Dan MacCormac

Research interests include ubiquitous computing, assistive technologies, cybersecurity and digital privacy.

Introduction

In Windows Terminal, the settings.json file is used to configure various settings, including appearance, behavior, key bindings, and profiles. Modifying this file allows you to fine-tune your terminal experience and tailor it to your preferences [1, 2].

Configuration

Opening settings.json

Open Windows Terminal and click on the down arrow ▼ in the top bar next to the tabs. You can also access settings using the keyboard shortcut combination Ctrl + , (comma). Once in settings, click on the option for Open JSON file in the lower-left corner. This will open the settings.json file in your default text editor. You can also access the settings.json file directly at Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal under the Local AppData folder.

Configuring settings.json

When you open the settings.json file, configuration is categorized in several different sections.

profiles

This section contains configurations for individual terminal profiles.

"profiles": {
    "list": [
        {
            "guid": "{<GUID>}",
            "name": "Windows PowerShell",
            "commandline": "powershell.exe",
            "hidden": false,
            "colorScheme": "Campbell",
            "fontFace": "Consolas",
            "fontSize": 12
        }
    ]
}

schemes

This section contains color schemes that you can apply to your profiles.

"schemes": [
{
    "name": "CustomScheme",
    "background": "#1d1f21",
    "foreground": "#c5c8c6",
    "black": "#282a2e",
    "red": "#a54242",
    "green": "#8c9440",
    "yellow": "#de935f",
    "blue": "#5f819d",
    "purple": "#85678f",
    "cyan": "#5e8d87",
    "white": "#707880"
}
]

actions

This section is where you can define custom keyboard shortcuts.

"actions": [
    {
        "command": {
            "action": "newTab",
            "profile": "Windows PowerShell"
        },
        "keys": ["ctrl+shift+t"]
    }
]

startupAction

This controls actions to run when Windows Terminal starts.

defaults

This section defines default settings for all profiles, such as font size, cursor shape, or starting directory.

Below is an example of a skeleton settings.json file:

{
    "defaultProfile": "{<GUID>}",
    "profiles": {
        "defaults": {
            "fontSize": 12,
            "fontFace": "Cascadia Code"
        },
        "list": [
            {
                "guid": "{<GUID>}",
                "name": "Windows PowerShell",
                "commandline": "powershell.exe",
                "colorScheme": "Campbell",
                "fontFace": "Consolas",
                "fontSize": 14
            },
            {
                "guid": "{<GUID>}",
                "name": "Ubuntu",
                "commandline": "wsl.exe",
                "colorScheme": "Tango",
                "fontSize": 12
            }
        ]
    },
    "schemes": [
        {
            "name": "Tango",
            "background": "#2e3436",
            "foreground": "#d3d7cf",
            "black": "#000000",
            "red": "#cc0000",
            "green": "#4e9a06",
            "yellow": "#c4a000",
            "blue": "#3465a4",
            "purple": "#75507b",
            "cyan": "#06989a",
            "white": "#d3d7cf"
        }
    ],
    "actions": [
        {
            "command": {
                "action": "newTab",
                "profile": "Windows PowerShell"
            },
            "keys": ["ctrl+shift+t"]
        }
    ],
    "startupAction": "newTab"
}

Customizations

Common customizations that can be made to the settings.json file include customizing profiles, binding hot key actions and modifying window appearance.

Profiles

Windows Terminal allows you to configure different profiles for different shells (e.g., Command Prompt, PowerShell, WSL). By modifying the settings.json file, you can adjust appearance settings for each profile by setting attributes such as the color scheme, font, background color and startup settings.

To add a new profile called Terminal Admin which starts Windows Terminal in elevated mode, we can add the code below to the profiles section.

{
    "commandline": "wt.exe",
    "elevate": true,
    "guid": "{guid}",
    "hidden": false,
    "name": "Terminal Admin",
    "startingDirectory": "%USERPROFILE%"
}

Hot keys

Common hot keykey actions include opening new tabs, splitting panes, navigating between tabs.

In the example code below, the Alt+Shift+Home key combination is assigned to change path to the user’s home directory.

{
    "command": 
    {
        "action": "sendInput",
        "input": "cd $HOME\r"
    },
    "id": "User.sendInput.A65B7E58",
    "keys": "alt+shift+home"
}

To add a hotkey to always keep the terminal window on top of other windows, add the following code to the actions section:

{
    "command": "toggleAlwaysOnTop",
    "id": "User.ToggleAlwaysOnTop",
    "keys": "alt+shift+pgup"
}

Conclusion

Working with the settings.json file in Windows Terminal provides granular level control of many terminal settings such as appearance, behaviour and key bindings. Using a combination scripts and actions allows for development of highly customized work flows.

References

[1] Windows Terminal

[2] General profile settings in Windows Terminal

Appendix

Table 1 - List of Windows Terminal Keyboard Shortcuts

Description Shortcut
Open a new Windows Terminal instance. Ctrl + Shift + N
Open a new default profile tab Ctrl + Shift + T
Open a new tab, profile index: 1 to 9 Ctrl + Shift + Number(1-9)
Switch to tab 1 to 9 Ctrl + Alt + Number(1-9)
Switch to the Next tab Ctrl + Tab
Switch to the Previous tab Ctrl + Shift + Tab
Open the profile selection dropdown menu Ctrl + Shift + Space
Open another instance of the current tab. Ctrl + Shift + D
Open another instance of the current pane. Alt + Shift + D
Close the current tab Ctrl + Shift + W
Open Windows Terminal Settings UI Ctrl + ,
Open default settings file Ctrl + Alt + ,
Open settings file Ctrl + Shift + ,
Find Ctrl + Shift + F
Create/Split a Vertical pane Alt + Shift + +
Create/Split a Horizontal pane Alt + Shift + -
Resize the current pane up Alt + Shift + ↑
Resize the current pane down Alt + Shift + ↓
Resize the current pane left Alt + Shift + ←
Resize the current pane right Alt + Shift + →
Open command palette Ctrl + Shift + P
Increase the font size Ctrl + =
Decrease the font size Ctrl + -
Reset the font size to the default Ctrl + 0
Scroll up in the Windows Terminal. Ctrl + Shift + ↑
Scroll down in the Windows Terminal. Ctrl + Shift + ↓
Scroll up one page Ctrl + Shift + PgUp
Scroll down one page Ctrl + Shift + PgDn
Scroll to the top of history Ctrl + Shift + Home
Scroll to the bottom of history Ctrl + Shift + End
Move focus to one pane up Alt + ↑
Move focus to one pane down Alt + ↓
Move focus to one pane left Alt + ←
Move focus to one pane right Alt + →
Move focus to the last used pane Ctrl + Alt + ←
Toggle on/off High Visibility screen mode. Left Alt + Left Shift + PrtScn
Summon Quake mode Win + `
Toggle on/off fullscreen mode F11
Close the Windows Terminal (entire program) Alt + F4

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