⚡ AI Terminal v6 — VS Code Extension

Chat-style AI terminal assistant — all in one VS Code window. Paste any API key, type what you want, see the command, click Run.

What's new in v6

	v5	v6
UI	Input box popups	Built-in chat panel (opens beside your editor)
Window	Required second window for testing	One window — no F5 / Extension Host needed after install
JSON parse errors	Could fail on Groq/Llama responses	Fixed — handles single-quoted JSON, extra text, markdown fences
Run commands	Auto-ran immediately	Click ▶ Run button in chat — or 📋 Copy

How it works

You type:    "create a folder named vaibhav on the Desktop"
AI replies:  New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\vaibhav"
             [▶ Run in Terminal]  [📋 Copy]
Click Run → command executes in the VS Code terminal below

Supported API Keys (auto-detected)

Provider	Key prefix	Free?
Google Gemini	`AIza...`	✅ aistudio.google.com
Groq	`gsk_...`	✅ console.groq.com
OpenAI	`sk-...` / `sk-proj-...`	❌ Paid
Anthropic Claude	`sk-ant-...`	❌ Paid
OpenRouter	`sk-or-...`	✅ openrouter.ai
Mistral	32-char alphanumeric	✅ console.mistral.ai
Cohere	Long alphanumeric	✅ cohere.com

Setup

Prerequisites

Tool	Verify	Install
Node.js 18+	`node -v`	https://nodejs.org
VS Code	—	https://code.visualstudio.com

Step 1 — Get a free API key

Groq (fastest, free): https://console.groq.com → API Keys → Create
Gemini (free): https://aistudio.google.com/app/apikey → Create API Key

Step 2 — Open the project

cd ai-terminal-v5   # or wherever you extracted the zip
code .

Step 3 — Install & build

npm install
npm run watch       # leave this running

Wait for: [watch] build finished, watching for changes...

Step 4 — Launch (one-time for development)

Press F5 → Extension Development Host window opens.

After packaging as .vsix (see below), you never need F5 again — it works directly in your normal VS Code.

Step 5 — Open the chat panel

Press Ctrl+Shift+; (Mac: Cmd+Shift+;)
OR click ⊙ AI Terminal in the status bar
OR open Command Palette → AI Terminal: Open

The chat panel opens on the right side of your editor.

Step 6 — Paste your API key

The panel shows a key input on first launch. Paste your key → click Connect →

Provider is detected automatically and confirmed.

Usage

Action	How
Ask AI	Type in the chat box → Enter or click ➤
Run command	Click ▶ Run in Terminal in the chat bubble
Copy command	Click 📋 Copy
Change API key	Click 🔑 in the panel header, or Command Palette → `AI Terminal: Set API Key`
Clear chat	Click 🗑 in the panel header
Override model	Settings (`Ctrl+,`) → search `aiTerminal.model`

Install permanently (skip F5 forever)

npm install -g @vscode/vsce
vsce package
code --install-extension ai-terminal-6.0.0.vsix

Now it works in your normal VS Code like any other extension.

Troubleshooting

Panel doesn't open → Make sure npm run watch shows "build finished" before pressing F5.

"Could not parse AI response" (old error — fixed in v6) → Update to v6. The new parser handles single-quoted JSON from Groq/Llama models.

API error 401 → Key is invalid or expired. Click 🔑 and paste a fresh key.

"Unknown API key format" → The key prefix wasn't recognized. You'll be asked if you want to use it anyway (works for OpenAI-compatible APIs).

Changes not reflected → npm run watch auto-recompiles. Reload the Extension Host: Ctrl+Shift+P → Developer: Reload Window.

Settings

Setting	Description	Default
`aiTerminal.model`	Override model name (blank = smart default)	(blank)
`aiTerminal.shell`	Shell: `auto`, `bash`, `zsh`, `fish`, `powershell`, `cmd`	`auto`

Project structure

ai-terminal-v5/
├── src/
│   ├── extension.ts       ← Entry point, WebviewPanel, message routing
│   ├── panelContent.ts    ← Full chat UI (HTML/CSS/JS)
│   ├── llmProvider.ts     ← Universal AI caller + robust JSON parser
│   └── terminalExecutor.ts← Shell/CWD detection
├── out/                   ← Compiled (auto-generated)
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

License

MIT #� �A�I�-�t�e�r�m�i�n�a�l� � �

Terminal.ai

Vaibhav Rathod