claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [FEATURE] Show session status (running / idle / completed) and sort sessions by activity in the VS Code sidebar

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

When I have many Claude Code sessions in the VS Code sidebar (Local tab), I cannot tell at a glance which sessions are currently running, which ones finished and left uncommitted file changes, and which ones are old/idle. The list is sorted purely by recency ("now", "23m", "45m", "2h"...), which mixes three very different states into one timeline.

This causes real problems in my daily workflow:

1. I lose track of which sessions are actively working. If I kick off a long task in one session and switch to another, I have to click each session individually to check whether the agent is still iterating, waiting on a tool approval, or done.

2. Sessions that finished and modified files look identical to sessions that finished and modified nothing. I have no visual cue that "this session left uncommitted changes you should review or commit".

3. Old sessions clutter the top of the list as soon as I reopen them, even when I just wanted to peek. There is no way to demote a session I am no longer actively using without deleting it.

4. With 20+ sessions per project (my current state in the screenshot), the lack of grouping turns the panel into a flat scroll where I cannot prioritize what needs my attention.

The information needed to fix this already exists inside the extension — it knows which sessions have a live process, which made file edits, and when each one was last touched. It just isn't surfaced in the list.

Proposed Solution

Two changes to the session list in the VS Code sidebar:

1. STATUS BADGE per session, with a small colored dot or icon:

   • 🟢 Running — agent is currently executing (tool call in flight, generating, waiting on approval)
   • 🟡 Awaiting input — paused on a permission prompt or user question
   • 🔵 Done with changes — finished, has uncommitted file modifications in the workspace
   • ⚪ Idle / completed — finished, no pending changes
   • ⚫ Old — not touched in > N hours (configurable)

2. SORT / GROUP options in the list header:

   • Default: group by status (Running → Awaiting → Done with changes → Idle → Old), recency within each group
   • Alternative: current behavior (pure recency) as a toggle
   • Optional: collapsible group headers so I can fold "Old" away

Bonus: a filter/search field that filters by status (e.g. show only "running" or only "done with changes") would make multi-session workflows much more manageable.

This would turn the panel from a flat history log into an actionable task board, which matches how power users actually run Claude Code (multiple parallel sessions per project).

Alternative Solutions

No response

Priority

High - Significant impact on productivity

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

No response

Additional Context

No response