What We Built
The Debrief VS Code extension now automatically hides non-essential activity bar items when it activates. Instead of seeing Explorer, Search, Source Control, Debug, Extensions, and Testing, analysts see just two activities: Explorer (for browsing STAC stores) and Debrief (for analysis tools).
Five distractions removed. Zero functionality lost. The hidden activities still work if you need them — right-click the activity bar to restore any of them.
How It Works
On first activation, the extension modifies VS Code’s workbench.activity.pinnedViewlets2 setting to hide:
- Search
- Source Control
- Run and Debug
- Extensions
- Testing
The hiding is reversible and respects user choice:
- Right-click activity bar → Show hidden activities
- Command Palette →
Debrief: Restore Default Activities - Settings →
debrief.hideActivities.enabled: false
If you re-enable an activity manually, it stays visible on subsequent launches. We track your choices and don’t override them.
Technical Details
The implementation adds an ActivityBarService that:
- Checks if hiding is enabled (default: yes)
- Checks if this is the first run
- Modifies visibility for target activities only
- Stores a snapshot to detect user overrides later
76 tests pass, including tests for:
- First-run hiding behavior
- Protected views (Explorer and Debrief never hidden)
- User override detection
- Restore command functionality
All operations are local. No network calls. Works completely offline.
Configuration
{
"debrief.hideActivities.enabled": true,
"debrief.hideActivities.viewIds": [
"workbench.view.search",
"workbench.view.scm",
"workbench.view.debug",
"workbench.view.extensions",
"workbench.view.testing"
]
}
Advanced users can customize which activities get hidden.
What’s Next
This is the first of several UX improvements for the analysis environment. Next up: workspace configuration and panel layouts that make better use of screen real estate for map-centric workflows.
View the PR Read the spec