Display Pinned Tabs in a Separate Row

When working with many pinned tabs, they can consume significant horizontal space, leaving little room for your active working tabs. The separate row for pinned tabs feature solves this by displaying pinned and unpinned tabs in two distinct rows.

The Problem

With multiple pinned tabs in a single row:

Working tabs get squeezed and become hard to read
Constant scrolling to find active tabs
Tab names get truncated on smaller screens
Wasted horizontal space mixing two different types of tabs

The Solution

Enable two-row tab layout to get:

Top row: All your pinned tabs (references, configs, important files)
Bottom row: Working tabs with full horizontal space
Automatic switching: Shows single row when only one type exists
Familiar pattern: Used by JetBrains IDEs, Visual Studio, and Eclipse

Configuration

Via Settings UI:

Open Settings (Cmd-, / Ctrl-,)
Go to Editor section
Toggle “Pinned Tabs Layout”

Via settings.json:

{
  "tab_bar": {
    "show_pinned_tabs_in_separate_row": true
  }
}

Smart Behavior

The layout adapts automatically:

Both types present: Two rows (pinned on top, unpinned on bottom)
Only pinned tabs: Single row
Only unpinned tabs: Single row
Empty: No tab bar clutter

Benefits

More readable tabs: Full width for file names without truncation

Better organization: Visual separation between reference and working files

Faster navigation: Know exactly where to look for each type of tab

Maximized space: No wasted horizontal real estate

Flexible workflow: Adapts to your working style

Perfect For

Reference-heavy work: Keep docs, configs, and READMEs pinned
Multi-file projects: Work on many files simultaneously
Small screens: Make the most of limited horizontal space
Tab enthusiasts: Manage dozens of tabs without chaos

This is an opt-in feature that defaults to false, so existing users see no change. Enable it when you need better tab organization!

Related PR: #46573