Workspace Terminal History
Saves your terminal command history per workspace folder. When you switch to a different project, arrow keys recall commands from your last session in that project — no more hunting through global shell history.
How it works
| What happens |
When |
| New terminal opens |
History from this workspace is silently injected → ↑ / ↓ work immediately |
| You run a command |
It's saved to .terminal_history.json in your workspace root |
| You switch projects |
The next terminal loads that project's history |
Requirements
- VS Code 1.93+ (for the Shell Integration API that captures commands)
- Shell integration must be enabled (it is by default). If you disabled it, add this to your settings:
"terminal.integrated.shellIntegration.enabled": true
Shell support
| Shell |
History injection |
Auto-capture |
| bash |
✅ history -s |
✅ |
| zsh |
✅ history -s |
✅ |
| fish |
✅ builtin history append |
✅ |
| PowerShell |
✅ Add-History |
✅ |
| cmd.exe |
❌ (no API) |
✅ saved, not injected |
Commands
Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and search:
- Workspace History: Show Command History — browse & replay any past command
- Workspace History: Clear History for This Workspace — wipe the saved history
- Workspace History: Open History File — inspect the raw JSON file
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
workspaceHistory.maxCommands |
500 |
Max commands stored per workspace |
workspaceHistory.excludePatterns |
["ls","ll","clear",…] |
Commands to never save |
workspaceHistory.historyFileName |
.terminal_history |
File name (saved as .terminal_history.json) |
workspaceHistory.saveToVscodeFolder |
false |
Save inside .vscode/ instead of root |
workspaceHistory.deduplicateConsecutive |
true |
Skip identical consecutive commands |
workspaceHistory.showStatusBar |
true |
Show command count in the status bar |
Git tip
Add the history file to .gitignore if you don't want to commit it:
.terminal_history.json
Or commit it — it's just JSON, and sharing it can be useful for onboarding teammates!
Installing from source
cd workspace-history-extension
npm install
npm run compile
# Then press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host
To build a .vsix package:
npm install -g @vscode/vsce
vsce package
# → workspace-terminal-history-1.0.0.vsix
Install the .vsix:
Extensions panel → ⋯ menu → Install from VSIX…
