for scripts that accept user input), so I enable "Python › Terminal: Focus After Launch" (python.terminal.focusAfterLaunch). The description makes sense to me:

When launching a python terminal, whether to focus the cursor on the terminal.

But the title is "Focus After Launch", and that is what it literally does: It launches the Python process, waits for it to exit (?!), and then focuses the terminal. Unless there's a valid use case that I'm missing, this setting should instead focus the terminal upon launch, not after.

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Turns out there is a setting to do what I want (focus the terminal upon launch): "Terminal › Integrated: Focus After Run" (terminal.integrated.focusAfterRun).

Controls whether the terminal, accessible buffer, or neither will be focused after Terminal: Run Selected Text In Active Terminal has been run.

The naming and description are both confusing:

1. What's the difference between "after launch" and "after run"? It's focusing the terminal as soon as the command is run, not afterward.
2. This isn't specific to Terminal: Run Selected Text In Active Terminal at all.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create and save a Python file that sleeps, and another that takes user input
2. Enable "Python › Terminal: Focus After Launch" (python.terminal.focusAfterLaunch) and/or "Terminal › Integrated: Focus After Run" (terminal.integrated.focusAfterRun)
3. Run the "Python: Run Python File" command

[injust]

This is the cause of #24382. "Python › Terminal: Focus After Launch" seems to focus the terminal, even if the "Python: Run Python File" command failed.

[injust]

It feels to me that "Terminal › Integrated: Focus After Run" needs to be reworked and "Python › Terminal: Focus After Launch" should be torn out completely.

[github-actions]

Thanks for the feature request! We are going to give the community 60 days from when this issue was created to provide 7 👍 upvotes on the opening comment to gauge general interest in this idea. If there's enough upvotes then we will consider this feature request in our future planning. If there's unfortunately not enough upvotes then we will close this issue.

[injust]

As far as I understand the issue, this is a bug and not really a feature request.

[anthonykim1]

It feels to me that "Terminal › Integrated: Focus After Run" needs to be reworked

You should file this on vscode itself as its coming from vscode and not necessarily Python specific.

brainstorming: We could either change the wording to "upon" or leave the name as is and change the make sure that the behavior further aligns in a way so that we ensure "wait" until command finishes and THEN focuses on terminal(I'm not sure if this behavior is consistent atm), or rename+change behavior, or provide better description. On the flip side of things, the title itself make sense because it does focus on the terminal after the terminal itself has been launched regardless of state of command execution.

Let me bring this up to the team, but feel free to go file issue on the vscode repo itself for the terminal > integrated : focus after run

[anthonykim1]

For me it seems like it consistently focuses "upon" launch when I press run Python file, with the current behavior. https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e96f2c4f-f3d7-4198-a014-be3855caf956

Meaning,

I want to focus the terminal as soon as the Python file starts running (a reasonable use case for scripts that accept user input),

seems like the behavior Im seeing now.