Continue with GIthub URL Handler doesn't work when VSCode is already opened

Type: Bug

I was just setting up a new machine, signed into github, and opened vscode. I clicked the Sign In button, and selected to continue with github.com. This opened a URL in Chrome, presenting me with the github.com identity selector. That I clicked, but instead of switching to the vscode application which was already open, it simply opened the same tab again. I finally closed vscode, and clicked the link (github url handler) again, and this time it opened vscode, and it worked.

VS Code version: Code 1.137.0 (645f29cc3176500b4b5762ba887cf2a7f0ffdf2c, 2026-09-08T13:43:59-07:00)
OS version: Linux x64 6.12.107+deb13-amd64
Modes:

System Info

|Item|Value|
|---|---|
|CPUs|11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1185G7 @ 3.00GHz (8 x 4352)|
|GPU Status|2d_canvas: enabled
GPU0: VENDOR= 0x8086 [Google Inc. (Intel)], DEVICE=0x9a49 [ANGLE (Intel, Mesa Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics (TGL GT2), OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 25.0.7-2+deb13u1)], DRIVER_VENDOR=Mesa, DRIVER_VERSION=25.0.7 *ACTIVE*
Machine model name:
Machine model version:
direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok
gpu_compositing: enabled
multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on
opengl: enabled_on
rasterization: enabled
raw_draw: disabled_off_ok
skia_graphite: disabled_off
trees_in_viz: disabled_off
video_decode: enabled
video_encode: disabled_software
vulkan: enabled_on
webgl: enabled
webgpu: enabled
webgpu_on_vk_via_gl_interop: enabled
webnn: disabled_off|
|Load (avg)|1, 1, 1|
|Memory (System)|31.08GB (27.00GB free)|
|Process Argv|--open-url vscode://vscode.github-authentication/did-authenticate?nonce=94bb0501e44527e3&windowId=1&url=vscode%3A%2F%2Fvscode.github-authentication%2Fdid-authenticate%3Fnonce%3D94bb0501e44527e3%26windowId%3D1 --crash-reporter-id 11f154b6-ab26-496c-a3c4-fc91a5497341|
|Screen Reader|no|
|VM|0%|
|DESKTOP_SESSION|gnome|
|XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP|GNOME|
|XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP|gnome|
|XDG_SESSION_TYPE|wayland|
Extensions: none
A/B Experiments

```
vsliv368cf:30146710
binariesv615:30325510
nativeloc1:31344060
dwcopilot:31170013
dwoutputs:31242946
copilot_t_ci:31333650
e5gg6876:31282496
pythonrdcb7:31342333
6518g693:31463988
aj953862:31281341
b6b4d950:31327385
envsactivate1:31551504
cloudbuttont:31379625
3efgi100_wstrepl:31403338
ec5jj548:31422691
cp_cls_t_966_ss:31526232
4je02754:31466945
c3h7c220:31478652
ge8j1254_inline_auto_hint_haiku:31490510
cp_cls_c_1081:31454833
conptydll_true:31498968
e9c30283:31461165
46204921:31447328
capico_axe_098a3278:31582664
ei9d7968:31496641
chat:31457767
8hig5102:31480529
89g7j272:31518289
i2gc6536:31499202
52612955:31516516
githubstableflight:31469463
ec1eg703:31520046
ddid_c:31478207
hmra_i5g22:31518061
ja75b849:31580633
7df3h592:31512476
cp_cls_t_1082:31535311
logging_enabled_new:31498466
db5d2638:31499441
jb_cp_cls_t_632:31543129
56dj4588:31512888
32d76977:31512328
ha629193:31508444
jh5f2457_c:31540921
jbcp_cls_pctr_t:31531130
cp_intellij_t_nes:31548657
gf14b233:31526830
ahp-both-windows:31556933
ihg5j128:31534457
7g2b5551:31542111
sandbox-ui-on-2:31543161
enable_editor_pane_layout:31569726
allow-none:31555437
ac562147:31564510
c7c27ce7:31554789
1h923230:31564177
treatment-23-1:31555779
unuse_dynamic_mcp:31555281
0d8dfbc3:31570291
a1hcc538:31559322
0c1h4866:31566224
vrbsty_fls:31561059
session-archive:31558132
5b8j3302:31564601
mangle-name-control:31572633
intellij_nes_preview_t:31580086
multiv2:31574985
2bfb8b39:31576696
soft:31581111
links-control:31581629
aw-autom-on:31582550
revealsession_control_7ed7e840:31582193
permission_prompt_control:1332567
ccr_pr_nudge_adoption:1319471
vsc_wsm_c:1340633
eh853263:1370294
cfee5631:1379228
3aced641:1389836

```