How to change the integrated terminal in Visual Studio Code

Question

I want to change the integrated terminal to Cmder. I use Visual Studio Code on Windows 8.1.

I checked the documentation and also the preference file, but I am confused about which line to change.

External Terminal

// Customizes which terminal to run on Windows.
"terminal.external.windowsExec": "%COMSPEC%",

// Customizes which terminal application to run on OS X.
"terminal.external.osxExec": "Terminal.app",

// Customizes which terminal to run on Linux.
"terminal.external.linuxExec": "xterm",

Integrated Terminal

// The path of the shell that the terminal uses on Linux.
"terminal.integrated.shell.linux": "sh",

// The command line arguments to use when on the Linux terminal.
"terminal.integrated.shellArgs.linux": [],

// The path of the shell that the terminal uses on OS X.
"terminal.integrated.shell.osx": "sh",

// The command line arguments to use when on the OS X terminal.
"terminal.integrated.shellArgs.osx": [],

// The path of the shell that the terminal uses on Windows. When using shells shipped with Windows (cmd, PowerShell or Bash on Ubuntu), prefer C:\Windows\sysnative over C:\Windows\System32 to use the 64-bit versions.
"terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "C:\\Windows\\system32\\cmd.exe",

// The command line arguments to use when on the Windows terminal.
"terminal.integrated.shellArgs.windows": [],

// Controls the font family of the terminal, this defaults to editor.fontFamily's value.
"terminal.integrated.fontFamily": "",

// Controls whether font ligatures are enabled in the terminal.
"terminal.integrated.fontLigatures": false,

// Controls the font size in pixels of the terminal, this defaults to editor.fontSize's value.
"terminal.integrated.fontSize": 0,

// Controls the line height of the terminal, this number is multipled by the terminal font size to get the actual line-height in pixels.
"terminal.integrated.lineHeight": 1.2,

// Controls whether the terminal cursor blinks.
"terminal.integrated.cursorBlinking": false,

// Controls whether locale variables are set at startup of the terminal, this defaults to true on OS X, false on other platforms.
"terminal.integrated.setLocaleVariables": false,

// A set of command IDs whose keybindings will not be sent to the shell and instead always be handled by Code. This allows the use of keybindings that would normally be consumed by the shell to act the same as when the terminal is not focused, for example ctrl+p to launch Quick Open.
"terminal.integrated.commandsToSkipShell": [
    "editor.action.toggleTabFocusMode",
    "workbench.action.debug.continue",
    "workbench.action.debug.restart",
    "workbench.action.debug.run",
    "workbench.action.debug.start",
    "workbench.action.debug.stop",
    "workbench.action.quickOpen",
    "workbench.action.showCommands",
    "workbench.action.terminal.clear",
    "workbench.action.terminal.copySelection",
    "workbench.action.terminal.focus",
    "workbench.action.terminal.focusNext",
    "workbench.action.terminal.focusPrevious",
    "workbench.action.terminal.kill",
    "workbench.action.terminal.new",
    "workbench.action.terminal.paste",
    "workbench.action.terminal.runSelectedText",
    "workbench.action.terminal.scrollDown",
    "workbench.action.terminal.scrollDownPage",
    "workbench.action.terminal.scrollToBottom",
    "workbench.action.terminal.scrollToTop",
    "workbench.action.terminal.scrollUp",
    "workbench.action.terminal.scrollUpPage",
    "workbench.action.terminal.toggleTerminal"
],

Related post - [How to add multiple terminal in VS Code?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/43427631/465053) — RBT, Jun 17 '18 at 00:42

score 50 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 08 '16 at 14:46

50

To change the integrated terminal on Windows, you just need to change the terminal.integrated.shell.windows line:

Open VS User Settings (Preferences > User Settings). This will open two side-by-side documents.
Add a new "terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "C:\\Bin\\Cmder\\Cmder.exe" setting to the User Settings document on the right if it's not already there. This is so you aren't editing the Default Setting directly, but instead adding to it.
Save the User Settings file.

You can then access it with keys Ctrl+backtick by default.

answered Nov 08 '16 at 14:46

mbernardeau

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This still pops out the Cmder window instead of it being integrated – xyhhx Feb 08 '17 at 19:12
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@Martin As written in this issue, https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/12006, as Cmder is a terminal emulator, it can't be integrated. You could use Clink instead. – mbernardeau Feb 09 '17 at 13:18
4

I'm aware. It was to clarify for those who find this answer – xyhhx Feb 09 '17 at 15:26
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@mbernardeau Could you share any link for this *Clink*? – Sloven Mar 10 '17 at 14:38
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Don't miss out on @khernand's answer, that enabled Cmder to be integrated the way i hoped when i arrived here. – consideRatio Jun 25 '17 at 01:16
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Just set the setting `terminal.integrated.shell.linux` to the path of the executable for your terminal – mbernardeau Jan 15 '18 at 12:17
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There is no such thing as user settings from preferences. How does one do it on Mac Os X? – Charlie Parker Jun 09 '20 at 17:19
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perhaps changing this: ` "terminal.integrated.automationShell.osx": "PUT PATH TO YOUR SHELL HERE"`? – Charlie Parker Jun 09 '20 at 17:36

score 43 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 09 '23 at 21:49

43

It is possible to get this working in Visual Studio Code and have the Cmder terminal be integrated (not pop up).

To do so:

Create an environment variable "CMDER_ROOT" pointing to your Cmder directory.
In (Preferences → User Settings) in Visual Studio Code, add the following settings:

"terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "cmd.exe"

"terminal.integrated.shellArgs.windows": ["/k", "%CMDER_ROOT%\\vendor\\init.bat"]

edited Aug 09 '23 at 21:49

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 15 '17 at 15:22

khernand

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This works on Windows 10, however I needed to change the slashes in the argument path:`["/k", "%CMDER_ROOT%\\vendor\\init.bat"]` – Lodybo Jul 05 '17 at 07:21
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Worked great with @Lodybo's suggestion. Thanks! – Ben Force Jul 13 '17 at 23:35
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Note I actually had to create a CMDER_ROOT environment variable. It didn't work to just replace the %CMDER_ROOT% in the config file with the path to init.bat – yoyoyoyosef Oct 02 '17 at 22:17
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My only problem with this is, the command history is not saved when in integrated terminal. I cannot reselect the command a) in an external cmder.exe shell b) after restarting VS Code. Any ideas how to solve this? – ford04 Sep 21 '18 at 11:49

score 33 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 09 '23 at 21:46

33

You can quickly accomplish that by just typing Ctrl + Shift + P and then type "default". It will show an option that says:

Terminal: Select Default Shell

It will then display all the terminals available to you.

edited Aug 09 '23 at 21:46

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 15 '18 at 20:47

etp23

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Great Suggestion. Using this I easily swapped from cmd.exe to bash. Nice n simple. – Barry McDermid Nov 11 '20 at 13:46
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There are two kinds of Terminals - Console and Integrate Console. The latter is used when debugging code. This answer does not affect it, so it does not really answer the OP question. – mark Nov 12 '20 at 00:03

score 9 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 09 '23 at 21:58

From the official documentation:

Correctly configuring your shell on Windows is a matter of locating the right executable and updating the setting. Below is a list of common shell executables and their default locations.

There is also the convenience command Select Default Shell that can be accessed through the command palette which can detect and set this for you.

So you can open a command palette using Ctrl + Shift + P, use the command Select Default Shell, and then it displays all the available command line interfaces. Select whatever you want, and Visual Studio Code sets that as the default integrated terminal for you automatically.

If you want to set it manually find the location of executable of your CLI and open user settings of Visual Studio Code (Ctrl + `), and then set:

"terminal.integrated.shell.windows":"path/to/executable.exe"

Example for Git Bash on Windows 7:

"terminal.integrated.shell.windows":"C:\\Users\\stldev03\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe",

score 4 · Answer 5 · edited Aug 09 '23 at 21:50

For the OP's terminal Cmder, there is an integration guide, also hinted in the Visual Studio Code documentation.

If you want to use Visual Studio Code tasks and encounter problems after switch to Cmder, there is an update to khernand's answer. Copy this into your settings.json file:

"terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "cmd.exe",

"terminal.integrated.env.windows": {
  "CMDER_ROOT": "[cmder_root]" // replace [cmder_root] with your cmder path
},
"terminal.integrated.shellArgs.windows": [
  "/k",
  "%CMDER_ROOT%\\vendor\\bin\\vscode_init.cmd" // <-- this is the relevant change
  // OLD: "%CMDER_ROOT%\\vendor\\init.bat"
],

The invoked file will open Cmder as an integrated terminal and switch to cmd for tasks. Have a look at the source here. So you can omit configuring a separate terminal in tasks.json to make tasks work.

Starting with VS Code 1.38, there is also "terminal.integrated.automationShell.windows" setting, which lets you set your terminal for tasks globally and avoids issues with Cmder.

"terminal.integrated.automationShell.windows": "cmd.exe"

score 3 · Answer 6 · edited Aug 09 '23 at 22:28

The method explained in the accepted answer has been deprecated, and now the new recommended way to configure your default shell is by creating a terminal profile in #terminal.integrated.profiles.windows# and setting its profile name as the default in #terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows#.

The old method will currently take priority over the new profiles settings, but that will change in the future.

See an example for PowerShell taken from the documentation:

{
  "terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
    "My PowerShell": {
      "path": "pwsh.exe",
      "args": ["-noexit", "-file", "${env:APPDATA}PowerShellmy-init-script.ps1"]
    }
  },
  "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "My PowerShell"
}

score 2 · Answer 7 · edited Aug 09 '23 at 22:07

2

I was successful via Settings → Terminal → Integrated → Shell: Linux

From there, I edited the path of the shell to be /bin/zsh from the default /bin/bash

there are also options for OS X and Windows as well

@charlieParker - here's what I'm seeing for available commands in the Command Palette.

edited Aug 09 '23 at 22:07

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 05 '19 at 16:26

MCGRAW

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@CharlieParker i didn't see the option to edit the shell option, most of the available commands related to integrated terminal were actions in an already defined terminal - i added a screencap to my original answer - did you have an issue using the `preferences>settings` route i used? – MCGRAW Jun 10 '20 at 13:49

score 2 · Answer 8 · edited Aug 09 '23 at 22:36

Change external terminal

Windows Terminal, which has been mentioned by others, is an alternative of Alacritty, which is a terminal (emulator).

As stated in Visual Studio Code, Cmder is a shell, just like PowerShell or Bash.

"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
    "cmder": {
        //  "path": "F:\\cmder\\Cmder.exe",  // 这样会开external terminal
      "path": "C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\cmd.exe",
      "args": ["/K", "F:\\cmder\\vendor\\bin\\vscode_init.cmd"]
    }
  },
"terminal.integrated.profiles.linux": { "zsh": { "path": "zsh" }, },
"terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "PowerShell",

The statement in Cmder's repository is misleading

Different shells under a terminal:

If you want to change the external terminal to the new Windows terminal, here's how.

score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Aug 09 '23 at 22:11

1

The below thing worked for me:

Open Settings → this will open settings.json
type terminal.integrated.windows.shell
Click on {} at the top right corner. This will open an editor where this setting can be overridden.
Set the value as terminal.integrated.windows.shell: C:\\Users\\<user_name>\\Softwares\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe
Click Ctrl + S

Try to open a new terminal. It should open in a Bash editor in integrated mode.

edited Aug 09 '23 at 22:11

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 04 '19 at 09:22

error404

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What is a "Bash editor"? – Peter Mortensen Aug 09 '23 at 22:12

score 1 · Answer 10 · edited Aug 09 '23 at 22:30

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This is working as of 02-Dec-2021.

In file settings.json:

 {
    "go.toolsManagement.autoUpdate":true,
    "terminal.integrated.profiles.windows":{
        "My Bash":{
            "path":"D:\\1. Installed_Software\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe"
        }
    },
    "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows":"My Bash"
}

Reference: Terminal Basics

edited Aug 09 '23 at 22:30

Peter Mortensen

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answered Dec 01 '21 at 18:36

infiniteLearner

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How to change the integrated terminal in Visual Studio Code

External Terminal

Integrated Terminal

10 Answers10

Change external terminal

As stated in Visual Studio Code, Cmder is a shell, just like PowerShell or Bash.

The statement in Cmder's repository is misleading

Different shells under a terminal:

Linked