Custom actions in Windows Terminal

As of Windows Terminal version 1.4, the keybindings array has been renamed to actions inside the settings.json file. Support for the keybindings array still exists for backward compatibility, however the terminal will not automatically rename keybindings to actions inside your settings.json file.

You can create custom actions inside Windows Terminal that give you control of how you interact with the terminal. These actions will automatically be added to the command palette.

Action formats

Actions can be structured in the following formats:

Commands without arguments

For example, this default setting uses the shortcut key alt+f4 to close the terminal window:

Commands with arguments

For example, this default setting uses the shortcut key ctrl+shift+1 to open a new tab in the terminal based on whichever profile is listed first in your dropdown menu (typically this will open the PowerShell profile):

Action properties

Actions can be constructed using the following properties.

Command

This is the command executed when the associated keys are pressed.

Property name: command

Necessity: Required

Accepts: String

This defines the key combinations used to call the command. Keys can have any number of modifiers with one key. Accepted modifiers and keys are listed below.

If the action does not have keys, it will appear in the command palette but cannot be invoked with the keyboard.

Property name: keys

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: String or array[string]

Action

This adds additional functionality to certain commands.

Property name: action

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: String

This sets the name that will appear in the command palette. If one isn’t provided, the terminal will attempt to automatically generate a name.

Property name: name

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: String

This sets the icon that displays within the command palette.

Property name: icon

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: File location as a string, or an emoji

Accepted modifiers and keys

Modifiers

ctrl+ , shift+ , alt+

The Windows key is not supported as a modifier.

Modifier keys

Type	Keys
Function and alphanumeric keys	f1-f24 , a-z , 0-9
Symbols	` , plus , — , = , [ , ] , \ , ; , ‘ , , , . , /
Arrow keys	down , left , right , up , pagedown , pageup , pgdn , pgup , end , home
Action keys	tab , enter , esc , escape , space , backspace , delete , insert , app , menu
Numpad keys	numpad_0-numpad_9 , numpad0-numpad9 , numpad_add , numpad_plus , numpad_decimal , numpad_period , numpad_divide , numpad_minus , numpad_subtract , numpad_multiply

Note: = and plus are equivalents. The latter must not be confused with numpad_plus .

Application-level commands

Close window

This closes the current window and all tabs within it. If confirmCloseAllTabs is set to true , a confirmation dialog will appear to ensure you’d like to close all your tabs. More information on this setting can be found on the Appearance page.

Command name: closeWindow

Default binding:

This opens the search dialog box. More information on search can be found on the Search page.

Command name: find

Default binding:

Find next/previous search match

This lets you navigate through your search matches.

Command name: findMatch

Default bindings:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
direction	Required	«next» , «prev»	The direction to navigate through search results.

Open the dropdown

This opens the dropdown menu.

Command name: openNewTabDropdown

Default binding:

Open settings files

This opens either the default or custom settings files. Without the target field, this will open the settings.json file.

Command name: openSettings

Default bindings:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
target	Optional	«settingsFile» , «defaultsFile» , «settingsUI» , «allFiles»	The settings file to open.

The «settingsUI» value for target is only available in Windows Terminal Preview.

Toggle full screen

This allows you to switch between full screen and default window sizes.

Command name: toggleFullscreen

Default bindings:

Toggle focus mode

This allows you to enter «focus mode», which hides the tabs and title bar.

Command name: toggleFocusMode

Default binding:

Toggle always on top mode

This allows you toggle the «always on top» state of the window. When in «always on top» mode, the window will appear on top of all other non-topmost windows.

Command name: toggleAlwaysOnTop

Default binding:

Send input

Send arbitrary text input to the shell. As an example the input «text\n» will write «text» followed by a newline to the shell.

ANSI escape sequences may be used, but escape codes like \x1b must be written as \u001b . For instance «\u001b[A» will behave as if the up arrow button had been pressed.

Command name: sendInput

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
input	Required	String	The text input to feed into the shell.

Tab management commands

Close tab

This closes the current tab.

Command name: closeTab

Close all other tabs

This closes all tabs except for the one at an index. If no index is provided, use the focused tab’s index.

Command name: closeOtherTabs

Default binding:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
index	Optional	Integer	Position of the tab to be kept open.

Close tabs after index

This closes the tabs following the tab at an index. If no index is provided, use the focused tab’s index.

Command name: closeTabsAfter

Default binding:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
index	Optional	Integer	Position of the last tab to be kept open.

Duplicate tab

This makes a copy of the current tab and opens it.

Command name: duplicateTab

Default binding:

New tab

This creates a new tab. Without any arguments, this will open the default profile in a new tab. If an action is not specified, the default profile’s equivalent setting will be used.

Command name: newTab

Default bindings:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
commandline	Optional	Executable file name as a string	Executable run within the tab.
startingDirectory	Optional	Folder location as a string	Directory in which the tab will open.
tabTitle	Optional	String	Title of the new tab.
index	Optional	Integer	Profile that will open based on its position in the dropdown (starting at 0).
profile	Optional	Profile’s name or GUID as a string	Profile that will open based on its GUID or name.
colorScheme	Optional	The name of a color scheme as a string	The scheme to use instead of the profile’s set colorScheme
suppressApplicationTitle	Optional	true , false	When set to false , applications can change the tab title by sending title change messages. When set to true , these messages are suppressed. If not provided, the behavior is inherited from the profile’s settings.

The «colorScheme» and «suppressApplicationTitle» parameters are only available in Windows Terminal Preview.

Open next tab

This opens the tab to the right of the current one.

Command name: nextTab

Default binding:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
tabSwitcherMode	Optional	«mru» , «inOrder» , «disabled»	Move to the next tab using «tabSwitcherMode» . If no mode is provided, use the globally defined one.

The «tabSwitcherMode» parameter is only available in Windows Terminal Preview.

Open previous tab

This opens the tab to the left of the current one.

Command name: prevTab

Default binding:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
tabSwitcherMode	Optional	«mru» , «inOrder» , «disabled»	Move to the previous tab using «tabSwitcherMode» . If no mode is provided, use the globally defined one.

The «tabSwitcherMode» parameter is only available in Windows Terminal Preview.

Tab search

This opens the tab search box.

Command name: tabSearch

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

Open a specific tab

This opens a specific tab depending on the index.

Command name: switchToTab

Default bindings:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
index	Required	Integer	Tab that will open based on its position in the tab bar (starting at 0).

Rename tab

This command can be used to rename a tab to a specific string.

Command name: renameTab

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
title	Optional	String	The new title to use for this tab. If omitted, this command will revert the tab title back to its original value.

Open tab rename text box

This command changes the tab title into a text field that lets you edit the title for the current tab. Clearing the text field will reset the tab title back to the default for the current shell instance.

Command name: openTabRenamer

Default binding:

Change tab color

This command can be used to change the color of a tab to a specific value.

Command name: setTabColor

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
color	Optional	String, in hex format: «#rgb» or «#rrggbb»	The new color to use for this tab. If omitted, this command will revert the tab’s color back to its original value.

Open tab color picker

This command can be used to open the color picker for the active tab. The color picker can be used to set a color for the tab at runtime.

Command name: openTabColorPicker

Default binding:

Move tab

This command moves the tab «backward» and «forward», which is equivalent to «left» and «right» in left-to-right UI.

Command name: moveTab

Default binding:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
direction	Required	«backward» , «forward»	Direction in which the tab will move.

Window management commands

New window

This creates a new window. Without any arguments, this will open the default profile in a new window (regardless of the setting of windowingBehavior ). If an action is not specified, the default profile’s equivalent setting will be used.

Command name: newWindow

Default bindings:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
commandline	Optional	Executable file name as a string	Executable run within the tab.
startingDirectory	Optional	Folder location as a string	Directory in which the window will open.
tabTitle	Optional	String	Title of the window tab.
index	Optional	Integer	Profile that will open based on its position in the dropdown (starting at 0).
profile	Optional	Profile’s name or GUID as a string	Profile that will open based on its GUID or name.
suppressApplicationTitle	Optional	true , false	When set to false allows applications to change tab title by sending title change messages. When set to true true suppresses these messages. If not provided, the behavior is inheritted from profile settings.

The «suppressApplicationTitle» parameter is only available in Windows Terminal Preview.

Rename window (Preview)

This command can be used to rename a window to a specific string.

Command name: renameWindow

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
name	Optional	String	The new name to use for this window. If omitted, this command will revert the window name back to its original value.

This feature is only available in Windows Terminal Preview, version 1.7+.

Open window rename dialog (Preview)

This command changes displays a popup window that lets you edit the name for the current window. Clearing the text field will reset the window name.

Command name: openWindowRenamer

Default binding:

This feature is only available in Windows Terminal Preview.

Identify window (Preview)

This pops up an overlay on the focused window that displays the window’s name and index.

Command name: identifyWindow

Default binding:

This feature is only available in Windows Terminal Preview.

Identify windows (Preview)

This pops up an overlay on all windows that displays each window’s name and index.

Command name: identifyWindows

Default binding:

This command is not currently bound in the default settings.

This feature is only available in Windows Terminal Preview.

Pane management commands

Close pane

This closes the active pane. If there aren’t any split panes, this will close the current tab. If there is only one tab open, this will close the window.

Command name: closePane

Default binding:

Move pane focus

This changes focus to a different pane depending on the direction. Setting the direction to «previous» will move focus to the most recently used pane.

Command name: moveFocus

Default bindings:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
direction	Required	«left» , «right» , «up» , «down» , «previous»	Direction in which the focus will move.

Zoom a pane

This expands the focused pane to fill the entire contents of the window.

Command name: togglePaneZoom

Default binding:

Resize a pane

This changes the size of the active pane.

Command name: resizePane

Default bindings:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
direction	Required	«left» , «right» , «up» , «down»	Direction in which the pane will be resized.

Mark a pane as read-only

You can mark a pane as read-only, which will prevent input from going into the text buffer. If you attempt to close or input text into a read-only pane, the terminal will display a popup warning instead.

Command name: toggleReadOnlyMode

Default bindings:

Split a pane

This halves the size of the active pane and opens another. Without any arguments, this will open the default profile in the new pane. If an action is not specified, the default profile’s equivalent setting will be used.

Command name: splitPane

Default bindings:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
split	Required	«vertical» , «horizontal» , «auto»	How the pane will split. «auto» will split in the direction that provides the most surface area.
commandline	Optional	Executable file name as a string	Executable run within the pane.
startingDirectory	Optional	Folder location as a string	Directory in which the pane will open.
tabTitle	Optional	String	Title of the tab when the new pane is focused.
index	Optional	Integer	Profile that will open based on its position in the dropdown (starting at 0).
profile	Optional	Profile’s name or GUID as a string	Profile that will open based on its GUID or name.
colorScheme	Optional	The name of a color scheme as a string	The scheme to use instead of the profile’s set colorScheme
suppressApplicationTitle	Optional	true , false	When set to false , applications can change the tab title by sending title change messages. When set to true , these messages are suppressed. If not provided, the behavior is inherited from the profile’s settings.
splitMode	Optional	«duplicate»	Controls how the pane splits. Only accepts «duplicate» , which will duplicate the focused pane’s profile into a new pane.
size	Optional	Float	Specify how large the new pane should be, as a fraction of the current pane’s size. 1.0 would be «all of the current pane», and 0.0 is «None of the parent». Defaults to 0.5 .

The «colorScheme» and «suppressApplicationTitle» parameters are only available in Windows Terminal Preview.

Clipboard integration commands

This copies the selected terminal content to your clipboard.

Command name: copy

Default bindings:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
singleLine	Optional	true , false	When true , the copied content will be copied as a single line. When false , newlines persist from the selected text.
copyFormatting	Optional	true , false , «all» , «none» , «html» , «rtf»	When true , the color and font formatting of the selected text is also copied to your clipboard. When false , only plain text is copied to your clipboard. You can also specify which formats you would like to copy. When null , the global «copyFormatting» behavior is inherited.

Paste

This inserts the content that was copied onto the clipboard.

Command name: paste

Default bindings:

Scrollback commands

Scroll up

This scrolls the screen up by the number of rows defined by «rowsToScroll» . If «rowsToScroll» is not provided, it will scroll up the amount defined by the system default, which is the same amount as mouse scrolling.

Command name: scrollUp

Default binding:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
rowsToScroll	Optional	Integer	The number of rows to scroll.

Scroll down

This scrolls the screen down by the number of rows defined by «rowsToScroll» . If «rowsToScroll» is not provided, it will scroll down the amount defined by the system default, which is the same amount as mouse scrolling.

Command name: scrollDown

Default binding:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
rowsToScroll	Optional	Integer	The number of rows to scroll.

Scroll up a whole page

This scrolls the screen up by a whole page, which is the height of the window.

Command name: scrollUpPage

Default binding:

Scroll down a whole page

This scrolls the screen down by a whole page, which is the height of the window.

Command name: scrollDownPage

Default binding:

Scroll to the earliest history

This scrolls the screen up to the top of the input buffer.

Command name: scrollToTop

Default binding:

Scroll to the latest history

This scrolls the screen down to the bottom of the input buffer.

Command name: scrollToBottom

Default binding:

Visual adjustment commands

Adjust font size

This changes the text size by a specified point amount.

Command name: adjustFontSize

Default bindings:

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
delta	Required	Integer	Amount of size change per command invocation.

Reset font size

This resets the text size to the default value.

Command name: resetFontSize

Default binding:

Toggle pixel shader effects

This toggles any pixel shader effects enabled in the terminal. If the user specified a valid shader with experimental.pixelShaderPath , this action will toggle that shader on/off. This will also toggle the «retro terminal effect», which is enabled with the profile setting experimental.retroTerminalEffect .

Command name: toggleShaderEffects

Default binding:

The toggleRetroEffect action is no longer available in versions 1.6 and later. It is recommended that you use toggleShaderEffects instead.

Set the color scheme

Changes the active color scheme.

Command name: setColorScheme

Actions

Name	Necessity	Accepts	Description
colorScheme	Required	String	The name of the color scheme to apply.

Example binding:

Unbind keys

This unbinds the associated keys from any command.