Add /restart command to restart session from within chat

[Tuzoff]

Feature request

There's no way to restart a Claude Code session from within the chat. When settings change (e.g., permission mode, effort level) or the extension needs a fresh process, the only options are:

• Close and reopen the panel/tab
• Use VSCode command palette → "Developer: Reload Window" (restarts the entire VSCode window)
• /clear only clears history, doesn't restart the process

Proposed solution

Add a /restart slash command that:

1. Cleanly shuts down the current session process
2. Starts a new session with fresh settings
3. Preserves the tab/panel position in the UI

This would be especially useful when:

• Settings are changed mid-session (bypass permissions, effort level, etc.)
• The session is in a bad state (near context limit, MCP connection issues)
• After updating Claude Code to a new version

Environment

• Claude Code 2.1.76
• VSCode extension
• Running in devcontainer (Linux)

[dwight-cruz-canopy]

I'd suggest a slight variation.
/restart = exits && claude --resume
/new = exits && claude (new fresh session)

[vsekhar]

The other use case for this is plugin development which is painful with all the menu traversals to update the marketplace and then update the plugin.

/restart should auto-resume the same session. This would suffice for all OP's use cases except when near context limit, but you probably want an explicit user choice between /clear (discard context) and /compact (mangle context).

/new == /clear. Matches File -> New in a desktop application (app doesn't restart).

Not sure how often I need "restart into a new session". Maybe just /new-restart or something direct.

[yacb2]

In the meantime, I put together a small workaround for this: claude-restart

It's a shell wrapper + a /restart custom command. When you type /restart, it writes a flag file and sends SIGINT — then the wrapper detects the flag and runs claude --resume <session-id> automatically.

Works with zsh, bash, and fish. Hope it helps until a native solution ships.

[forty4420]

For anyone landing here from search: there are now community plugins that add this for the terminal CLI and Desktop app (still waiting on native / VSCode support).

• yacb2/claude-restart — terminal wrapper, zero-token via UserPromptSubmit hook interception.
• forty4420/cc-restart — /restart slash command + skill, preflights dirty git / background work, handles Claude Desktop (Electron, Windows) with graceful WM_CLOSE relaunch, falls back to claude -c on terminal. Known limitation on desktop: reopens to home screen, not the active session tab — tracked in #50345 asking for a --resume <uuid> flag or claude://session/<uuid> deep link.

Neither covers the VSCode extension case from the original post. That still needs native.