When VS Code Shows the Wrong Source Control View - Resolving Duplicate Icons
Posted by bsstahl on 2025-04-13 and Filed Under: development
Recently, I encountered a confusing issue with Visual Studio Code where the source control tab wasn't showing my modified files anymore. Git was correctly detecting changes since the git status command correctly showed modifications, but those changes weren't appearing in VS Code's source control panel. Instead, I was seeing a graph view of my repository history.
The Investigation
I turned to Claude Sonnet 3.7 (via the Cline extension in VS Code) for help troubleshooting this issue. We started with some basic diagnostics:
- First, we verified Git was working correctly by viewing modified fiels in the terminal using git status
- We checked VS Code's Git extensions and settings to see if anything was misconfigured
- Claude suggested trying the Ctrl+Shift+G keyboard shortcut, which immediately showed the correct view with my modified files
This last step was the key insight - pressing Ctrl+Shift+G showed the standard Source Control view with a list of modified files (what I wanted), but clicking the Source Control icon in the Activity Bar showed a different view (the graph view).
The Solution
After some investigation, we discovered the root cause: I had two different source control icons in my Activity Bar:
- One at the top labeled "Source Control" that showed the graph view
- One at the bottom (off-screen, requiring scrolling) labeled "Source Control (Ctrl-Shift-G)" that showed the view of changed files
The solution was simple:
- Remove the unwanted icon (the top one showing the graph view)
- Move the correct icon ("Source Control (Ctrl-Shift-G)") to a more visible position in the Activity Bar
After making these changes, clicking the Source Control icon in the Activity Bar now consistently shows my modified files, just like pressing Ctrl+Shift+G.
Why This Happens
VS Code allows multiple views with similar icons to coexist in the Activity Bar. This flexibility is powerful but can sometimes lead to confusion:
- Extensions can add their own source control-related views
- These views might use similar terminology and iconography
- Without careful attention to the hover labels, it's easy to confuse which icon does what
In my case, I had somehow ended up with duplicate Source Control icons in my Activity Bar, each showing different views of my repository.
Preventing Future Issues
To avoid similar confusion in the future, I will make sure that I:
- Hover over icons in the Activity Bar to see their full labels
- Pay attention to keyboard shortcuts listed in the labels (like "Ctrl-Shift-G")
- Right-click on the Activity Bar and review which views are enabled
- Remove the ones I use less frequently when I end up with multiple, similar icons.