posit-dev / posit-dev/positron

Function signature tooltip position obscures code you just wrote

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area: ui enhancement support
Dominant language
TypeScript
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Description

System details:

Positron and OS details:

Positron Version: 2025.06.0 (Universal) build 167
Code - OSS Version: 1.100.0
Commit: e7e5d5590adc6bf7b760f837051cd2f57ea9e3dc
Date: 2025-05-29T20:44:08.369Z
Electron: 34.5.1
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.0
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Darwin x64 24.4.0

Interpreter details:

R 4.4.0

Describe the issue:

"Intellisense" and the way the function signature code completion obscures the code I just wrote has always been that "one big thing" that has irked me in VSCode (and I'm not the only one: https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/15667). In RStudio the tooltip is always below the line I'm currently working on, which makes sense as the code I'm writing depends on what's above, not below.

Now, after making the move from RStudio to Positron for R work (and consequently adjusting it to my liking), the function signature tooltip is now that one thing in Positron that throws me out of the flow. So I figured I'd file an issue to see if it's something that could be fixed in future versions of Positron (or if there's a solution in the current version of Positron, and I just haven't found out how)

Essentially the problem I have is not that I want the tooltip to go away (I don't want to disable it). But I want to be able to position it below the line I'm working on, so it doesn't obscure what I've been writing.

To me, the code I just wrote is the most important thing to keep me working in flow. I'm sure there's other preferences, so I'm not asking for a change in the default position to mimic RStudio. Just that an option be added to force the tooltip to appear below your current line.

For example, this is code I'm writing in Positron.

dplyr code in R 4.4.0 in Positron where the tooltip has been hidden to show the code I'm actually writing

But the above image isn't how it actually appears as I'm writing it, this is how it appears in Positron.

dplyr code in R 4.4.0 in Positron where the tooltip obscures all the code

And thus, I'm now pressing 'Escape' to dismiss the tooltip way too many times a day.

Steps to reproduce the issue:

The problem I'm describing is in R, but it's something that also happens in Python documents, so ideally an option to force Pylance(?) function signature tooltips to appear below the current line should also be available for Python, or that a single option applies to both Python and R.

Expected or desired behavior:

For there to be away to mimic the function signature tooltip positionsing of RStudio:

dplyr code in an R script in RStudio, where the tooltip doesn't obstruct your view of your code

Were there any error messages in the UI, Output panel, or Developer Tools console?

None

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the tooltip behavior in R and Python documents and inspect the existing function-signature tooltip positioning settings in Positron or Code - OSS. Done means users can force the tooltip below the current line without disabling it, with the behavior working for both R and Python.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python, r, typescript
Domain
desktop, developer-experience, frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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