The Windows Terminal is a modern, fast, efficient, powerful, and productive terminal application for users of command-line tools and shells like Command Prompt, PowerShell, and WSL. Its main features include multiple tabs, panes, Unicode and UTF-8 character support, a GPU accelerated text rendering engine, and custom themes, styles, and configurations. Microsoft officially released Windows Terminal 1.0 in May this year.
Microsoft officially released Windows Terminal 1.0 in May this year and today they published their roadmap for Windows Terminal 2.0.
| Feature Priority
0. Mandatory 1. Optimal 2. Optional |
Scenario | Description/Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Settings UI | A user interface that connects to settings.json. This provides a way for people to edit their settings without having to edit a JSON file.
Issue: #1564 |
| 0 | Command palette | A popup menu to list possible actions and commands. |
| 1 | Tab tear-off | The ability to tear a tab out of the current window and spawn a new window or attach it to a separate window. |
| 1 | Clickable links | Hyperlinking any links that appear in the text buffer. When clicking on the link, the link will open in your default browser.
Issue: #574 |
| 1 | Default terminal | If a command-line application is spawned, it should open in Windows Terminal (if installed) or your preferred terminal |
| 1 | Overall theme support | Tab coloring, title bar coloring, pane border coloring, pane border width, definition of what makes a theme |
| 1 | Open tab as admin/other user | Open tab in existing Windows Terminal instance as admin (if Terminal was run unelevated) or as another user.
Issue: #5000 |
| 1 | Traditional opacity | Have a transparent background without the acrylic blur.
Issue: #603 |
| 2 | SnapOnOutput, scroll lock | Pause output or scrolling on click. |
| 2 | Infinite scrollback | Have an infinite history for the text buffer.
Issue: #1410 |
| 2 | Pane management | All issues listed out in the original issue. Some features include pane resizing with mouse, pane zooming, and opening a pane by prompting which profile to use.
Issue: #1000 |
| 2 | Theme marketplace | Marketplace for creation and distribution of themes. Dependent on overall theming |
| 2 | Jump list | Show profiles from task bar (on right click)/start menu.
Issue: #576 |
| 2 | Open with multiple tabs | A setting that allows Windows Terminal to launch with a specific tab configuration (not using only command line arguments).
Issue: #756 |
| 3 | Open in Windows Terminal | Functionality to right click on a file or folder and select Open in Windows Terminal. |
| 3 | Session restoration | Launch Windows Terminal and the previous session is restored with the proper tab and pane configuration and starting directories. |
| 3 | Quake mode | Provide a quick launch terminal that appears and disappears when a hotkey is pressed.
Issue: #653 |
| 3 | Settings migration infrastructure | Migrate people’s settings without breaking them. Hand-in-hand with settings UI. |
| 3 | Pointer bindings | Provide settings that can be bound to the mouse.
Issue: #1553 |
Features that do not fit within 2.0, but will be re-assessed and prioritized for 3.0, set for release in 2021.
You can download the current release, Windows Terminal 1.0, from Microsoft Store.
Source: Github