> AI agents: For documentation discovery and navigation, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt).


# Panel

The Panel functions as another main area to display [View Containers](/api/references/contribution-points#contributes.viewsContainers).

**✔️ Do**

- Render Views in the Panel that benefit from more horizontal space
- Use for Views that provide supporting functionality

**❌ Don't**

- Use for Views that are meant to be always visible since users often minimize the Panel
- Render custom Webview content that fails to resize/reflow properly when dragged to other View Containers (like the Primary or Secondary Sidebars).

![Example of a panel](images/examples/panel.png)

## Panel Toolbar

The Panel Toolbar can expose options scoped to the currently selected View. For example the Terminal view exposes [View Actions](/api/extension-guides/tree-view#view-actions) to add a new terminal, split the view layout, and more. Switching to the Problems view exposes a different set of actions. Similar to the [Sidebar Toolbar](/api/ux-guidelines/sidebars#sidebar-toolbar), the toolbar will only render if there is just a single View. If more than one View is used, each View will render its own toolbar.

**✔️ Do**

- Use an existing [product icon](/api/references/icons-in-labels#icon-listing) if available
- Provide clear, useful tooltips

**❌ Don't**

- Don't add an excessive number of icon buttons. Consider using a [Context Menu](/api/references/contribution-points#contributes.menus) if more options are needed for a specific button.
- Don't duplicate the default Panel icons (collapse/expand, close, etc.)

![Example of a panel toolbar with a single view](images/examples/panel-toolbar.png)

*In this example, the single View rendered in the Panel renders its View Actions in the main Panel Toolbar.*

![Example of a panel toolbar with multiple views](images/examples/panel-toolbar-multiple-views.png)

*In this example, multiple Views are used, so each View exposes its own specific View Actions.*

## Links

- [View Container contribution point](/api/references/contribution-points#contributes.viewsContainers)
- [View contribution point](/api/references/contribution-points#contributes.views)
- [View Actions extension guide](/api/extension-guides/tree-view#view-actions)