Open Pinned Terminal
A VS Code extension that opens terminals in the editor area and pins them. Each terminal belongs to a key family and is identified as key:0, key:1, and so on.
Features
- Open a terminal as a pinned editor tab
- Cycle through existing numbered terminals in a
key family
- Restore the most recently focused terminal tab in a
key family when another tab is active
- Force a new numbered terminal when needed
- Optionally run a command on creation
- Automatically close command terminals when the command exits, when shell integration is available
- Support for local terminals in Dev Container environments
Usage
This extension provides the command open-pinned-terminal.open. It is designed to be used via keybindings rather than the Command Palette.
Add a keybinding in keybindings.json:
{
"key": "ctrl+`",
"command": "open-pinned-terminal.open",
"args": {
"key": "main"
}
}
Arguments
| Argument |
Type |
Required |
Default |
Description |
key |
string |
Yes |
|
Terminal family key. Must not contain : |
forceNew |
boolean |
No |
false |
Always create the next numbered terminal in the family |
cmd |
string[] |
No |
|
Command to run when the terminal is first created |
terminalName |
string |
No |
same as key:n |
Display name prefix shown on the terminal tab |
local |
boolean |
No |
false |
Force a local terminal (useful in Dev Containers) |
isTransient |
boolean |
No |
false |
Mark the terminal as transient (not restored on reload) |
When forceNew is false, running the command while the active tab is codex:n moves to the next existing codex:n+1, wrapping back to the first existing Codex terminal if needed. Running it from another tab restores the most recently focused codex:n, including terminal tabs focused by clicking, or creates codex:0 if none exists yet.
When cmd is specified and VS Code shell integration is available, the command is run through shell integration and the terminal closes automatically when that command exits. If shell integration is unavailable, the command falls back to the previous sendText behavior and the terminal stays open.
When the workspace has multiple root folders, creating a new terminal shows a folder picker and opens the terminal in the selected workspace folder.
Examples
Open a pinned terminal for Claude Code:
{
"key": "ctrl+shift+c",
"command": "open-pinned-terminal.open",
"args": {
"key": "claude",
"terminalName": "Claude Code",
"cmd": ["claude"]
}
}
Open a pinned terminal for Codex:
{
"key": "ctrl+shift+x",
"command": "open-pinned-terminal.open",
"args": {
"key": "codex",
"terminalName": "Codex",
"cmd": ["codex"]
}
}
Always open the next new Codex terminal, regardless of the active tab:
{
"key": "ctrl+shift+x",
"command": "open-pinned-terminal.open",
"args": {
"key": "codex",
"terminalName": "Codex",
"cmd": ["codex"],
"forceNew": true
}
}
Open a local terminal for Claude Code while connected to a Dev Container:
{
"key": "ctrl+shift+l",
"command": "open-pinned-terminal.open",
"args": {
"key": "claude-local",
"terminalName": "Claude Code (Local)",
"cmd": ["claude"],
"local": true
}
}
Installation
From VSIX
code --install-extension vscode-open-pinned-terminal-0.1.0.vsix
Build from source
npm install
npm run package
code --install-extension vscode-open-pinned-terminal-*.vsix
License
MIT
