Persistent Terminals

Persistent Terminals is a VS Code extension that allows you to set up and automatically launch preconfigured terminals when you open your workspace.

Features

• Automatically create multiple terminals with custom names and colors
• Execute predefined commands in each terminal upon creation
• Restrict potentially dangerous commands for improved security
• Customize restricted commands via user settings

Installation

1. Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace
2. Reload VS Code

Usage

1. Open your workspace settings (JSON) file
2. Add a persistentTerminals.terminals configuration and the configured terminals will be created automatically when you open your workspace or reload VS Code.

"persistentTerminals.terminals": [
  {
    "name": "Backend",
    "color": "terminal.ansiGreen",
    "commands": [
      "cd backend",
      "uvicorn app.main:app --reload"
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "Frontend",
    "color": "terminal.ansiBlue",
    "commands": [
      "cd frontend",
      "npm start"
    ]
  }
]

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

• persistentTerminals.terminals: Array of terminal configurations
• persistentTerminals.userRestrictedCommands: Array of additional user-defined restricted commands to prevent execution
• persistentTerminals.enableLogging: Enable logging to persistent-terminals.log file (default: false)

Security

This extension restricts potentially dangerous commands by default. You can customize the restricted commands in your workspace settings json file.

    "persistentTerminals.userRestrictedCommands": [
    "dangerous-command",
    "another-risky-command"
    ]

Logging

To enable logging, add this to your workspace settings:

"persistentTerminals.enableLogging": true

This will create a persistent-terminals.log file in your workspace root (ignored by git by default).

Known Issues

• The extension does not support the persistence of commands history across terminal sessions

Release Notes

0.0.3

• Breaking: Logging is now opt-in (set enableLogging: true to enable)
• Fixed: Commands no longer re-execute on existing terminals when extension reloads
• Fixed: Log file now ignored by git by default
• Improved: Better error messages and UX feedback
• Improved: Stronger command validation and security
• Improved: Async file operations with proper error handling