Run, Build and Debug buttons disappeared from tool window

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Aiskandar629
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Hello,

I accidentally pressed Command + W three times, and Run, Debug and Build buttons disappeared from the tool window. I can put them back through View —> Tool Windows, but whenever I rerun IntelliJ Idea, they disappear again. I can't put them back in that way so they're pinned on the tool window.
What can I do?

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Abhishek Sah
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The Run, Debug and Build buttons leave the tool window bar when the last tab in those windows closes. Cmd+W is bound to Close in the default macOS keymap, so the three presses closed the tabs, and the buttons went with them.

Run, Debug and Build are dynamic tool windows: they exist only while they hold content, and the button follows the content instead of staying pinned. The Tool windows page says so for Run:

The Run tool window appears only after you run your code. It is accessible from the main menu View | Tool Windows | Run or using the shortcut as long as there is some output in the console, and you don't close all the tabs in it.

Run, debug or build the project once and the buttons come back. Each one reappears as soon as its tool window has output again.

You can also open the windows without a button:

  • View | Tool Windows, then Run, Debug or Build.
  • Cmd+4 for Run and Cmd+5 for Debug in the default macOS keymap. Build has no default shortcut there.
  • The "..." button near the top of the tool window bar. It lists every tool window that currently has no button, and it is visible in your screenshot.

To stop it happening again, hide the window instead of closing its last tab.

There is no setting that pins these buttons, and two open requests ask for one. IJPL-59983 asks that Run and Debug keep their button when the last tab closes. IJPL-162615 asks that dynamic tool windows keep their buttons across an IDE restart. Vote on either one to raise its priority.

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