nuTerminal

A minimal VS Code extension that adds a New Terminal in Editor button to the status bar — right next to the notification bell in the bottom-right corner. One click opens a fully functional terminal as a tab in the editor area, not the bottom panel.

---

Features

Feature	Detail
Status bar button	Appears in the bottom-right status bar, next to the notification bell
Editor panel terminal	Opens a terminal as a new editor tab, never a split
New terminal each click	Every click spawns a fresh terminal tab
Keyboard shortcut	Ctrl+Alt+N (Cmd+Alt+N on macOS)

---

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18+
• pnpm v9+
• Visual Studio Code v1.70+

Clone & Install

git clone https://github.com/necdetuygur/nuTerminal.git
cd nuTerminal
pnpm install

Run in Development

# Start TypeScript in watch mode (in a separate terminal)
pnpm run watch

# Open VS Code Extension Development Host
# Then press F5 inside VS Code

A new VS Code window (Extension Development Host) will open with the extension active. Click the terminal icon next to the notification bell in the bottom-right status bar or press Ctrl+Alt+N to launch a terminal in the editor area.

Build for Production

pnpm run compile

Package the Extension

pnpm run package
# Produces: nuterminal-vscode-1.0.2.vsix

Install the Packaged Extension

code --install-extension nuterminal-vscode-1.0.2.vsix

Total

code --uninstall-extension necdetuygur.nuterminal-vscode && pnpm run package && code --install-extension nuterminal-vscode-1.0.2.vsix

---

Keyboard Shortcut

Key	Action
Ctrl+Alt+N	Open new terminal in editor (Windows/Linux)
Cmd+Alt+N	Open new terminal in editor (macOS)

---

How It Works

1. The extension registers a command nuterminal.openInEditor and activates once VS Code finishes starting (onStartupFinished), with the command/keybinding (onCommand) as an additional trigger.
2. It creates a status bar item (aligned right) showing the default terminal icon, placed next to the notification bell in the bottom-right corner.
3. On click (or keybinding), it calls vscode.window.createTerminal() with { viewColumn: ViewColumn.Active }, so the terminal opens as a new tab in the active editor group — never as a split view.
4. Each click creates a brand-new terminal tab.

---

Project Structure

nuTerminal/
├── src/extension.ts          # Extension entry point
├── package.json              # Extension manifest + contributions
├── tsconfig.json             # TypeScript config
├── pnpm-lock.yaml            # Locked dependencies
├── .vscode/
│   ├── launch.json           # Debug launch config (F5)
│   └── tasks.json            # Build/watch tasks
├── .gitignore
└── README.md

---

License

MIT