Persisterm — Persistent Terminals for VS Code

Never lose a running process to an SSH disconnect again.

Persisterm backs every terminal with a tmux session. When your SSH connection drops (or you close VS Code), the tmux sessions keep running on the remote host. The next time you connect, the extension automatically detects the surviving sessions and re-creates terminal tabs that reattach to them — running processes, scroll-back, and all.

How it works

 VS Code Terminal tab       proxy       tmux session
┌─────────────────────┐   ┌───────┐   ┌──────────────────┐
│  Persist: 0         │◄─►│ proxy │◄─►│  persisterm-0    │
│  Persist: 1         │◄─►│ proxy │◄─►│  persisterm-1    │
└─────────────────────┘   └───────┘   └──────────────────┘
         │                                     │
    (disconnect)                          (keeps running)
         │                                     │
    (reconnect)                                │
         │                                     │
┌─────────────────────┐   ┌───────┐            │
│  Persist: 0 (with   │◄─►│ proxy │◄───────────┘
│   scrollback!)      │   └───────┘
└─────────────────────┘

A lightweight Python proxy bridges VS Code's terminal and tmux's control mode (-CC). Program output flows through VS Code's native terminal renderer, giving you native scrollback, selection, and search. tmux runs in the background purely for session persistence.

New terminal → proxy connects to tmux in control mode
SSH drops → proxy dies, tmux session stays alive on the host
Reconnect → proxy replays tmux scrollback into VS Code, then resumes live output

Requirements

tmux must be installed on the remote (or local) machine. The extension will prompt you to install it if it's missing.
Python 3 must be available (used by the control-mode proxy). This is pre-installed on virtually all Linux systems.

Quick start

Install the extension (or load it from the .vsix).
Open the Command Palette → Persisterm: New Persistent Terminal.
Or select Persistent Terminal (tmux) from the terminal profile dropdown (the +▾ button).
Work as normal. If you get disconnected, just reconnect — your terminals reappear automatically.

Commands

Command	Description
`Persisterm: New Persistent Terminal`	Create a new tmux-backed terminal
`Persisterm: Reattach All Sessions`	Manually reattach to any orphaned sessions
`Persisterm: Kill All Persistent Sessions`	Destroy all tmux sessions managed by this extension

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`persisterm.autoReattach`	`true`	Automatically reattach to surviving sessions on startup
`persisterm.sessionPrefix`	`"persisterm"`	Prefix for tmux session names. Change this if you run multiple workspaces on the same host to keep sessions separate.
`persisterm.showStatusBar`	`true`	Show the persistent-session count in the status bar

Keyboard shortcut

`Ctrl+Shift+`` — create a new persistent terminal (customisable in Keyboard Shortcuts).

Tips

Scrollback just works: unlike a regular tmux attach, Persisterm uses tmux's control mode so output flows through VS Code's native terminal. Scroll, select, and search work exactly like a normal terminal. On reconnect, previous output is replayed into the scrollback.
Make it the default terminal: open Settings and set
terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.linux to Persistent Terminal (tmux).
Every new terminal will then be tmux-backed automatically.
Multiple workspaces on one host: set a unique persisterm.sessionPrefix per workspace (e.g. proj-a, proj-b) to avoid cross-talk.
Intentional close vs. disconnect: closing a terminal tab in VS Code kills the underlying tmux session (to avoid leaks). Disconnecting leaves sessions alive for reattachment.

Building from source

cd persisterm
npm install
npm run compile          # one-shot build
npm run watch            # incremental rebuild
npm run package          # produces a .vsix

License

MIT

Persisterm — Persistent Terminals

Michael Holman