Auto Terminal

There is a known bug effecting VSCode shell integration when using zsh on MacOS. To work around it set tab shell to bash in terminal.config.json

Run sets of terminal commands in bulk. Quickly set up terminal tabs, run command flows, navigate directories, and more

Usage

1. Open your workspace in VS Code.
2. Create a terminal.config.json file at the root of your workspace.
3. Open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + P)
4. Type Auto Terminal: Action and select an action

Terminal Configuration File

Start by defining terminal configurations, either:

• Create a terminal.config.json file at the root of your workspace
• Select a template file:
  • Open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + P)
  • Select Auto Terminal: Template

Example:

{
  // action name
  "setup": [
    {
      "tab": "frontend", // terminal tab name
      "commands": ["cd Frontend", "npm i", "clear", "code app/page.tsx"], // array of commands
      "header": "Frontend", // optional terminal header
      "icon": "branch", // optional tab icon
      "color": "pink", // optional icon color
    },
    {
      "tab": "backend",
      "commands": [
        "cd Backend",
        "source venv/bin/activate",
        "pip install -r requirements.txt",
        "clear"
      ],
      "description": "Install requirements.txt"
    }
  ],
  // If `Run Open Commands On Startup` is enabled, 
  // open action will run on workspace launch
  "open": [
    {
      "tab": "git",
      "commands": ["git branch", "*alert remember to create a branch],
    },
  ],
}

Terminal Configuration Templates

Add a template terminal.config.json file to your workspace:

1. Open the command palette
2. Type Auto Terminal: Template and select a template option

Add reusable custom templates:

1. Open your User settings (Ctrl/Cmd+ ,)
2. Search for Auto Terminal: Custom Templates
3. Add a new key-value pair to the customTemplates object, where the key is the template name and the value is the template itself

"autoTerminal.customTemplates": {
    "custom template name": {
      "actionName": [
        {
          "tab": "",
          "commands": [],
        }
      ],
      "actionName2": [
        {
          "tab": "",
          "commands": [],
        }
      ]
    }
  }

4. The custom template will now appear as an option when running command Auto Terminal: Template

Extra Settings

Auto Run Commands on Startup

When the Auto Terminal: Run Open Commands On Startup setting is enabled any commands specified inside the open action in your terminal.config.json file will be automatically executed when you open your workspace

Quick Run Actions From Terminal

When the Auto Terminal: Add Quick Run To Terminal setting is enabled a button to quickly run Auto Term: Action will be added to the terminal menu bar

To enable:

1. Open your workspace settings (Code/File > Preferences > Settings)
2. Search for Auto Terminal: Run Open Commands On Startup or Add Quick Run To Terminal
3. Check the box to enable the setting

Helper Commands

Helper commands that can be used to perform actions beyond standard command input. These always begin with *

Command	Description	Usage
*stop	Stops a running process	"commands": ["*stop"]
*close	Closes the terminal	"commands": ["*close"]
*focus	Focus on the Terminal	"commands": ["*focus"]
*delay	Delays next command	"commands": ["*delay 1000"]
*alert	Creates a notification	"commands": ["*alert remember to open PR"]
*cd	Change directory if not already in it. Fails gracefully if the directory does not exist	"commands": ["*cd path/to/directory"]
*echo	Send text to terminal.	"commands": ["*echo remember to pull changes"]

* there can only be 3 alert windows open at a time