Added a setting to control whether the choice menu grabs keyboard focus (https://github.com/nbclaudecodegui/NetbeansClaudeCodeGui/issues/20)

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+- Added a setting to control whether the choice menu grabs keyboard focus (https://github.com/nbclaudecodegui/NetbeansClaudeCodeGui/issues/20)
 - Added a global setting to choose the default dock position of the Claude Code session tab (https://github.com/nbclaudecodegui/NetbeansClaudeCodeGui/issues/24)
 
 # 0.21.50 (2026-04-19)

pom.xml

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
     <groupId>io.github.nbclaudecodegui</groupId>
     <artifactId>netbeans-claude-code-gui</artifactId>
-    <version>0.22.6-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>0.22.7-SNAPSHOT</version>
     <packaging>nbm</packaging>
     <name>Netbeans Claude Code GUI</name>
     <description>NetBeans plugin that provides a GUI for Claude Code CLI — run claude code sessions directly inside the IDE.</description>

src/main/java/io/github/nbclaudecodegui/settings/ClaudeCodeOptionsPanel.java

@@ -40,6 +40,15 @@
  */
 public final class ClaudeCodeOptionsPanel extends JPanel {
 
+    private static final String[] CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_VALUES = {
+        ClaudeCodePreferences.CHOICE_MENU_GRAB_FOCUS,
+        ClaudeCodePreferences.CHOICE_MENU_SHOW_NO_FOCUS,
+        ClaudeCodePreferences.CHOICE_MENU_HIDE_MENU
+    };
+    private static final String[] CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_LABELS = {
+        "Grab focus (default)", "Show without grabbing focus", "Hide menu"
+    };
+
     private static final String[] DOCK_MODE_VALUES = {
         "editor", "commonpalette", "explorer", "navigator", "output"
     };
@@ -77,6 +86,8 @@ public final class ClaudeCodeOptionsPanel extends JPanel {
     private JSpinner sessionListLimitSpinner;
     /** Dropdown for the dock position of the Claude Code session tab. */
     private javax.swing.JComboBox<String> dockModeCombo;
+    /** Dropdown for the choice menu focus behavior. */
+    private javax.swing.JComboBox<String> choiceMenuFocusCombo;
     /** Spinner for the hang-detection timeout in seconds (0 = disabled). */
     private JSpinner hangTimeoutSpinner;
     /** Checkbox to enable MCP integration (pass --mcp-config flag). */
@@ -238,6 +249,13 @@ private JPanel buildGeneralPanel() {
         form.add(dockModeCombo, gbc(1, row, false));
         row++;
 
+        // --- choice menu focus mode ---
+        form.add(new JLabel("Choice menu focus:"), gbc(0, row, false));
+        choiceMenuFocusCombo = new javax.swing.JComboBox<>(CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_LABELS);
+        choiceMenuFocusCombo.setToolTipText("Controls whether the choice menu grabs keyboard focus when it appears");
+        form.add(choiceMenuFocusCombo, gbc(1, row, false));
+        row++;
+
         // spacer
         GridBagConstraints spacer = new GridBagConstraints();
         spacer.gridx = 0; spacer.gridy = row;
@@ -376,6 +394,9 @@ void load() {
         String dockMode = ClaudeCodePreferences.getSessionDockMode();
         int dockIdx = java.util.Arrays.asList(DOCK_MODE_VALUES).indexOf(dockMode);
         dockModeCombo.setSelectedIndex(dockIdx >= 0 ? dockIdx : 0);
+        String focusMode = ClaudeCodePreferences.getChoiceMenuFocusMode();
+        int focusIdx = java.util.Arrays.asList(CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_VALUES).indexOf(focusMode);
+        choiceMenuFocusCombo.setSelectedIndex(focusIdx >= 0 ? focusIdx : 0);
         hangTimeoutSpinner.setValue(ClaudeCodePreferences.getHangTimeoutSeconds());
         mcpEnabledCheckBox.setSelected(ClaudeCodePreferences.isMcpEnabled());
 
@@ -415,6 +436,11 @@ void store() {
                 dockSel >= 0 && dockSel < DOCK_MODE_VALUES.length
                         ? DOCK_MODE_VALUES[dockSel]
                         : ClaudeCodePreferences.DEFAULT_SESSION_DOCK_MODE);
+        int focusSel = choiceMenuFocusCombo.getSelectedIndex();
+        ClaudeCodePreferences.setChoiceMenuFocusMode(
+                focusSel >= 0 && focusSel < CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_VALUES.length
+                        ? CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_VALUES[focusSel]
+                        : ClaudeCodePreferences.DEFAULT_CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_MODE);
         ClaudeCodePreferences.setHangTimeoutSeconds((Integer) hangTimeoutSpinner.getValue());
         ClaudeCodePreferences.setMcpEnabled(mcpEnabledCheckBox.isSelected());
         ClaudeCodePreferences.setSendKey(selectedValue(sendRadios));

src/main/java/io/github/nbclaudecodegui/settings/ClaudeCodePreferences.java

@@ -570,6 +570,31 @@ public static void setSessionDockMode(String mode) {
                 .put(KEY_SESSION_DOCK_MODE, mode != null ? mode : DEFAULT_SESSION_DOCK_MODE);
     }
 
+    // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    // choiceMenuFocusMode
+    // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    /** Preference key: focus behavior when the choice menu appears. */
+    public static final String KEY_CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_MODE = "choiceMenuFocusMode";
+    /** Value: grab keyboard focus (current / default behavior). */
+    public static final String CHOICE_MENU_GRAB_FOCUS    = "grab_focus";
+    /** Value: show the panel without grabbing keyboard focus. */
+    public static final String CHOICE_MENU_SHOW_NO_FOCUS = "show_no_focus";
+    /** Value: do not show the choice menu panel at all. */
+    public static final String CHOICE_MENU_HIDE_MENU     = "hide_menu";
+    /** Default: grab focus. */
+    public static final String DEFAULT_CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_MODE = CHOICE_MENU_GRAB_FOCUS;
+
+    public static String getChoiceMenuFocusMode() {
+        return NbPreferences.forModule(ClaudeCodePreferences.class)
+                .get(KEY_CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_MODE, DEFAULT_CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_MODE);
+    }
+
+    public static void setChoiceMenuFocusMode(String mode) {
+        NbPreferences.forModule(ClaudeCodePreferences.class)
+                .put(KEY_CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_MODE, mode != null ? mode : DEFAULT_CHOICE_MENU_FOCUS_MODE);
+    }
+
     private static String validated(String value, String fallback) {
         return ENTER.equals(value) || SHIFT_ENTER.equals(value)
                 || CTRL_ENTER.equals(value) || ALT_ENTER.equals(value)

src/main/java/io/github/nbclaudecodegui/ui/ChoiceMenuPanel.java

@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ public ChoiceMenuPanel(Supplier<String> workingDirSupplier) {
      * @param model    the menu model
      * @param callback invoked with the chosen response string, or {@code null} on Cancel
      */
-    public void show(ChoiceMenuModel model, Consumer<String> callback) {
+    public void show(ChoiceMenuModel model, Consumer<String> callback, boolean grabFocus) {
         this.callback = callback;
         removeAll();
 
@@ -520,7 +520,7 @@ public void keyPressed(java.awt.event.KeyEvent e) {
         } else {
             focusTarget = sendBtn;
         }
-        if (focusTarget != null) {
+        if (grabFocus && focusTarget != null) {
             javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(focusTarget::requestFocusInWindow);
         }
     }

src/main/java/io/github/nbclaudecodegui/ui/ClaudeSessionTab.java

@@ -489,13 +489,18 @@ public void onChoiceMenuChanged(ChoiceMenuModel menu) {
         if (menu != null) {
             LOG.fine(sessionTag + "[onChoiceMenuChanged] showing menu: \"" + menu.text()
                     + "\" EDT=" + SwingUtilities.isEventDispatchThread());
+            String focusMode = io.github.nbclaudecodegui.settings.ClaudeCodePreferences.getChoiceMenuFocusMode();
+            if (io.github.nbclaudecodegui.settings.ClaudeCodePreferences.CHOICE_MENU_HIDE_MENU.equals(focusMode)) {
+                return;
+            }
+            boolean grabFocus = io.github.nbclaudecodegui.settings.ClaudeCodePreferences.CHOICE_MENU_GRAB_FOCUS.equals(focusMode);
             choiceMenuPanel.show(menu, answer -> {
                 LOG.fine(sessionTag + "[PTY prompt answer] " + answer);
                 SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> switchSouthCard(CARD_PROMPT));
                 revalidate();
                 repaint();
                 controller.writePtyAnswer(answer);
-            });
+            }, grabFocus);
             switchSouthCard(CARD_CHOICE);
         } else {
             if (CARD_CHOICE.equals(activeCard)) {