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Show Python in activity bar conditionally #26015
Description
Please consider showing the Python icon in the Activities bar only when Python is detected (or providing an option to do this). Something does detect Python related workspaces already, as the Python tests icon is not visible in other workspaces. It would be nice if the Python icon itself would appear iff the Python test icon appears.
I did not find a preexisting issue, searching for "activity bar", "workspace activation", "viewsContainers", "conditional"…
Activity
mohityadav8 commentedon Jun 21, 2026
Karthik Nadig (@karthiknadig) can i work on this if Eduardo Villalpando Mello (@edvilme) have not started working on this
karthiknadig commentedon Jun 21, 2026
Go for it
mohityadav8 commentedon Jun 21, 2026
Karthik Nadig (@karthiknadig) Quick finding before I start -- the
PythonActivity Bar icon isn't actually contributed by this repo (vscode-python'spackage.jsonhas noviewsContainers). It comes fromvscode-python-environments(id:python), and itswhenclause currently only checks the rollout setting, not whether the workspace has Python -- that's why it shows everywhere.The Testing icon hides correctly for a different reason:
vscode-pythononly activates in Python workspaces (viaworkspaceContains:*), so it never registers a test controller elsewhere, and VS Code auto-hides empty view containers. Same mechanism could work here via a new context key in the other repo.Should I send the PR to
vscode-python-environmentsdirectly, or would you rathervscode-pythonexpose the "is this a Python workspace" signal for it to consume? Want to avoid duplicating detection logic across both extensions.mohityadav8 commentedon Jul 24, 2026
/working