script ui panel disappears behind main window when launced from VSC on mac

Forum|Forum|3 months ago
November 8, 2025
2 replies
120 views

I'm testing scriptui panels by launching them from VSC, the problem is when the panel loses focus it goes behind the main window. The only way to get access to the panel is to shrink the main window to reveal thepanel hiding in the background, supoer nnoying. The panel works fine and stays on top if it is run from the file/scripts/run script...
Is there any way to force the panel to stay at the front?
Mac OS 15.5
AE 25..5
VSC 1.105.1
ExtendScript Debugger 2.1.0

Scripting

A

Arie Stavchansky

Legend

What does your configuration look like in the launch.json file? You can use a `bringToFront` property and set it to to `true` to bring the host app (and any dialogs from the script) to the front. You can find more about the the `bringToFront` property in the documentation of the ExtendScript Debugger extension page in VS Code.

See the screenshot for more details, but it basically states that the `bringToFront` property means `Whether to bring the host application to front when starting the debug session or not.`

J

jeffbottomAuthor

Inspiring

hey Arie

thanks for the suggestion. I'm pretty sketchy on the VSC config stuff, but I think this is to bring the host app, i.e. after effects to be the 'front' application when running the script. It's also only available in "launch" mode not "attach" which is what I use to get callback debugging (again this may be a misunderstanding on my part on how to set things up properly). But the wierd thing is I have a near identical setup on my PCs and it works fine on them, ScriptUI panels always stay on top, it's only the M1 Macbook that has the issue.

A

Arie Stavchansky

Legend

I see — yes it's for launch and not attach. Yes, macOS windowing can be annoying. My my situation, I start the debugging session and then "Eval" the script via a keyboard shortcut, then tab over to AE. It seems to do the trick, but agree that on macOS things are not ideal in that way.

G

Gary Reisman @NBC

Inspiring

That seems quite annoying. Not sure why it's different when you launch from VSC.
But guess possible workaround is to dock the window, then save it as a workspace.
or place the script window slightly to the side and save that as a workspace.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded