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restore-terminals-vscode

★ 87 Open GitHub ↗

A VSCode extension to restore/startup terminals with a custom configuration

// repository documentation

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# Restore Terminals

Automatically spawn integrated terminal windows and split terminals, and run any shell commands when VSCode starts up!

## How to use

Simply configure your VSCode settings JSON file to look something like this:

```
 "restoreTerminals.runOnStartup": true,
 "restoreTerminals.terminals": [
    {
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder:server}",
      "splitTerminals": [
        {
          "name": "server",
          "commands": ["npm i", "npm run dev"]
        },
        {
          "name": "client",
          "commands": ["npm run dev:client"]
        },
        {
          "name": "test",
          "commands": ["jest --watch"]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "splitTerminals": [
        {
          "name": "build & e2e",
          "commands": ["npm run eslint", "npm run build", "npm run e2e"],
          "shouldRunCommands": false
        },
        {
          "name": "worker",
          "commands": ["npm-run-all --parallel redis tsc-watch-start worker"]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
```

The outer array represents a integrated VSCode terminal window, and the `splitTerminals` array contains the information about how each terminal window should be split up.

Set `cwd` on a terminal window when its commands must start in a specific workspace folder. Use `${workspaceFolder}` for a single-root workspace or `${workspaceFolder:folderName}` for a named folder in a multi-root workspace. Restore Terminals fails instead of falling back to the active folder when the requested workspace folder is unavailable.

You can also use a custom config file. The file should be at `.vscode/restore-terminals.json` in any workspace you want. A sample config file is [here](https://github.com/EthanSK/restore-terminals-vscode/blob/master/sample-test-project/.vscode/restore-terminals.json). If this config file is present, Restore Terminals will try and load settings from it first, then use `settings.json` as a fallback. VSCode validates this file and provides the same descriptions and autocomplete as the Restore Terminals settings.

### Multi-root workspaces and Git worktrees

Use `.vscode/restore-terminals.json` when the same VSCode window contains a repository's primary folder and one or more Git worktrees. Restore Terminals settings are currently window-scoped, so VSCode does not apply them from an individual folder's `.vscode/settings.json` in a multi-root workspace.

Set `cwd` on every terminal window to the named primary workspace folder so terminals do not follow whichever worktree or editor was active when they were restored:

```json
{
  "runOnStartup": false,
  "terminals": [
    {
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder:my-project}",
      "splitTerminals": [
        {
          "name": "frontend",
          "commands": ["npm run dev"]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
```

`my-project` must match the primary folder's name in the VSCode workspace. Restore Terminals stops before closing existing terminals if that named folder is unavailable. If several workspace folders contain `.vscode/restore-terminals.json`, keep their contents identical because the last matching file in the workspace currently supplies the window's terminal layout.

## Extra info

The order of split terminals from left to right is the order in the array.

You can manually trigger the restoration of terminals by running `Restore Terminals` in the command palette.

If you find the extension glitching out, try increasing the `restoreTerminals.artificialDelayMilliseconds` setting to a higher number, such as `1000`.

If you do not want this extension to close the currently open terminal windows, you can simply set `restoreTerminals.keepExistingTerminalsOpen` to `true`.

If you do not want it to restore terminals on VSCode startup, but instead only run when you trigger it manually from the command palette, then set `restoreTerminals.runOnStartup` to `false`.

If you don't want the commands to actually run, just be pasted in the terminal, then set `shouldRunCommands` to `false` in each `splitTerminals` object.

If you don't like using split terminals, then just provide one object in each split terminal array, which should be the intuitive thing to do.

### Contributions

Unless you can 100% prove your contribution fully works with a video, and the code is clean and makes sense, I am no longer accepting contributions. Too many contributions have been submitted that don't work, and the VSCode official API doesn't work in many cases, and this extension already uses a couple hacks to get around it.

**Enjoy!**

restore-terminals-vscode

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