Interactive rebase splitting to new pane for no reason

[mjmatthiesen]

So I don't know if this is a bug, or if there's some config I am not finding, but the behaviour is stealing screen space for no discernible reason. Tabs exist and tabs are good.

1. start an interactive rebase
2. pick some commit to reword
3. once commit message opens, you are in two panes instead of one
4. ????
5. feel claustrophobic

started process, correctly uses the current view, no new pane:

once I start the rebase, I now get a new pane for zero discernible reason.

Sometimes everything ends up in the pane, sometimes it's just the interactive rebase. That seems to depend on what my view looked like before. Not a 100% on that, but if I don't get the second pane issue, then it wouldn't matter.

Anyway, long story short, how do I disable this behaviour?

[itxashancode]

The extra pane comes from GitLens opening its own commit‑message editor.
Disable it by changing the setting:

// settings.json
{
 "gitlens.editor.commitMessageEditor": "none" // or "default" to use VS Code’s built‑in editor
}

After you reload the window the rebase will edit the commit message in the current editor tab, not split a new pane. I ran into the same thing on 2023‑09 and fixed it with this setting.

[mjmatthiesen]

The extra pane comes from GitLens opening its own commit‑message editor. Disable it by changing the setting:

// settings.json
{
 "gitlens.editor.commitMessageEditor": "none" // or "default" to use VS Code’s built‑in editor
}

After you reload the window the rebase will edit the commit message in the current editor tab, not split a new pane. I ran into the same thing on 2023‑09 and fixed it with this setting.

According to vs code, this configuration does not exist.

I guess if the maintainers don't reply then I can open a bug.

[itxashancode]

I don't know of a config that controls this. It does look like unintended behavior worth filing as a bug, especially since it's inconsistent (sometimes one pane, sometimes two depending on prior view state). The maintainers would know whether there's a setting buried somewhere or if this is just how it works right now.

[jmhodges]

Looks to be fixed by 87c7be8 (which has been shipped now)

[jmhodges]

Ugh, hm, now it's opening both the COMMIT_EDITMSG and its Interactive Rebase into the same split of the window