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Custom actions in Windows Terminal

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Important

As of Windows Terminal version 1.4, the keybindings array has been renamed to actions inside the settings.json file. Support for the keybindings array still exists for backward compatibility, however the terminal will not automatically rename keybindings to actions inside your settings.json file.

You can create custom actions inside Windows Terminal that give you control of how you interact with the terminal. These actions will automatically be added to the command palette.

Action formats

Actions can be structured in the following formats:

Commands without arguments

{ "command": "commandName", "keys": "modifiers+key" }

For example, this default setting uses the shortcut key Alt+F4 to close the terminal window:

{ "command": "closeWindow", "keys": "alt+f4" }

Commands with arguments

{ "command": { "action": "commandName", "argument": "value" }, "keys": "modifiers+key" }

For example, this default setting uses the shortcut key Ctrl+Shift+1 to open a new tab in the terminal based on whichever profile is listed first in your dropdown menu (typically this will open the PowerShell profile):

{ "command": { "action": "newTab", "index": 0 }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+1" }

Action properties

Actions can be constructed using the following properties.

Command

This is the command executed when the associated keys are pressed.

Property name: command

Necessity: Required

Accepts: String

Keys

This defines the key combinations used to call the command. Keys can have any number of modifiers with one key. Accepted modifiers and keys are listed below.

If the action does not have keys, it will appear in the command palette but cannot be invoked with the keyboard.

Property name: keys

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: String or array[string]

Action

This adds additional functionality to certain commands.

Property name: action

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: String

Name

This sets the name that will appear in the command palette. If one isn't provided, the terminal will attempt to automatically generate a name.

Property name: name

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: String

Icon

This sets the icon that displays within the command palette.

Property name: icon

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: File location as a string, or an emoji


Accepted modifiers and keys

Modifiers

ctrl+, shift+, alt+, win+

Note

While the Windows key is supported as a modifier, the system reserves most Win+<key> key bindings. If the OS has reserved that key binding, the terminal will never receive that binding.

Modifier keys

Type Keys
Function and alphanumeric keys f1-f24, a-z, 0-9
Symbols `, plus, -, =, [, ], \, ;, ', ,, ., /
Arrow keys down, left, right, up, pagedown, pageup, pgdn, pgup, end, home
Action keys tab, enter, esc, escape, space, backspace, delete, insert, app, menu
Numpad keys numpad_0-numpad_9, numpad0-numpad9, numpad_add, numpad_plus, numpad_decimal, numpad_period, numpad_divide, numpad_minus, numpad_subtract, numpad_multiply
Browser keys browser_back, browser_forward, browser_refresh, browser_stop, browser_search, browser_favorites, browser_home

Note: = and plus are equivalents. The latter must not be confused with numpad_plus.

Application-level commands

Quit

This closes all open terminal windows. A confirmation dialog will appear in the current window to ensure you'd like to close all windows.

Command name: quit

Default Binding:

{ "command": "quit" }

Close window

This closes the current window and all tabs within it. If confirmCloseAllTabs is set to true, a confirmation dialog will appear to ensure you'd like to close all your tabs. More information on this setting can be found on the Appearance page.

Command name: closeWindow

Default binding:

{ "command": "closeWindow", "keys": "alt+f4" }

Windows Terminal confirm close all tabs

Find

This opens the search dialog box. More information on search can be found on the Search page.

Command name: find

Default binding:

{ "command": "find", "keys": "ctrl+shift+f" }

Find next/previous search match

This lets you navigate through your search matches.

Command name: findMatch

Default bindings:

{ "command": { "action": "findMatch", "direction": "next" } },
{ "command": { "action": "findMatch", "direction": "prev" } }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
direction Required "next", "prev" The direction to navigate through search results.

Open the dropdown

This opens the dropdown menu.

Command name: openNewTabDropdown

Default binding:

{ "command": "openNewTabDropdown", "keys": "ctrl+shift+space" }

Open settings files

This opens either the settings UI, custom settings file (settings.json), or default settings file (defaults.json), depending on the target field. Without the target field, the custom settings file will be opened.

Command name: openSettings

Default bindings:

{ "command": { "action": "openSettings", "target": "settingsUI" }, "keys": "ctrl+," },
{ "command": { "action": "openSettings", "target": "settingsFile" }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+," },
{ "command": { "action": "openSettings", "target": "defaultsFile" }, "keys": "ctrl+alt+," },

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
target Optional "settingsFile", "defaultsFile", "settingsUI", "allFiles" The settings file to open.

Open system menu

Opens the system menu at the top left corner of the window.

Command name: openSystemMenu

Default binding:

{ "command": "openSystemMenu", "keys": "alt+space" }

Toggle full screen

This allows you to switch between full screen and default window sizes.

Command name: toggleFullscreen

Default bindings:

{ "command": "toggleFullscreen", "keys": "alt+enter" },
{ "command": "toggleFullscreen", "keys": "f11" }

Toggle focus mode

This allows you to enter "focus mode", which hides the tabs and title bar.

Command name: toggleFocusMode

Default binding:

{ "command": "toggleFocusMode" }

Toggle always on top mode

This allows you toggle the "always on top" state of the window. When in "always on top" mode, the window will appear on top of all other non-topmost windows.

Command name: toggleAlwaysOnTop

Default binding:

{ "command": "toggleAlwaysOnTop" }

Send input

Send arbitrary text input to the shell. As an example the input "text\n" will write "text" followed by a newline to the shell.

ANSI escape sequences may be used, but escape codes like \x1b must be written as \u001b. For instance "\u001b[A" will behave as if the up arrow button had been pressed.

Command name: sendInput

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

{ "command": { "action": "sendInput", "input": "\u001b[A" }, "keys": "" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
input Required String The text input to feed into the shell.

Tab management commands

Close tab

This closes the tab at a given index. If no index is provided, use the focused tab's index.

Command name: closeTab

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
index Optional Integer Position of the tab to close.

Close all other tabs

This closes all tabs except for the one at an index. If no index is provided, use the focused tab's index.

Command name: closeOtherTabs

Default binding:

{ "command": "closeOtherTabs" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
index Optional Integer Position of the tab to be kept open.

Close tabs after index

This closes the tabs following the tab at an index. If no index is provided, use the focused tab's index.

Command name: closeTabsAfter

Default binding:

{ "command": "closeTabsAfter" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
index Optional Integer Position of the last tab to be kept open.

Duplicate tab

This makes a copy of the current tab's profile and directory and opens it. This does not include modified/added ENV VARIABLES.

Command name: duplicateTab

Default binding:

{ "command": "duplicateTab", "keys": "ctrl+shift+d" }

New tab

This creates a new tab. Without any arguments, this will open the default profile in a new tab. If an index is not specified, the default profile's equivalent setting will be used. If the index doesn't map to a profile, the keys are passed directly to the terminal (or ignored if no keys were used to invoke the action).

Command name: newTab

Default bindings:

{ "command": "newTab", "keys": "ctrl+shift+t" },
{ "command": { "action": "newTab", "index": 0 }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+1" },
{ "command": { "action": "newTab", "index": 1 }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+2" },
{ "command": { "action": "newTab", "index": 2 }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+3" },
{ "command": { "action": "newTab", "index": 3 }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+4" },
{ "command": { "action": "newTab", "index": 4 }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+5" },
{ "command": { "action": "newTab", "index": 5 }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+6" },
{ "command": { "action": "newTab", "index": 6 }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+7" },
{ "command": { "action": "newTab", "index": 7 }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+8" },
{ "command": { "action": "newTab", "index": 8 }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+9" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
commandline Optional Executable file name as a string Executable run within the tab.
startingDirectory Optional Folder location as a string Directory in which the tab will open.
elevate Optional true, false, null Overrides the elevate property of the profile. When omitted, this action will behave according to the profile's elevate setting. When set to true or false, this action will behave as though the profile was set with "elevate": true or "elevate": false (respectively).
tabTitle Optional String Title of the new tab.
index Optional Integer Profile that will open based on its position in the dropdown (starting at 0).
profile Optional Profile's name or GUID as a string Profile that will open based on its GUID or name.
colorScheme Optional The name of a color scheme as a string The scheme to use instead of the profile's set colorScheme
suppressApplicationTitle Optional true, false When set to false, applications can change the tab title by sending title change messages. When set to true, these messages are suppressed. If not provided, the behavior is inherited from the profile's settings. In order to enter a new tab title and have that title persist, this must be set to true.

Open next tab

This opens the tab to the right of the current one.

Command name: nextTab

Default binding:

{ "command": "nextTab", "keys": "ctrl+tab" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
tabSwitcherMode Optional "mru", "inOrder", "disabled" Move to the next tab using "tabSwitcherMode". If no mode is provided, use the globally defined one.

Open previous tab

This opens the tab to the left of the current one.

Command name: prevTab

Default binding:

{ "command": "prevTab", "keys": "ctrl+shift+tab" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
tabSwitcherMode Optional "mru", "inOrder", "disabled" Move to the previous tab using "tabSwitcherMode". If no mode is provided, use the globally defined one.

This opens the tab search box.

Command name: tabSearch

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

{"command": "tabSearch", "keys": ""}

Windows Terminal tab search

Open a specific tab

This opens a specific tab depending on the index.

Command name: switchToTab

Default bindings:

{ "command": { "action": "switchToTab", "index": 0 }, "keys": "ctrl+alt+1" },
{ "command": { "action": "switchToTab", "index": 1 }, "keys": "ctrl+alt+2" },
{ "command": { "action": "switchToTab", "index": 2 }, "keys": "ctrl+alt+3" },
{ "command": { "action": "switchToTab", "index": 3 }, "keys": "ctrl+alt+4" },
{ "command": { "action": "switchToTab", "index": 4 }, "keys": "ctrl+alt+5" },
{ "command": { "action": "switchToTab", "index": 5 }, "keys": "ctrl+alt+6" },
{ "command": { "action": "switchToTab", "index": 6 }, "keys": "ctrl+alt+7" },
{ "command": { "action": "switchToTab", "index": 7 }, "keys": "ctrl+alt+8" },
{ "command": { "action": "switchToTab", "index": 8 }, "keys": "ctrl+alt+9" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
index Required Integer Tab that will open based on its position in the tab bar (starting at 0).

Rename tab

This command can be used to rename a tab to a specific string.

Command name: renameTab

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

// Rename a tab to "Foo"
{ "command": { "action": "renameTab", "title": "Foo" }, "keys": "" }

// Reset the tab's name
{ "command": { "action": "renameTab", "title": null }, "keys": "" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
title Optional String The new title to use for this tab. If omitted, this command will revert the tab title back to its original value.

Open tab rename text box

This command changes the tab title into a text field that lets you edit the title for the current tab. Clearing the text field will reset the tab title back to the default for the current shell instance.

Command name: openTabRenamer

Default binding:

{ "command": "openTabRenamer" }

Change tab color

This command can be used to change the color of a tab to a specific value.

Command name: setTabColor

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

// Change the tab's color to a bright magenta
{ "command": { "action": "setTabColor", "color": "#ff00ff" }, "keys": "" }

// Reset the tab's color
{ "command": { "action": "setTabColor", "color": null }, "keys": "" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
color Optional String, in hex format: "#rgb" or "#rrggbb" The new color to use for this tab. If omitted, this command will revert the tab's color back to its original value.

Open tab color picker

This command can be used to open the color picker for the active tab. The color picker can be used to set a color for the tab at runtime.

Command name: openTabColorPicker

Default binding:

{ "command": "openTabColorPicker" }

Move tab

This command moves the tab "backward" and "forward", which is equivalent to "left" and "right" in left-to-right UI.

Command name: moveTab

Default binding:

// Move tab backward (left in LTR)
{ "command": { "action": "moveTab", "direction": "backward" } }

// Move tab forward (right in LTR)
{ "command": { "action": "moveTab", "direction": "forward" } }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
direction Required "backward", "forward" Direction in which the tab will move.

Broadcast input

This command will toggle "broadcast mode" for a pane. When broadcast mode is enabled, all input sent to the pane will be sent to all panes in the same tab. This is useful for sending the same input to multiple panes at once.

Command name: toggleBroadcastInput

Default binding:

{ "command": "toggleBroadcastInput" }

Important

This feature is only available in Windows Terminal Preview.

Open context menu

This command will open the "right-click" context menu for the active pane. This menu has context-relevant actions for managing panes, copying and pasting, and more. This action does not require the experimental.rightClickContextMenu setting to be enabled.

Command name: showContextMenu

Default binding:

{ "command": "showContextMenu" }

Open about dialog

This command will open the about dialog for the terminal. This dialog contains information about the terminal, including the version number, the license, and more.

Command name: openAbout

Default binding:

{ "command": "openAbout" }

Important

This feature is only available in Windows Terminal Preview.

Search the web

Attempts to open a browser window with a search for the selected text. This does nothing if there's no text selected. If the queryUrl parameter is not provided, the searchWebDefaultQueryUrl setting will be used instead. If the queryUrl parameter is provided, a %s in the string will be replaced by the selected text.

Command name: searchWeb

Default binding:

{ "command": { "action": "searchWeb" } },

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
queryUrl Required String URL to use to search with. A %s in this string will be replaced by the selected text. If omitted, will default to the searchWebDefaultQueryUrl setting.

Important

This feature is only available in Windows Terminal Preview.


Window management commands

New window

This creates a new window. Without any arguments, this will open the default profile in a new window (regardless of the setting of windowingBehavior). If an action is not specified, the default profile's equivalent setting will be used.

Command name: newWindow

Default bindings:

{ "command": "newWindow", "keys": "ctrl+shift+n" },

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
commandline Optional Executable file name as a string Executable run within the tab.
startingDirectory Optional Folder location as a string Directory in which the window will open.
tabTitle Optional String Title of the window tab.
index Optional Integer Profile that will open based on its position in the dropdown (starting at 0).
profile Optional Profile's name or GUID as a string Profile that will open based on its GUID or name.
suppressApplicationTitle Optional true, false When set to false allows applications to change tab title by sending title change messages. When set to true true suppresses these messages. If not provided, the behavior is inherited from profile settings.

Rename window

This command can be used to rename a window to a specific string.

Command name: renameWindow

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

// Rename a window to "Foo"
{ "command": { "action": "renameWindow", "name": "Foo" }, "keys": "" }

// Reset the window's name
{ "command": { "action": "renameWindow", "name": null }, "keys": "" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
name Optional String The new name to use for this window. If omitted, this command will revert the window name back to its original value.

Open window rename dialog

This command changes displays a popup window that lets you edit the name for the current window. Clearing the text field will reset the window name.

Command name: openWindowRenamer

Default binding:

{ "command": "openWindowRenamer" }

Identify window

This pops up an overlay on the focused window that displays the window's name and index.

Command name: identifyWindow

Default binding:

{"command": "identifyWindow", "keys": "" },

Identify windows

This pops up an overlay on all windows that displays each window's name and index.

Command name: identifyWindows

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

{"command": "identifyWindows" },

Pane management commands

Split a pane

This halves the size of the active pane and opens another. Without any arguments, this will open the default profile in the new pane. If an action is not specified, the default profile's equivalent setting will be used.

Command name: splitPane

Default bindings:

// In settings.json
{ "command": { "action": "splitPane", "split": "auto", "splitMode": "duplicate" }, "keys": "alt+shift+d" },

// In defaults.json
{ "command": { "action": "splitPane", "split": "horizontal" }, "keys": "alt+shift+-" },
{ "command": { "action": "splitPane", "split": "vertical" }, "keys": "alt+shift+plus" },
{ "command": { "action": "splitPane", "split": "up" } },
{ "command": { "action": "splitPane", "split": "right" } },
{ "command": { "action": "splitPane", "split": "down" } },
{ "command": { "action": "splitPane", "split": "left" } }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
split Required "vertical", "horizontal", "auto", "up", "right", "down", "left" How the pane will split. "auto" will split in the direction that provides the most surface area.
commandline Optional Executable file name as a string Executable run within the pane.
startingDirectory Optional Folder location as a string Directory in which the pane will open.
elevate Optional true, false, null Overrides the elevate property of the profile. When omitted, this action will behave according to the profile's elevate setting. When set to true or false, this action will behave as though the profile was set with "elevate": true or "elevate": false (respectively).
tabTitle Optional String Title of the tab when the new pane is focused.
index Optional Integer Profile that will open based on its position in the dropdown (starting at 0).
profile Optional Profile's name or GUID as a string Profile that will open based on its GUID or name.
colorScheme Optional The name of a color scheme as a string The scheme to use instead of the profile's set colorScheme
suppressApplicationTitle Optional true, false When set to false, applications can change the tab title by sending title change messages. When set to true, these messages are suppressed. If not provided, the behavior is inherited from the profile's settings.
splitMode Optional "duplicate" Controls how the pane splits. Only accepts "duplicate", which will duplicate the focused pane's profile into a new pane.
size Optional Float Specify how large the new pane should be, as a fraction of the current pane's size. 1.0 would be "all of the current pane", and 0.0 is "None of the parent". Defaults to 0.5.

Close pane

This closes the active pane. If there aren't any split panes, this will close the current tab. If there is only one tab open, this will close the window.

Command name: closePane

Default binding:

{ "command": "closePane", "keys": "ctrl+shift+w" }

Move pane focus

This changes focus to a different pane depending on the direction. Setting the direction to "previous" will move focus to the most recently used pane.

Command name: moveFocus

Default bindings:

{ "command": { "action": "moveFocus", "direction": "down" }, "keys": "alt+down" },
{ "command": { "action": "moveFocus", "direction": "left" }, "keys": "alt+left" },
{ "command": { "action": "moveFocus", "direction": "right" }, "keys": "alt+right" },
{ "command": { "action": "moveFocus", "direction": "up" }, "keys": "alt+up" },
{ "command": { "action": "moveFocus", "direction": "previous" }, "keys": "ctrl+alt+left" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
direction Required "left", "right", "up", "down", "previous", "previousInOrder", "nextInOrder", "first", "parent", "child" Direction in which the focus will move.

Accepted direction values

  • up, down, left, or right move focus in the given direction.
  • first moves focus to the first leaf pane in the tree.
  • previous moves the focus to the most recently used pane before the current pane.
  • nextInOrder, previousInOrder moves the focus to the next or previous pane in order of creation.
  • parent moves the focus to select the parent pane of the current pane. This enables the user to select multiple panes at once
  • child moves the focus to the first child pane of this pane.

Move pane

Move the currently active pane to a different tab in the window.

Command name: movePane

Default bindings: (none)

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
index Required number The zero-indexed index of the tab to move to

Swap panes

Swap the position of two panes in a tab. This operates on the active pane, and a target pane, as designated by the direction parameter.

Command name: moveFocus

Default bindings:

{ "command": { "action": "swapPane", "direction": "down" } },
{ "command": { "action": "swapPane", "direction": "left" } },
{ "command": { "action": "swapPane", "direction": "right" } },
{ "command": { "action": "swapPane", "direction": "up" } },
{ "command": { "action": "swapPane", "direction": "previous"} },
{ "command": { "action": "swapPane", "direction": "previousInOrder"} },
{ "command": { "action": "swapPane", "direction": "nextInOrder"} },
{ "command": { "action": "swapPane", "direction": "first" } },

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
direction Required "left", "right", "up", "down", "previous", "previousInOrder", "nextInOrder", "first", "parent", "child" Direction in which the focus will move.

Accepted direction values (these are the same values as the moveFocus command)

  • up, down, left, or right: Swap the active pane with the one in the given direction.
  • first: Swap the active pane with the first leaf pane in the tree.
  • previous: Swap the active pane with the most recently used pane before the current pane.
  • nextInOrder, previousInOrder: Swap the active pane with the next or previous pane in order of creation.
  • parent: Does nothing.
  • child: Does nothing.

Zoom a pane

This expands the focused pane to fill the entire contents of the window.

Command name: togglePaneZoom

Default binding:

{ "command": "togglePaneZoom" }

Windows Terminal toggle pane zoom

Resize a pane

This changes the size of the active pane.

Command name: resizePane

Default bindings:

{ "command": { "action": "resizePane", "direction": "down" }, "keys": "alt+shift+down" },
{ "command": { "action": "resizePane", "direction": "left" }, "keys": "alt+shift+left" },
{ "command": { "action": "resizePane", "direction": "right" }, "keys": "alt+shift+right" },
{ "command": { "action": "resizePane", "direction": "up" }, "keys": "alt+shift+up" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
direction Required "left", "right", "up", "down" Direction in which the pane will be resized.

Mark a pane as read-only

You can mark a pane as read-only, which will prevent input from going into the text buffer. If you attempt to close or input text into a read-only pane, the terminal will display a popup warning instead.

Command name: toggleReadOnlyMode

Default bindings:

{ "command": "toggleReadOnlyMode" }

You can enable read-only mode on a pane. This works similarly to toggling, however, will not switch state if triggered again.

Command name: enableReadOnlyMode

Default bindings:

{ "command": "enableReadOnlyMode" }

You can disable read-only mode on a pane. This works similarly to toggling, however, will not switch state if triggered again.

Command name: disableReadOnlyMode

Default bindings:

{ "command": "disableReadOnlyMode" }

Restart a pane

This command will manually restart the commandline in the active pane. This is especially useful for scenarios like ssh, where you might want to restart a connection without closing the pane.

Note that this will terminate the process in the pane, if it is currently running.

Command name: restartConnection

Default binding:

{ "command": "restartConnection" }

Clipboard integration commands

Copy

This copies the selected terminal content to your clipboard. If no selection exists, the key chord is sent directly to the terminal.

Command name: copy

Default bindings:

// In settings.json
{ "command": { "action": "copy", "singleLine": false }, "keys": "ctrl+c" },

// In defaults.json
{ "command": { "action": "copy", "singleLine": false }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+c" },
{ "command": { "action": "copy", "singleLine": false }, "keys": "ctrl+insert" },
{ "command": { "action": "copy", "singleLine": false }, "keys": "enter" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
singleLine Optional true, false When true, the copied content will be copied as a single line. When false, newlines persist from the selected text.
copyFormatting Optional true, false, "all", "none", "html", "rtf" When true, the color and font formatting of the selected text is also copied to your clipboard. When false, only plain text is copied to your clipboard. You can also specify which formats you would like to copy. When null, the global "copyFormatting" behavior is inherited.

Paste

This inserts the content that was copied onto the clipboard.

Command name: paste

Default bindings:

// In settings.json
{ "command": "paste", "keys": "ctrl+v" },

// In defaults.json
{ "command": "paste", "keys": "ctrl+shift+v" },
{ "command": "paste", "keys": "shift+insert" }

Expand selection to word

If a selection exists, this expands the selection to fully encompass any words partially selected.

Command name: expandSelectionToWord

Default bindings:

{ "command": "expandSelectionToWord" }

Select all

This selects all of the content in the text buffer.

Command name: selectAll

Default bindings:

{ "command": "selectAll", "keys": "ctrl+shift+a" }

Mark mode

This toggles mark mode. Mark mode is a mode where you can use the keyboard to create a selection at the cursor's position in the terminal.

Command name: markMode

Default bindings:

{ "command": "markMode", "keys": "ctrl+shift+m" },

Switch selection marker

When modifying a selection using the keyboard, you are moving one end of the selection around. You can use this action to switch to the other selection marker.

Command name: switchSelectionEndpoint

Default bindings:

{ "command": "switchSelectionEndpoint" },

Toggle block selection

Makes the exisiting selection a block selection, meaning that the selected area is a rectangle, as opposed to wrapping to the beginning and end of each line.

Command name: toggleBlockSelection

Default bindings:

{ "command": "toggleBlockSelection" },

Scrollback commands

Scroll up

This scrolls the screen up by the number of rows defined by "rowsToScroll". If "rowsToScroll" is not provided, it will scroll up the amount defined by the system default, which is the same amount as mouse scrolling.

Command name: scrollUp

Default binding:

{ "command": "scrollUp", "keys": "ctrl+shift+up" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
rowsToScroll Optional Integer The number of rows to scroll.

Scroll down

This scrolls the screen down by the number of rows defined by "rowsToScroll". If "rowsToScroll" is not provided, it will scroll down the amount defined by the system default, which is the same amount as mouse scrolling.

Command name: scrollDown

Default binding:

{ "command": "scrollDown", "keys": "ctrl+shift+down" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
rowsToScroll Optional Integer The number of rows to scroll.

Scroll up a whole page

This scrolls the screen up by a whole page, which is the height of the window.

Command name: scrollUpPage

Default binding:

{ "command": "scrollUpPage", "keys": "ctrl+shift+pgup" }

Scroll down a whole page

This scrolls the screen down by a whole page, which is the height of the window.

Command name: scrollDownPage

Default binding:

{ "command": "scrollDownPage", "keys": "ctrl+shift+pgdn" }

Scroll to the earliest history

This scrolls the screen up to the top of the input buffer.

Command name: scrollToTop

Default binding:

{ "command": "scrollToTop", "keys": "ctrl+shift+home" }

Scroll to the latest history

This scrolls the screen down to the bottom of the input buffer.

Command name: scrollToBottom

Default binding:

{ "command": "scrollToBottom", "keys": "ctrl+shift+end" }

Clear buffer

This action can be used to manually clear the terminal buffer. This is useful for scenarios where you're not sitting at a command-line shell prompt and can't easily run Clear-Host/cls/clear.

Command name: clearBuffer

Default bindings:

{ "command": { "action": "clearBuffer", "clear": "all" } }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
clear Optional "screen", "scrollback", "all" What part of the screen to clear.
  • "screen": Clear the terminal viewport content. Leaves the scrollback untouched. Moves the cursor row to the top of the viewport (unmodified).
  • "scrollback": Clear the scrollback. Leaves the viewport untouched.
  • "all" (default): Clear the scrollback and the visible viewport. Moves the cursor row to the top of the viewport.

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Visual adjustment commands

Adjust font size

This changes the text size by a specified point amount.

Command name: adjustFontSize

Default bindings:

{ "command": { "action": "adjustFontSize", "delta": 1 }, "keys": "ctrl+=" },
{ "command": { "action": "adjustFontSize", "delta": -1 }, "keys": "ctrl+-" },
{ "command": { "action": "adjustFontSize", "delta": 1 }, "keys": "ctrl+numpad_plus" },
{ "command": { "action": "adjustFontSize", "delta": -1 }, "keys": "ctrl+numpad_minus" }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
delta Required Integer Amount of size change per command invocation.

Reset font size

This resets the text size to the default value.

Command name: resetFontSize

Default bindings:

{ "command": "resetFontSize", "keys": "ctrl+0" },
{ "command": "resetFontSize", "keys": "ctrl+numpad_0" }

Adjust opacity

This changes the opacity of the window. If relative is set to true, it will adjust the opacity relative to the current opacity. Otherwise, it will set the opacity directly to the given opacity

Command name: adjustOpacity

Default bindings:

{ "command": { "action": "adjustOpacity", "relative": false, "opacity": 0 } },
{ "command": { "action": "adjustOpacity", "relative": false, "opacity": 25 } },
{ "command": { "action": "adjustOpacity", "relative": false, "opacity": 50 } },
{ "command": { "action": "adjustOpacity", "relative": false, "opacity": 100 } }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
opacity Optional Integer How opaque the terminal should become or how much the opacity should be changed by, depending on the value of relative
relative Optional Boolean If true, then adjust the current opacity by the given opacity parameter. If false, set the opacity to exactly that value.

Toggle pixel shader effects

This toggles any pixel shader effects enabled in the terminal. If the user specified a valid shader with experimental.pixelShaderPath, this action will toggle that shader on/off. This will also toggle the "retro terminal effect", which is enabled with the profile setting experimental.retroTerminalEffect.

Command name: toggleShaderEffects

Default binding:

{ "command": "toggleShaderEffects" }

Caution

The toggleRetroEffect action is no longer available in versions 1.6 and later. It is recommended that you use toggleShaderEffects instead.

Set the color scheme

Changes the active color scheme.

Command name: setColorScheme

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
colorScheme Required String The name of the color scheme to apply.

Example binding:

{ "command": { "action": "setColorScheme", "colorScheme": "Campbell" }, "keys": "" }

Experimental add scroll mark

Adds a scroll mark to the text buffer. If there's a selection, the mark is placed at the selection, otherwise it's placed at the cursor row. This is an experimental feature, and its continued existence is not guaranteed.

Command name: addMark

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
color Optional String, in hex format: "#rgb" or "#rrggbb" The color of the mark.

Example binding:

{ "command": { "action": "addMark", "color": "#ff00ff" } }

Experimental scroll to mark

Scrolls to the scroll mark in the given direction. This is an experimental feature, and its continued existence is not guaranteed.

Command name: scrollToMark

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
direction Required "first", "previous", "next", "last" The direction in which to scroll.

Example binding:

{ "command": { "action": "scrollToMark", "direction": "previous" } }

Experimental clear mark

Clears scroll mark at the current position, either at a selection if there is one or at the cursor position. This is an experimental feature, and its continued existence is not guaranteed.

Command name: clearMark

Example binding:

{ "command": { "action": "clearMark" } }

Experimental clear all marks

Clears all scroll marks in the text buffer. This is an experimental feature, and its continued existence is not guaranteed.

Command name: clearAllMarks

Example binding:

{ "command": { "action": "clearAllMarks" } }

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Suggestions

Open suggestions menu

This allows the user to open the suggestions menu. The entries in the suggestions menu are controlled by the source property. The suggestions menu behaves much like the command palette. Typing in the text box will filter the results to only show entries that match the text. Pressing enter will execute the selected entry. Pressing esc will close the menu.

Suggestions UI

Command name: openSuggestions

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
source Required any number of "recentCommands", "tasks", or "all" Which suggestion sources to use to populate this menu. See below for a description of each.
useCommandline Optional Boolean If shell integration is enabled, and this is true, the suggestions menu will be pre-populated with the contents of the current commandline. Defaults to true

Suggestion sources

The following suggestion sources are supported:

  • "recentCommands": This will populate the suggestions menu with the most recently used commands. These are powered by shell integration, so they will only be available if you have your shell configured to support shell integration. See Shell Integration for more information.
  • "tasks": This will populate the suggestions menu with all of the sendInput actions from your settings.
  • "all": Use all suggestion sources.

These values can be used by themselves as a string parameter value, or combined as an array. For example:

{ "command": { "action": "openSuggestions", "source": ["recentCommands", "tasks"] } },
{ "command": { "action": "openSuggestions", "source": "all" } },
{ "command": { "action": "openSuggestions", "source": "recentCommands" } },

In the above example, the first two commands will open the suggestions menu with both recent commands and tasks. The third command will open the suggestions menu with only recent commands.

Important

This feature is only available in Windows Terminal Preview.


___

Buffer exporting

Export buffer

This allows the user to export the text of the buffer to a file. If the file doesn't exist, it will be created. If the file already exists, its contents will be replaced with the Terminal buffer text.

Command name: exportBuffer

Default bindings:

{ "command": { "action": "exportBuffer" } }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
path Optional String If provided, then the Terminal will export the buffer contents to the given file. Otherwise, the terminal will open a file picker to choose the file to export to.

___

Global commands

Global summon

This is a special action that works globally in the OS, rather than only in the context of the terminal window. When pressed, this action will summon the terminal window. Which window is summoned, where the window is summoned to, and how the window behaves when summoning it, is controlled by the properties on this action.

Notes

  • Any keys bound to globalSummon actions in the terminal will not work in other applications while the terminal is running - they will always focus the terminal window.

  • If another running application already registered for the given keys using the RegisterHotKey API, the terminal will be unable to listen for those key strokes.

  • Elevated and unelevated instances of the terminal will not be able to both register for the same keys. The same applies to both Preview and Stable versions of the terminal - the first one to be launched will always win.

  • These key strokes will only work when an instance of the terminal is already running. To launch the terminal automatically on login, see startOnUserLogin.

Command name: globalSummon

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

{ "keys": "", "command": { "action": "globalSummon" } }

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
desktop Optional any, toCurrent, onCurrent This controls how the terminal should interact with virtual desktops.
  • "any": Leave the window on whichever desktop it's already on - will switch to that desktop as the window is activated.
  • "toCurrent" (default): Move the window to the current virtual desktop.
  • "onCurrent": Only summon the window if it's already on the current virtual desktop.
monitor Optional any, toCurrent, toMouse This controls the monitor that the window will be summoned from/to.
  • "any": Summon the most recently used window, regardless of which monitor it's currently on.
  • "toCurrent": Summon the most recently used window to the monitor with the current foreground window.
  • "toMouse" (default): Summon the most recently used window to the monitor where the mouse cursor is.
name Optional String When omitted (default), use monitor and desktop to find the appropriate most-recently-used window to summon. When provided, summon the window whose name or ID matches the given name value. If no such window exists, then create a new window with that name.
dropdownDuration Optional Integer Defaults to 0. When provided with a positive number, "slide" the window in from the top of the screen using an animation that lasts dropdownDuration milliseconds. 200 is a reasonable value for this setting.
toggleVisibility Optional true, false Defaults to true. When true, pressing the assigned keys for this action will dismiss (minimize) the window when the window is currently the foreground window. When false, pressing the assigned keys will only ever bring the window to the foreground.

When name is provided with monitor or desktop, name behaves in the following ways:

  • desktop
    • "any": Go to the desktop the given window is already on.
    • "toCurrent": If the window is on another virtual desktop, then move it to the currently active one.
    • "onCurrent": If the window is on another virtual desktop, then move it to the currently active one.
  • monitor
    • "any": Leave the window on the monitor it is already on.
    • "toCurrent": If the window is on another monitor, then move it to the monitor with the current foreground window.
    • "toMouse": If the window is on another monitor, then move it to the monitor with the mouse cursor on it.

The desktop and monitor properties can be combined in the following ways:

Combinations "desktop": "any" "desktop": "toCurrent" "desktop": "onCurrent" Not included
"monitor": "any" Go to the desktop the window is on (leave position alone) Move the window to this desktop (leave position alone) If there isn't one on this desktop:
  • Create a new one in the default position
Else:
  • Activate the one on this desktop (don't move it)
 Summon the MRU window
"monitor": "toCurrent" Go to the desktop the window is on, move to the monitor with the foreground window Move the window to this desktop, move to the monitor with the foreground window If there isn't one on this desktop:
  • Create a new one
Else:
  • Activate the one on this desktop, move to the monitor with the foreground window
 Summon the MRU window TO the monitor with the foreground window
"monitor": "toMouse" Go to the desktop the window is on, move to the monitor with the mouse Move the window to this desktop, move to the monitor with the mouse If there isn't one on this desktop:
  • Create a new one
Else:
  • Activate the one on this desktop, move to the monitor with the mouse
 Summon the MRU window TO the monitor with the mouse
Not included Leave where it is Move to current desktop On current desktop only N/A

Examples


// Summon the most recently used (MRU) window, to the current virtual desktop,
// to the monitor the mouse cursor is on, without an animation. If the window is
// already in the foreground, then minimize it.
{ "keys": "ctrl+1", "command": { "action": "globalSummon" } },

// Summon the MRU window, by going to the virtual desktop the window is
// currently on. Move the window to the monitor the mouse is on.
{ "keys": "ctrl+2", "command": { "action": "globalSummon", "desktop": "any" } },

// Summon the MRU window to the current desktop, leaving the position of the window untouched.
{ "keys": "ctrl+3", "command": { "action": "globalSummon", "monitor": "any" } },

// Summon the MRU window, by going to the virtual desktop the window is
// currently on, leaving the position of the window untouched.
{ "keys": "ctrl+4", "command": { "action": "globalSummon", "desktop": "any", "monitor": "any" } },

// Summon the MRU window with a dropdown duration of 200ms.
{ "keys": "ctrl+5", "command": { "action": "globalSummon", "dropdownDuration": 200 } },

// Summon the MRU window. If the window is already in the foreground, do nothing.
{ "keys": "ctrl+6", "command": { "action": "globalSummon", "toggleVisibility": false } },

// Summon the window named "_quake". If no window with that name exists, then create a new window.
{ "keys": "ctrl+7", "command": { "action": "globalSummon", "name": "_quake" } }

Open the quake mode window

This action is a special variation of the globalSummon action. It specifically summons the quake window. It is a shorthand for the following globalSummon action:

{
"keys": "win+`",
"command": {
"action": "globalSummon",
"name": "_quake",
"dropdownDuration": 200,
"toggleVisibility": true,
"monitor": "toMouse",
"desktop": "toCurrent"
}
}

If you'd like to change the behavior of the quakeMode action, we recommended creating a new globalSummon entry in actions with the settings you prefer.

Command name: quakeMode

Default binding:

{ "keys": "win+`", "command": { "action": "quakeMode" } }

Windows Terminal quake mode


Run multiple actions

This action allows the user to bind multiple sequential actions to one command.

Command name: multipleActions

Parameters

Name Necessity Accepts Description
actions Required Array of Actions The list of action to run.

Example

{ "name": "Create My Layout", "command": {
    "action": "multipleActions",
    "actions": [
        // Create a new tab with 3 panes
        { "action": "newTab", "tabTitle": "Work", "colorScheme": "One Half Dark" },
        { "action": "splitPane", "split": "vertical", "profile": "Windows PowerShell", "tabTitle": "Work", "colorScheme": "Campbell Powershell", },
        { "action": "splitPane", "split": "horizontal", "profile": "Windows PowerShell", "tabTitle": "Work", "colorScheme": "Campbell Powershell", },

        // Create a second tab
        { "action": "newTab", "tabTitle": "Misc"},

        // Go back to the first tab and zoom the first pane
        { "action": "prevTab", "tabSwitcherMode": "disabled" },
        { "action": "moveFocus", "direction": "first"},
        "togglePaneZoom"
        ]
}}

Unbind keys (disable keybindings)

You can disable keybindings or "unbind" the associated keys from any command. This may be necessary when using underlying terminal applications (such as VIM). The unbound key will pass to the underlying terminal.

Command name: unbound

Example using unbound:

For example, to unbind the shortcut keys Alt+Shift+-" and Alt+Shift+=", include these commands in the actions section of your settings.json file.

{
    "actions": [
        { "command": "unbound", "keys": "alt+shift+-" },
        { "command": "unbound", "keys": "alt+shift+=" }
    ]
}

Example using null:

You can also unbind a keystroke that is bound by default to an action by setting "command" to null. This will also allow the keystroke to associate with the command line application setting instead of performing the default action.

{
   "command" : null, "keys" : ["ctrl+v"]
},

Use-case scenario:

Windows Terminal uses the shortcut key binding Ctrl+V as the paste command. When working with a WSL command line, you may want to use a Linux application such as Vim to edit files. However, Vim relies on the Ctrl+V key binding to use blockwise Visual mode. This key binding will be blocked, with the Windows Terminal paste command taking priority, unless the unbound setting is adjusted in your settings.json file so that the key binding will associate with the Vim command line app, rather than with the Windows Terminal binding.