Commands

Commands is a VS Code extension that opens a terminal in the editor area with a command of your choice. This makes your terminal a first-class citizen next to your files, not tucked away in the panel or sidebar.

What it does

• Launches a terminal in the editor area and runs a preset command immediately.
• Lets you customize presets (nickname, command, icon) and hide/show status bar buttons.
• Ships with quick presets for Claude, Codex, and Gemini.
• Includes a Quick Pick command for fast launching.

Where to find it

Open the activity bar (the vertical strip of icons on the far left edge of the window). It usually contains:

• Explorer (files)
• Search
• Source Control
• Run & Debug
• Extensions

You will see a Commands icon there. Open it to access your presets.

Commands

• Commands: Edit Presets
• Commands: Pick Preset

Screenshots

Activity bar view:

Terminal in the editor area:

Preset editor:

Preset settings

Presets live in settings.json under commands.presets. Each preset supports:

• nickname (displayed name)
• command (shell command to run)
• icon (asset: name, codicon: name, or file path)
• enabled (show/hide preset)
• showInStatusBar (show/hide status bar button)
• statusBarColor (optional status bar text color)

Example:

"commands.presets": [
  {
    "id": "claude",
    "nickname": "Claude",
    "command": "claude",
    "icon": "asset:claude",
    "enabled": true,
    "showInStatusBar": true
  }
]

Theme-aware icons

If you add theme-aware assets, place name-light.svg and name-dark.svg in media/ and use asset:name.

License

MIT