TERMINAL MANAGER

Terminal Manager automatically creates and manages multiple VS Code terminals based on a JSON configuration file or workspace settings. It simplifies running development scripts or commands by pre-configuring terminals with custom paths, shells, and commands.

Features

Create multiple terminals automatically when a project or workspace opens
Run custom commands in each terminal
Support for relative and absolute paths
Custom shell executable per terminal
Focus on a specific terminal after creation
Manual execution via Command Palette
Multi-root workspace support

Installation

Install directly from the VS Code Marketplace or clone the repository to inspect the code.

Configuration

The extension can be configured in two ways:

1. JSON configuration file

Create a file .vscode/terminal-manager.json at the root of your project.

You can also specify a custom path for the configuration file in the settings:

{
  "terminalExtension.configPath": "./config/terminal-manager.json"
}

If no manual path is provided, the extension will look for .vscode/terminal-manager.json by default.

Example configuration file at the default location:

{
  "terminals": [
    {
      "name": "Backend",
      "initialPath": "./backend",
      "commands": ["npm run dev"],
      "shellPath": "C:\\Program Files\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe"
    },
    {
      "name": "Frontend",
      "initialPath": "./frontend",
      "commands": ["npm start"]
    }
  ],
  "focusOnTerminal": "Backend",
  "runAutomatically": true
}

initialPath: Relative paths are resolved relative to the project root. Absolute paths are supported.
commands: Commands to execute in the terminal after creation.
focusOnTerminal: Terminal to focus after creation by name. Defaults to the last created terminal.
runAutomatically: If true, terminals are created automatically when the project/workspace opens.

Configuration: Workspace/User Settings

2. Workspace or User Settings

You can also configure via settings.json or .code-workspace:

{
  "terminalExtension.configPath": "./config/terminal-manager.json",
  "terminalExtension.terminals": [
    {
      "name": "Backend",
      "initialPath": "./backend",
      "commands": ["npm run dev"]
    }
  ],
  "terminalExtension.focusOnTerminal": "Backend",
  "terminalExtension.runAutomatically": true
}

configPath allows the user to define a custom location for the JSON configuration file. If omitted, the extension defaults to .vscode/terminal-manager.json.

Configuration Options Table

Configuration Options

Option	Type	Required	Description
`terminals`	`TerminalOptions[]`	✅	List of terminals to create. Each terminal supports optional properties: `name`, `initialPath`, `shellPath`, `commands`.
`TerminalOptions.name`	`string`	❌	Terminal name. Defaults to `terminal-<index>`.
`TerminalOptions.initialPath`	`string`	❌	Working directory for the terminal. Relative to project root if starts with `./`. Defaults to project root.
`TerminalOptions.shellPath`	`string`	❌	Custom shell executable. Defaults to VS Code default shell.
`TerminalOptions.commands`	`string[]`	❌	Commands to run on terminal creation.
`focusOnTerminal`	`string \\| number`	❌	Terminal to focus after creation (name or index). Defaults to last terminal.
`runAutomatically`	`boolean`	❌	Whether terminals should be created automatically when the workspace opens. Defaults to `false`.

Usage

Automatic Terminal Creation

If runAutomatically is set to true, terminals will be created automatically when the project or workspace opens.

Manual Terminal Creation

At any time, you can create the terminals manually:

Open Command Palette (F1 or Ctrl+Shift+P)
Search for Terminal Manager: Run Terminals
Execute it to create terminals based on the current configuration.

Multi-Root Workspace

For workspaces with multiple folders:

Terminals are created relative to the first workspace folder by default.
Absolute paths are always respected.
You can define multiple terminals pointing to different folders by specifying initialPath accordingly.

Visual Example

Suppose your project structure is:

project-root/
├─ .vscode/
│ └─ terminal-manager.json
├─ backend/
│ └─ package.json
└─ frontend/
└─ package.json

With the configuration:

{
  "terminals": [
    {
      "name": "Backend",
      "initialPath": "./backend",
      "commands": ["npm run dev"]
    },
    {
      "name": "Frontend",
      "initialPath": "./frontend",
      "commands": ["npm start"]
    }
  ],
  "focusOnTerminal": "Backend",
  "runAutomatically": true
}

A terminal named Backend will open in project-root/backend and run npm run dev.
A terminal named Frontend will open in project-root/frontend and run npm start.
The Backend terminal will be focused automatically after creation.

Notes and License

Notes

Relative paths are resolved relative to the root of the project, even if the configuration file is inside .vscode.
Focus and commands can be customized per terminal.
Manual execution ensures that terminals can be recreated at any time without reopening the workspace.
Absolute paths are fully supported, allowing you to open terminals anywhere on your system.

License

MIT

VS Terminal Manager

lxmg