Idle Timeouts by Session Type
Posit Workbench has several independent timeouts. No single option is a universal idle timeout. Use this page to find which options apply to each session type.
Settings
The compiled default applies when the config file does not set the option. The shipped default is the value in the config file that Workbench installs. It applies to new installations after 2026.10.0 only. An upgraded install keeps its existing config file, so the compiled default applies if that file does not set the option. For Positron Pro and VS Code, the compiled default disables the timeout, so an upgraded install can have no idle timeout.
| Session type | Option | Config file | Compiled default | Shipped default |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RStudio Pro | session-timeout-minutes |
rsession.conf |
120 minutes | 480 minutes |
| Positron Pro | session-timeout-kill-hours |
positron.conf |
0 (disabled) | 8 hours |
| VS Code | session-timeout-kill-hours |
vscode.conf |
0 (disabled) | 8 hours |
| Jupyter | session-cull-minutes |
jupyter.conf |
120 minutes | 360 minutes |
| Jupyter | session-shutdown-minutes |
jupyter.conf |
5 minutes | 120 minutes |
Behavior
| Session type | At timeout | Blocked by running code? | Terminal counts as activity? |
|---|---|---|---|
| RStudio Pro | Suspends to disk, or quits if session-timeout-suspend=0 |
Yes | No |
| Positron Pro | Terminates | No | No |
| VS Code | Terminates | No | No |
| Jupyter | Culls kernels, then shuts down the session | No | No |
- RStudio Pro: a running top-level R computation, a non-default console prompt, a background job, or a child process blocks suspend.
- Positron Pro and VS Code: sessions cannot suspend. Users can lose unsaved work if Auto Save and Hot Exit are off.
- Jupyter: the idle clock starts only after the user closes the browser tab. Terminals never keep a session open. By default, Workbench does not cull kernels that have a connected client (see
session-cull-connected).
Sign-out is a separate timeout
auth-timeout-minutes in rserver.conf signs the user out of Workbench. The default is 60 minutes. It does not end the IDE session. An external identity provider policy does not replace it. For details, see Authorization Timeout.