Make the default panel for opened files and tool views configurable

What variant of Codex are you using?

Codex App

What feature would you like to see?

I would like Codex App to expose a user setting for the default panel used when opening app-managed content, such as file previews, browser views, terminal views, and other tool surfaces.

For example, users could choose between:

• Side / right panel
• Bottom panel

Optionally, this could also be configurable per content type, such as opening file previews in the Bottom panel while keeping browser views or other tools in the Side panel.

This is different from choosing an external editor or disabling the Side panel entirely. The request is specifically about choosing the default in-app panel when Codex can show the same type of content in more than one place.

Codex App already has both Bottom panel and Side/right panel surfaces, but it is not clear how users can choose which in-app panel should be preferred when opening file references, files from the file tree, or tool views. If an existing "Default open destination" setting is intended to control related behavior, it does not appear to cover the Bottom-panel-vs-Side-panel choice explicitly.

A setting such as "Default panel for opened files and tools" would make this behavior explicit and user-controlled.

Additional information

This would be especially useful for vertical or portrait monitor setups.

On a vertical monitor, there is much more height than width. Opening content in a Side panel further reduces the horizontal space available for the main conversation and file contents, which makes reading and editing less comfortable. Opening content in the Bottom panel makes better use of the available vertical space and preserves a more natural width for the main content.

This is not a request to remove the Side panel. The goal is to let users choose the default panel based on their screen layout and workflow, so landscape-monitor users can keep using the Side panel while portrait-monitor users can choose the Bottom panel.

Related issues I found appear adjacent but not identical: #17464 is about avoiding or disabling the right-side panel / opening in an external editor, #20749 concerns hover-triggered right panel behavior, and #20966 reports side-panel jittering. #17526 also discussed file references opening in the right-side pane, but that issue was about line navigation / external editor behavior and is closed. This request is specifically about an explicit, user-configurable default for which in-app panel should be used when opening files and tool views.