Visual Studio Code Terminal Profile Usage Instructions

Visual Studio Code Terminal Profiles

Terminal profiles are not stored in a separate file, but in the setting item terminal.integrated.profiles.<platform> in the Visual Studio Code settings file settings.json, where platform is the operating system, which can be linux, windows or osx. This allows developers to customize Terminal differently for different operating systems Linux/Windows/macOS.

The setting item terminal.integrated.profiles.<platform> is an object containing the terminal profile for the corresponding operating system. The name of the object’s properties is the name of the terminal profile, and the value (also an object) of the object’s properties is the contents of the terminal profile.

{
	// Terminal profiles on Windows Systems
	"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
		// Terminal profile A Shell
		"A Shell": {
			"path": "<Path information for the shell program>",
		},
	},
}

Visual Studio Code Built-in Terminal Profiles

By default, the Visual Studio Code workspace or the user settings file settings.json may not contain the setting item terminal.integrated.profiles.<platform>, but this does not affect the normal use of Terminal, because Visual Studio Code automatically recognizes the command-line applications (shell programs) available on the current system and has some built-in terminal profiles.

New Visual Studio Code Terminal Profiles

When launching a new command-line application (shell program), if Visual Studio Code does not list the command-line application you expect, you can add a new property (setting item) to the setting item terminal.integrated.profiles.<platform> in the settings file settings.json to represent the new terminal profile, and point the terminal profile to the target command-line application.

Terminal profiles are represented in the settings file settings.json also as objects, which have the following two important properties (setting items).

path property

path can be the path or alias of the command-line application corresponding to the terminal profile. You need to make sure that Visual Studio Code or the operating system is able to locate the target command-line application based on the value of path and certain environment variables (such as PATH); otherwise, Visual Studio Code may not list that terminal profile in the user interface.

The path property can also be an array of paths or aliases to the command-line application that will be used to find the target command-line application in order of precedence.

source property

If path is not specified, then you can set the source property, which is only valid for the setting item terminal.integrated.profiles.windows and has only two valid values PowerShell and Git Bash, which indicate that using the built-in terminal profile PowerShell or Git Bash.

Although you are using the built-in terminal profile, you can overwrite certain properties, for example, by adding a valid path profile to specify the target command-line application.

{
	// Terminal profiles on Windows Systems
	"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
		// Terminal profile New PS
		"New PS": {
			// This will use the built-in terminal profile PowerShell
			"source": "PowerShell",
			// Overwrite the path property and start the Windows Command Prompt instead
			"path": "cmd",
		},
	},
}

Add Startup Arguments to Visual Studio Code Terminal

You can add startup arguments to command-line applications (shell programs) launched by Terminal through the property (setting item) args of the terminal profile, which is an array where each startup argument (name) or argument value corresponds to an element of the array.

{
	// Terminal profiles on Windows Systems
	"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
		// Terminal profile PS-parameters
		"PS-parameters": {
			// This will use the built-in terminal profile PowerShell
			"source": "PowerShell",
			// Add startup arguments for PowerShell
			"args": [
				// Startup argument -OutputFormat with the value XML
				"-OutputFormat", "XML",
			],
		},
	},
}

Manage Environment Variables in Visual Studio Code Terminal

The property (setting item) env of the terminal profile is an object that can be used to manage environment variables in the command-line application (shell program) launched by Terminal. The name of the property of this object is the name of the environment variable and the value of the property is the value of the environment variable. The environment variables contained in the env property will be added to the command-line application or overwrite environment variables of the same name in the command-line application. If you want to remove an environment variable that is already in the command-line application, set the value of its corresponding property in env to null.

{
	// Terminal profiles on Windows Systems
	"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
		// Terminal profile CMD-variables (may require restarting Visual Studio Code)
		"CMD-variables": {
			// Start the Windows Command Prompt
			"path": "cmd",
			"env": {
				// Change the existing environment variable OS
				"OS": "Hello world!",
				// Add a new environment variable OS_OTHER
				"OS_OTHER": "Hello other worlds!",
			}
		},
	},
}

# Command Prompt
echo %OS%
Hello world!
echo %OS_OTHER%
Hello other worlds!

{
	// Manage environment variables on the command line in Windows
	"terminal.integrated.env.windows": {
		// Delete the existing environment variable OS
		"OS": null,
		// Add a new environment variable OS_OTHER
		"OS_OTHER": "Other worlds!",
	},
	// Terminal profiles on Windows Systems
	"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
		// Terminal profile CMD-override (may require restarting Visual Studio Code)
		"CMD-override": {
			// Start the Windows Command Prompt
			"path": "cmd",
			"env": {
				// Re-add the deleted environment variable OS
				"OS": "Hello world!",
			}
		},
	},
}

# Command Prompt
echo %OS%
Hello world!
echo %OS_OTHER%
Other worlds!

Set the Name, Icon, Color of Visual Studio Code Terminal

The properties (setting items) icon and color of the terminal profile allow you to set the icon and the icon color of the command-line application (shell program) launched by Terminal. The property overrideName allows you to set whether the title of the command-line application launched by Terminal is changed to the name of the terminal profile, and if it is set to true (the default is false), the title is the name of the terminal profile.

{
	// Terminal profiles on Windows Systems
	"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
		// Terminal profile PS-customized
		"PS-customized": {
			// This will use the built-in terminal profile PowerShell
			"source": "PowerShell",
			// Replace the title of the command-line application with the name of the terminal profile PS-customized
			"overrideName": true,
			// Set the icon of the terminal
			"icon": "calendar",
			// Set the icon color of the terminal
			"color": "terminal.ansiGreen",
		},
	},
}

Set the Default Visual Studio Code Terminal Profile

With the setting item terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.<platform> (platform is one of linux, windows or osx), you can specify a default terminal profile for Visual Studio Code in a particular operating system, usually this means specifying the command-line application (or different startup arguments) that Terminal launches by default, and the value of this setting item can be the name of any valid terminal profile.

If the setting item terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.<platform> is ignored, or set to null, then Visual Studio Code will attempt to use the command-line application PowerShell on Windows systems, and the command-line application (shell program) specified by the environment variable SHELL (case-sensitive) on Linux/macOS systems.

{
	// Select PS-customized as the default terminal profile
	"terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "PS-customized",
}

Alternatively, you can set the default terminal profile by typing and executing the command Terminal: Select Default Profile in Command Panel or by clicking on the arrow button next to the plus button in the upper right corner of Terminal Panel and then selecting the menu item Select Default Profile, which will modify the user settings file.

Since the workspace settings file overrides the setting items in the user settings file, the above may not have the desired effect if you have specified the default terminal profile in the workspace settings file.

Set Visual Studio Code Terminal Profiles for Automation Features

Generally, automation features of Visual Studio Code (such as tasks and debugging) use the default terminal profile and launch the corresponding command-line application (shell program). You can specify the terminal profile used by automation features through the setting item terminal.integrated.automationProfile.<platform> (platform is one of windows, linux or osx).

The setting item terminal.integrated.automationProfile.<platform> is not a string representing the name of the terminal profile, but an object representing the contents of the terminal profile, which may contain the properties path, args, env, overrideName, icon, and color, but does not include the property source, it should be noted that some properties may not have the desired effect, such as icon and color, which may not be able to change the icon and icon color of a command-line application.

{
	// Set a terminal profile for automation features
	"terminal.integrated.automationProfile.windows": {
		// Start the Windows Command Prompt
		"path": "cmd",
		// Set the icon color of the terminal (may have no effect)
		"color": "terminal.ansiRed",
	},
}

Remove Visual Studio Code Terminal Profiles

If you want to remove a terminal profile, then you can set the value of its corresponding property in the setting item terminal.integrated.profiles.<platform> to null.

{
	// Terminal profiles on Windows Systems
	"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
		// Remove the terminal profile Command Prompt
		"Command Prompt": null,
	},
}

Source Code

settings.json·codebeatme/vscode·GitHub