> There's nothing gained by complicating this API with more options.

Yes, both options is too much. I suggested force_hide_console as an alternative to force_hide, not for both to be implemented. It would be the same as CreateNoWindow in .NET ProcessStartInfo [1], but ProcessStartInfo also has WindowStyle, and one or the other is ignored depending on the value of UseShellExecute. I see a lot of confusion online regarding these .NET ProcessStartInfo properties, which is something I'd like to avoid.

A benefit of force_hide based on wShowWindow=SW_HIDE is feature parity with ShellExecuteExW(), if subprocess ever supports the shell API. ShellExecuteExW() does not support CREATE_NO_WINDOW, but it supports a show-window command and CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE (i.e. the inverse of SEE_MASK_NO_CONSOLE).

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[1] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.diagnostics.processstartinfo?view=net-5.0