How can I add multiple terminals in Visual Studio Code?

Question

Can we add multiple different terminals in Visual Studio Code?

I am planning to add following three terminals and work with all of these:

1. Windows Command prompt
2. PowerShell
3. Git Bash

I know I need to add the following command in Preferences → Setting:

 // // 64-bit cmd if available, otherwise 32-bit
 "terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "C:\\Windows\\sysnative\\cmd.exe",
// // 64-bit PowerShell if available, otherwise 32-bit
 "terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "C:\\Windows\\sysnative\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe",
// // Git Bash
 "terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "C:\\Program Files\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe",

I want to add all of the above three commands in setting.json

And when I click + different terminal should open and I want to work with those terminals without changing the preferences. Is it possible in Visual Studio Code or not?

Answer 1

There is a way to make this happens with these steps by installing an extension:

1. Find an extension called Shell launcher and install it or you can find it here. Reload Visual Studio Code if you want or after you finished all steps.

2. Go to Files → Preferences → Settings and this will open the settings.json file and you then insert this (you can edit this to your heart's content):

Code:

"shellLauncher.shells.windows": [
    {
        "shell": "C:\\Windows\\<sysnative>\\cmd.exe",
        "label": "cmd"
    },
    {
        "shell": "C:\\Windows\\<sysnative>\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe",
        "label": "PowerShell"
    },
    {
        "shell": "C:\\Program Files\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe",
        "label": "Git bash"
    },
    {
        "shell": "C:\\Windows\\<sysnative>\\bash.exe",
        "label": "WSL Bash"
    }
]

PS: You can use shellLauncher.shells.linux for Linux or shellLauncher.shells.osx for macOS.

3. Go to Files → Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts and then find on the {} icon on the top right corner to open the keybindings.json file. Insert this:

Code:

[
    { "key": "ctrl+alt+`", "command": "shellLauncher.launch" }
]

Type shelllauncher into the search bar. You can then see the Shell Launcher: Launch command. Highlight and use any keybinding you like. For example, I picked Ctrl + Alt + ` (backtick) for myself.

You can reload your Visual Studio Code and click the key combination you have assigned and that will give you the option to choose which integrated terminal you want to use.

For more details, please check the official site: Shell launcher

Answer 2

Here is a simple, suitable and complete answer while as a development I need multiple terminals handy in a click like below:

And I don't bother about their path, add another extension for what Visual Studio Code is already capable of or reload VS Shell, etc. and go to insert and set up the settings files manually.

I found this question is asked many times and almost all landed up manually setup of write some settings, etc. or sometimes only opted to get a single type of terminal. The answer of Pawan is somewhat near, but again that solution finally land up to a single terminal, going to command setup for switch terminal and this one will work for Git or any other terminal.

If you have tools installed which worked on command line like PowerShell and Git along with the default cmd prompt in Windows then the following quick three steps to get all terminals at once and switch to anyone with a click.

1. Open terminal. It should be visible (use Ctrl + ` (backtick) or from menu View → Integrated Terminal)

2. Open commands search (use Ctrl + Shift + P or from menu View → Command Palette...)

3. In the command box, type "Terminal: Select Default Shell" to select this option from the drop down.

   

4. As you select this option, then all the available commands which are in path will be listed below like below

   

5. Just click any one which you like to add for quick access from the command list.

6. Finally, in the terminal window, just click on the + sign next to the terminal list as shown below:

   

   The terminal selected in step 5 will now be added after performing step 6 to the list without removal of the earlier terminal.

7. Repeat step 3-6 for adding any other terminal to the command list.

To work with a particular terminal, just select the required one in the terminal list of the terminal window.

Answer 3

Press Ctrl + Shift + ` shortcut, or press a cross sign to run a new terminal. Then type bash if your default mode is PowerShell or powershell if your default mode is Bash. And here you are, your terminal is switched.

Answer 4

For now, Visual Studio Code supports defining only one of available terminals as the default at a time, and you can not add multiple shell terminals.

If you don't want to install the "Shell Launcher" plugin as suggested by @ian0411 then here is a quick way to change/select default terminal.

Press Ctrl + Shift + P to open the Command Palette.

Type "Terminal: Select Default Shell" and hit Enter. You will be prompted to select Git Bash, PowerShell or Cmd as shown below:

Note: This will change the default shell terminal, but there isn't any harm changing it whenever you need to use another.

BTW, if you need to switch only between Cmd & PowerShell, then you can type cmd or powershell (in an already-opened terminal) to switch to the desired terminal. But it would not work for Git Bash.

Answer 5

I don't see this in the previous answers, but I read all the answers. I think this is the best approach for what is supported right now. I believe, like myself, the OP simply wants to open Visual Studio Code, and down there on the terminal window, we just want a list of options to open from.

Yes, you can open the command, "Terminal: Select Default Shell" and loop through that to add various types of terminals...

Followed by:

I don't know when this option was added to the dropdown, but look! There isn't any need to start by looking up the command. I think this is a lot smoother than any other answer, but it still results in the annoying overwrite of your default terminal to whatever your last choice was before leaving session.

Here, we can more easily open the Select Default Shell. It should support "Select New Shell". Simple, you'd think. Hopefully someone adds that soon or I have time to contribute.

Answer 6

I'm fairly certain that these are old-style settings.json and won't work as discussed in Visual Studio Code 2021. The new style looks like:

...
"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows":
{   "Bash":
    {    "path": ["C:\\Programs\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe"],
         "icon": "terminal-bash",
    },
    "Command Prompt":
    {   "path": ["${env:windir}\\System32\\cmd.exe"],
        "args": [],
        "icon": "terminal-cmd"
    },
    "PowerShell":
    {   "path":  ["C:\\Programs\\PowerShell\\pwsh.exe"],
        "source": "PowerShell",
        "args": [],
        "icon": "terminal-powershell"
    },
},
"terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "Bash"
...

That will get you access to Command and PowerShell and set Bash as the default shell (my preference). If you want to launch a standalone application like Git Bash, you will need something else.

Answer 7

As of version 1.35, you can now:

1. select "Select Default Shell" from the pulldown menu directly above the terminal
2. select the one you like
3. click the +
4. done

(The same goes for opening the split screen: before this, do 1 + 2 and then click the split screen button.)

(Although it is overriding the default, but it does no longer matter if this is your flow.)

Answer 8

This can be done by adding a different key at the end. By just changing your example to:

// // 64-bit cmd if available, otherwise 32-bit
 "terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "C:\\Windows\\sysnative\\cmd.exe",
// // 64-bit PowerShell if available, otherwise 32-bit
 "terminal.integrated.shell.windows2": "C:\\Windows\\sysnative\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe",
// // Git Bash
 "terminal.integrated.shell.windows3": "C:\\Program Files\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe",

Note that the key ...shell.windows is changed to ...shell.windows2 and ...shell.windows3.

Follow-up finding: I've noticed that once restart of the IDE, only the first terminal gets displayed. I had to reopen the settings and save it once to get both the terminals again. Will post if any better solution available.

Answer 9

In the terminal tab, there's a Split Terminal button. It works like a charm.

Answer 10

To open multiple terminals, please check the screenshot for the same (on the right bottom of the Visual Studio Code there will be a dropdown and just after it, there is the + (plus) icon. On pressing it, the new terminal will open.).

Answer 11

The recommended way to automatically open multiple terminal windows is to use the Tasks feature. See Automating launching of terminals in the Visual Studio Code documentation.

Answer 12

For WSL Ubuntu on Windows terminal:

File -> preferences -> settings -> click code icon in top right

Enter the following:

{
    "terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\wsl.exe",
    "git.enableSmartCommit": true
}