Workspace Terminal Manager for Visual Studio Code
Orchestrate, configure, and execute shell commands across multi-repository workspaces with dynamic prompts, per-project overrides, and dedicated terminal management.
Why Workspace Terminal Manager?
Managing multi-root workspaces or monorepos with dozens of microservices often means juggling multiple terminals, repeatedly typing git commands, and manually running build or dev scripts across each project folder.
Workspace Terminal Manager provides a central mission-control dashboard inside VS Code to:
- Run commands simultaneously (or sequentially) across all or selected workspace projects.
- Fill in dynamic flags (like
-m "feat: my commit") with customized user prompts.
- Apply per-repository command overrides (e.g. running
ng serve for frontend while other services run npm start).
- Automatically organize outputs into clean, dedicated project terminals (
[WTM] <project-name>).
Quick Usage
Let's see Workspace Terminal Manager in action:
- Open your Workspace: Open any multi-root workspace in VS Code (File > Open Workspace from File... or open a multi-folder workspace).
- Open the Dashboard:
- Click the Workspace Terminal Manager icon in the Activity Bar (left sidebar), OR
- Click
$(folder-library) Workspace Terminal Manager in the Status Bar (bottom-left), OR
- Press
F1 (or Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P), type Workspace Terminal Manager: Open Dashboard, and press Enter.
- Choose a Command: Use the searchable combobox to select a preset (e.g.
Dev: Start All Services, Git: Bulk Commit & Push, Build: Build All Projects).
- Enter Parameters & Select Projects: If the command has dynamic options (such as
-m), enter your parameter value and select which repositories should receive the command.
- Run: Click Run Across Repositories! Watch as dedicated terminals launch and execute your command cleanly in parallel.
Key Features
⚡ Run Saved Command (Preset Runner)
- Searchable Combobox: Live fuzzy typeahead filter over your saved command names and descriptions with full keyboard navigation (
↑, ↓, Enter, Esc).
- Dynamic User Prompts: Only displays input fields for flags that need values (e.g.
Enter commit message... for -m, or standalone self-options like --tags).
- Target Repositories Checklist: Multi-select project toggles with "Select All" and "Deselect All" quick buttons.
- Git Branch & Script Badges: Automatically detects and displays the active Git branch (
main, develop) and scripts detected from package.json for each project.
- Live Execution Preview: macOS-style terminal preview showing the exact assembled command for every repository before dispatching.
➕ Create New Command (Command Builder)
- Custom Workflow Definition: Build reusable commands with user-friendly names, descriptions, and base shell commands.
- Dynamic Flags & Options: Add customizable flags (e.g.,
-m, --env, -b, --tags) with custom placeholders, default values, required validation, or self-option toggles.
- Per-Repository Overrides: Easily configure overrides for projects with unique requirements (e.g., run
pnpm dev for one service and cargo run for another).
- Flexible Persistence: Save commands directly to
.vscode/workspace-commands.json (persisted and shareable with team members via Git) or store them in private extension state.
🖥️ Intelligent Terminal Orchestration
- Dedicated Project Terminals: Creates clean terminals prefixed with
[WTM] <repo-name> with working directories (cwd) set directly to the repository's path.
- Parallel or Sequential Modes: Run commands across all repositories simultaneously, or stagger them sequentially for clean initialization.
- 1-Click Terminal Cleanup: Dedicated "Close Managed Terminals" action closes all active
[WTM] terminals with a single click.
Extension Commands
| Command |
Command ID |
Description |
| Open Dashboard |
workspaceManager.openDashboard |
Opens the full-screen interactive mission-control dashboard. |
| Create New Command |
workspaceManager.newCommand |
Opens the dashboard directly to the Command Builder tab. |
| Run Preset |
workspaceManager.runPreset |
Executes a saved preset directly from the Command Palette or Quick Presets sidebar. |
| Refresh Projects |
workspaceManager.refreshFolders |
Scans workspace folders, Git branches, and package.json scripts. |
| Close All Terminals |
workspaceManager.stopAllTerminals |
Closes all [WTM] terminals managed by this extension. |
Configuration & Settings
You can customize Workspace Terminal Manager through VS Code Settings (Settings > Extensions > Workspace Terminal Manager):
| Setting |
Type |
Default |
Description |
workspaceManager.reuseTerminals |
boolean |
true |
Reuse existing terminals for the same project instead of creating a new terminal every run. |
workspaceManager.terminalPrefix |
string |
"[WTM]" |
Prefix used for managed terminal names (e.g. [WTM] web-frontend). |
workspaceManager.saveFileLocation |
string |
"workspaceFile" |
Where to persist command presets: "workspaceFile" (.vscode/workspace-commands.json) or "globalState" (VS Code internal storage). |
Contributing
Contributions are warmly welcome! Whether reporting an issue, proposing a feature, or submitting a pull request:
- Please read our Contributing Guide for full development setup, coding standards, and testing instructions.
- All participants are expected to adhere to our Code of Conduct.
License
This project is open source and available under the MIT License.
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