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https://github.com/microsoft/terminal

The new Windows Terminal and the original Windows console host, all in the same place!
https://github.com/microsoft/terminal

cmd command-line console contributions-welcome good-first-issue hacktoberfest terminal windows windows-console windows-terminal wsl

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The new Windows Terminal and the original Windows console host, all in the same place!

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README 

        
![terminal-logos](https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/assets/91625426/333ddc76-8ab2-4eb4-a8c0-4d7b953b1179)



[![Terminal Build Status](https://dev.azure.com/shine-oss/terminal/_apis/build/status%2FTerminal%20CI?branchName=main)](https://dev.azure.com/shine-oss/terminal/_build/latest?definitionId=1&branchName=main)



# Welcome to the Windows Terminal, Console and Command-Line repo



  Table of Contents



- [Installing and running Windows Terminal](#installing-and-running-windows-terminal)

  - [Microsoft Store \[Recommended\]](#microsoft-store-recommended)

  - [Other install methods](#other-install-methods)

    - [Via GitHub](#via-github)

    - [Via Windows Package Manager CLI (aka winget)](#via-windows-package-manager-cli-aka-winget)

    - [Via Chocolatey (unofficial)](#via-chocolatey-unofficial)

    - [Via Scoop (unofficial)](#via-scoop-unofficial)

- [Installing Windows Terminal Canary](#installing-windows-terminal-canary)

- [Windows Terminal Roadmap](#windows-terminal-roadmap)

- [Terminal \& Console Overview](#terminal--console-overview)

  - [Windows Terminal](#windows-terminal)

  - [The Windows Console Host](#the-windows-console-host)

  - [Shared Components](#shared-components)

  - [Creating the new Windows Terminal](#creating-the-new-windows-terminal)

- [Resources](#resources)

- [FAQ](#faq)

  - [I built and ran the new Terminal, but it looks just like the old console](#i-built-and-ran-the-new-terminal-but-it-looks-just-like-the-old-console)

- [Documentation](#documentation)

- [Contributing](#contributing)

- [Communicating with the Team](#communicating-with-the-team)

- [Developer Guidance](#developer-guidance)

- [Prerequisites](#prerequisites)

- [Building the Code](#building-the-code)

  - [Building in PowerShell](#building-in-powershell)

  - [Building in Cmd](#building-in-cmd)

- [Running \& Debugging](#running--debugging)

  - [Coding Guidance](#coding-guidance)

- [Code of Conduct](#code-of-conduct)







This repository contains the source code for:



* [Windows Terminal](https://aka.ms/terminal)

* [Windows Terminal Preview](https://aka.ms/terminal-preview)

* The Windows console host (`conhost.exe`)

* Components shared between the two projects

* [ColorTool](./src/tools/ColorTool)

* [Sample projects](./samples)

  that show how to consume the Windows Console APIs



Related repositories include:



* [Windows Terminal Documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/windows/terminal)

  ([Repo: Contribute to the docs](https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/terminal))

* [Console API Documentation](https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/Console-Docs)

* [Cascadia Code Font](https://github.com/Microsoft/Cascadia-Code)



## Installing and running Windows Terminal



> [!NOTE]

> Windows Terminal requires Windows 10 2004 (build 19041) or later



### Microsoft Store [Recommended]



Install the [Windows Terminal from the Microsoft Store][store-install-link].

This allows you to always be on the latest version when we release new builds

with automatic upgrades.



This is our preferred method.



### Other install methods



#### Via GitHub



For users who are unable to install Windows Terminal from the Microsoft Store,

released builds can be manually downloaded from this repository's [Releases

page](https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/releases).



Download the `Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_.msixbundle` file from

the **Assets** section. To install the app, you can simply double-click on the

`.msixbundle` file, and the app installer should automatically run. If that

fails for any reason, you can try the following command at a PowerShell prompt:



```powershell

# NOTE: If you are using PowerShell 7+, please run

# Import-Module Appx -UseWindowsPowerShell

# before using Add-AppxPackage.



Add-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_.msixbundle

```



> [!NOTE]

> If you install Terminal manually:

>

> * You may need to install the [VC++ v14 Desktop Framework Package](https://docs.microsoft.com/troubleshoot/cpp/c-runtime-packages-desktop-bridge#how-to-install-and-update-desktop-framework-packages).

>   This should only be necessary on older builds of Windows 10 and only if you get an error about missing framework packages.

> * Terminal will not auto-update when new builds are released so you will need

>   to regularly install the latest Terminal release to receive all the latest

>   fixes and improvements!



#### Via Windows Package Manager CLI (aka winget)



[winget](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli) users can download and install

the latest Terminal release by installing the `Microsoft.WindowsTerminal`

package:



```powershell

winget install --id Microsoft.WindowsTerminal -e

```



> [!NOTE]

> Dependency support is available in WinGet version [1.6.2631 or later](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/releases). To install the Terminal stable release 1.18 or later, please make sure you have the updated version of the WinGet client.



#### Via Chocolatey (unofficial)



[Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org) users can download and install the latest

Terminal release by installing the `microsoft-windows-terminal` package:



```powershell

choco install microsoft-windows-terminal

```



To upgrade Windows Terminal using Chocolatey, run the following:



```powershell

choco upgrade microsoft-windows-terminal

```



If you have any issues when installing/upgrading the package please go to the

[Windows Terminal package

page](https://chocolatey.org/packages/microsoft-windows-terminal) and follow the

[Chocolatey triage process](https://chocolatey.org/docs/package-triage-process)



#### Via Scoop (unofficial)



[Scoop](https://scoop.sh) users can download and install the latest Terminal

release by installing the `windows-terminal` package:



```powershell

scoop bucket add extras

scoop install windows-terminal

```



To update Windows Terminal using Scoop, run the following:



```powershell

scoop update windows-terminal

```



If you have any issues when installing/updating the package, please search for

or report the same on the [issues

page](https://github.com/lukesampson/scoop-extras/issues) of Scoop Extras bucket

repository.



---



## Installing Windows Terminal Canary

Windows Terminal Canary is a nightly build of Windows Terminal. This build has the latest code from our `main` branch, giving you an opportunity to try features before they make it to Windows Terminal Preview.



Windows Terminal Canary is our least stable offering, so you may discover bugs before we have had a chance to find them.



Windows Terminal Canary is available as an App Installer distribution and a Portable ZIP distribution.



The App Installer distribution supports automatic updates. Due to platform limitations, this installer only works on Windows 11.



The Portable ZIP distribution is a portable application. It will not automatically update and will not automatically check for updates. This portable ZIP distribution works on Windows 10 (19041+) and Windows 11.



| Distribution  | Architecture    | Link                                                 |

|---------------|:---------------:|------------------------------------------------------|

| App Installer | x64, arm64, x86 | [download](https://aka.ms/terminal-canary-installer) |

| Portable ZIP  | x64             | [download](https://aka.ms/terminal-canary-zip-x64)   |

| Portable ZIP  | ARM64           | [download](https://aka.ms/terminal-canary-zip-arm64) |

| Portable ZIP  | x86             | [download](https://aka.ms/terminal-canary-zip-x86)   |



_Learn more about the [types of Windows Terminal distributions](https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/terminal/distributions)._



---



## Windows Terminal Roadmap



The plan for the Windows Terminal [is described here](/doc/roadmap-2023.md) and

will be updated as the project proceeds.



## Terminal & Console Overview



Please take a few minutes to review the overview below before diving into the

code:



### Windows Terminal



Windows Terminal is a new, modern, feature-rich, productive terminal application

for command-line users. It includes many of the features most frequently

requested by the Windows command-line community including support for tabs, rich

text, globalization, configurability, theming & styling, and more.



The Terminal will also need to meet our goals and measures to ensure it remains

fast and efficient, and doesn't consume vast amounts of memory or power.



### The Windows Console Host



The Windows Console host, `conhost.exe`, is Windows' original command-line user

experience. It also hosts Windows' command-line infrastructure and the Windows

Console API server, input engine, rendering engine, user preferences, etc. The

console host code in this repository is the actual source from which the

`conhost.exe` in Windows itself is built.



Since taking ownership of the Windows command-line in 2014, the team added

several new features to the Console, including background transparency,

line-based selection, support for [ANSI / Virtual Terminal

sequences](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code), [24-bit

color](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/24-bit-color-in-the-windows-console/),

a [Pseudoconsole

("ConPTY")](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/windows-command-line-introducing-the-windows-pseudo-console-conpty/),

and more.



However, because Windows Console's primary goal is to maintain backward

compatibility, we have been unable to add many of the features the community

(and the team) have been wanting for the last several years including tabs,

unicode text, and emoji.



These limitations led us to create the new Windows Terminal.



> You can read more about the evolution of the command-line in general, and the

> Windows command-line specifically in [this accompanying series of blog

> posts](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/windows-command-line-backgrounder/)

> on the Command-Line team's blog.



### Shared Components



While overhauling Windows Console, we modernized its codebase considerably,

cleanly separating logical entities into modules and classes, introduced some

key extensibility points, replaced several old, home-grown collections and

containers with safer, more efficient [STL

containers](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/standard-library/stl-containers?view=vs-2022),

and made the code simpler and safer by using Microsoft's [Windows Implementation

Libraries - WIL](https://github.com/Microsoft/wil).



This overhaul resulted in several of Console's key components being available

for re-use in any terminal implementation on Windows. These components include a

new DirectWrite-based text layout and rendering engine, a text buffer capable of

storing both UTF-16 and UTF-8, a VT parser/emitter, and more.



### Creating the new Windows Terminal



When we started planning the new Windows Terminal application, we explored and

evaluated several approaches and technology stacks. We ultimately decided that

our goals would be best met by continuing our investment in our C++ codebase,

which would allow us to reuse several of the aforementioned modernized

components in both the existing Console and the new Terminal. Further, we

realized that this would allow us to build much of the Terminal's core itself as

a reusable UI control that others can incorporate into their own applications.



The result of this work is contained within this repo and delivered as the

Windows Terminal application you can download from the Microsoft Store, or

[directly from this repo's

releases](https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/releases).



---



## Resources



For more information about Windows Terminal, you may find some of these

resources useful and interesting:



* [Command-Line Blog](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline)

* [Command-Line Backgrounder Blog

  Series](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/windows-command-line-backgrounder/)

* Windows Terminal Launch: [Terminal "Sizzle

  Video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gw0rXPMMPE&list=PLEHMQNlPj-Jzh9DkNpqipDGCZZuOwrQwR&index=2&t=0s)

* Windows Terminal Launch: [Build 2019

  Session](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMudkRcwjCw)

* Run As Radio: [Show 645 - Windows Terminal with Richard

  Turner](https://www.runasradio.com/Shows/Show/645)

* Azure Devops Podcast: [Episode 54 - Kayla Cinnamon and Rich Turner on DevOps

  on the Windows

  Terminal](http://azuredevopspodcast.clear-measure.com/kayla-cinnamon-and-rich-turner-on-devops-on-the-windows-terminal-team-episode-54)

* Microsoft Ignite 2019 Session: [The Modern Windows Command Line: Windows

  Terminal -

  BRK3321](https://myignite.techcommunity.microsoft.com/sessions/81329?source=sessions)



---



## FAQ



### I built and ran the new Terminal, but it looks just like the old console



Cause: You're launching the incorrect solution in Visual Studio.



Solution: Make sure you're building & deploying the `CascadiaPackage` project in

Visual Studio.



> [!NOTE]

> `OpenConsole.exe` is just a locally-built `conhost.exe`, the classic

> Windows Console that hosts Windows' command-line infrastructure. OpenConsole

> is used by Windows Terminal to connect to and communicate with command-line

> applications (via

> [ConPty](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/windows-command-line-introducing-the-windows-pseudo-console-conpty/)).



---



## Documentation



All project documentation is located at [aka.ms/terminal-docs](https://aka.ms/terminal-docs). If you would like

to contribute to the documentation, please submit a pull request on the [Windows

Terminal Documentation repo](https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/terminal).



---



## Contributing



We are excited to work alongside you, our amazing community, to build and

enhance Windows Terminal\!



***BEFORE you start work on a feature/fix***, please read & follow our

[Contributor's

Guide](./CONTRIBUTING.md) to

help avoid any wasted or duplicate effort.



## Communicating with the Team



The easiest way to communicate with the team is via GitHub issues.



Please file new issues, feature requests and suggestions, but **DO search for

similar open/closed preexisting issues before creating a new issue.**



If you would like to ask a question that you feel doesn't warrant an issue

(yet), please reach out to us via Twitter:



* Christopher Nguyen, Product Manager:

  [@nguyen_dows](https://twitter.com/nguyen_dows)

* Dustin Howett, Engineering Lead: [@dhowett](https://twitter.com/DHowett)

* Mike Griese, Senior Developer: [@[email protected]](https://mastodon.social/@zadjii)

* Carlos Zamora, Developer: [@cazamor_msft](https://twitter.com/cazamor_msft)

* Pankaj Bhojwani, Developer

* Leonard Hecker, Developer: [@LeonardHecker](https://twitter.com/LeonardHecker)



## Developer Guidance



## Prerequisites



* You must be running Windows 10 2004 (build >= 10.0.19041.0) or later to run

  Windows Terminal

* You must [enable Developer Mode in the Windows Settings

  app](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/get-started/enable-your-device-for-development)

  to locally install and run Windows Terminal

* You must have [PowerShell 7 or later](https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/latest) installed

* You must have the [Windows 11 (10.0.22621.0)

  SDK](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/windows-sdk/)

  installed

* You must have at least [VS

  2022](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/) installed

* You must install the following Workloads via the VS Installer. Note: Opening

  the solution in VS 2022 will [prompt you to install missing components

  automatically](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/setup/configure-visual-studio-across-your-organization-with-vsconfig/):

  * Desktop Development with C++

  * Universal Windows Platform Development

  * **The following Individual Components**

    * C++ (v143) Universal Windows Platform Tools

* You must install the [.NET Framework Targeting Pack](https://docs.microsoft.com/dotnet/framework/install/guide-for-developers#to-install-the-net-framework-developer-pack-or-targeting-pack) to build test projects



## Building the Code



This repository uses [git

submodules](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Submodules) for some of its

dependencies. To make sure submodules are restored or updated, be sure to run

the following prior to building:



```shell

git submodule update --init --recursive

```



OpenConsole.sln may be built from within Visual Studio or from the command-line

using a set of convenience scripts & tools in the **/tools** directory:



### Building in PowerShell



```powershell

Import-Module .\tools\OpenConsole.psm1

Set-MsBuildDevEnvironment

Invoke-OpenConsoleBuild

```



### Building in Cmd



```shell

.\tools\razzle.cmd

bcz

```



## Running & Debugging



To debug the Windows Terminal in VS, right click on `CascadiaPackage` (in the

Solution Explorer) and go to properties. In the Debug menu, change "Application

process" and "Background task process" to "Native Only".



You should then be able to build & debug the Terminal project by hitting

F5. Make sure to select either the "x64" or the "x86" platform - the

Terminal doesn't build for "Any Cpu" (because the Terminal is a C++ application,

not a C# one).



> 👉 You will _not_ be able to launch the Terminal directly by running the

> WindowsTerminal.exe. For more details on why, see

> [#926](https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/issues/926),

> [#4043](https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/issues/4043)



### Coding Guidance



Please review these brief docs below about our coding practices.



> 👉 If you find something missing from these docs, feel free to contribute to

> any of our documentation files anywhere in the repository (or write some new

> ones!)



This is a work in progress as we learn what we'll need to provide people in

order to be effective contributors to our project.



* [Coding Style](./doc/STYLE.md)

* [Code Organization](./doc/ORGANIZATION.md)

* [Exceptions in our legacy codebase](./doc/EXCEPTIONS.md)

* [Helpful smart pointers and macros for interfacing with Windows in WIL](./doc/WIL.md)



---



## Code of Conduct



This project has adopted the [Microsoft Open Source Code of

Conduct][conduct-code]. For more information see the [Code of Conduct

FAQ][conduct-FAQ] or contact [[email protected]][conduct-email] with any

additional questions or comments.



[conduct-code]: https://opensource.microsoft.com/codeofconduct/

[conduct-FAQ]: https://opensource.microsoft.com/codeofconduct/faq/

[conduct-email]: mailto:[email protected]

[store-install-link]: https://aka.ms/terminal