Changing the default path of Visual Studio Code's integrated terminal

Question

I'm trying to change the default path of the integrated terminal in Visual Studio Code, but I'm not sure how to. I do know how to change it in the windows command prompt, but not in Visual Studio Code. I looked in user settings, but I can't find anything there to change.

The current default path is C:\Users\User_Name.

I'd like to change it to C:\Project.

How do I do this in Visual Studio Code?

Answer 1

Add this snippet to your Settings.json in Visual Studio Code:

"terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "PowerShell (Anaconda)",

    "terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
        "PowerShell (Anaconda)": {
          "source": "PowerShell",
          "args": [
            "-ExecutionPolicy"
            , "ByPass" 
            , "-NoExit"
            , "-Command"
            ,";& 'C:\\Users\\User_name\\anaconda3\\shell\\condabin\\conda-hook.ps1' ${env:CONDA_ENV}"
            ],
            "color": "terminal.ansiGreen"
        }

Answer 2

Go your VsCode: in with Ctrol + , keybinding go to Settings copypaste this on the search bar:

@feature:terminal cwd

In Terminal > Integrated: Cwd , put this:

${fileDirname}

source: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/variables-reference

Answer 3

Msys2

On windows, when using Msys2 you may want to start the shell bash as me.

Symptom

I encountered the same effect after setting up Msys2. First it worked, but after some time (may be just after restart of vscode) it didn't work anymore. The initial directory was always ~.

Bash prompt:

<user>@<computer> MSYS ~

Cause

I had an incomplete setup in file C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\settings.json:

{
...
"terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "bash (MSYS2)",
"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
    "PowerShell": {
        ...
    },
    "Command Prompt": {
        "path": [
            "${env:windir}\\Sysnative\\cmd.exe",
            "${env:windir}\\System32\\cmd.exe"
        ],
        "args": [],
        "icon": "terminal-cmd"
    },
    "Git Bash": {
        "source": "Git Bash"
    },
    "bash (MSYS2)": {
        "path": "C:\\msys...\\usr\\bin\\bash.exe",
        "args": [
            "--login",
            "-i"
        ]
    }
},
...

Cure

I found this documentation here.

Hence, I just added "env": { "CHERE_INVOKING": "1" } entry to entry "bash (MSYS2)" as shown below:

"bash (MSYS2)": {
    "path": "C:\\msys64\\usr\\bin\\bash.exe",
    "args": [
        "--login",
        "-i"
    ], 
    "env": { "CHERE_INVOKING": "1" }
}

Why this? Explanation here.

Other terminals

For a lot of terminals it is documented here, as well.

Today the following are documented:

• PowerShell
• zsh
• Cmder
• Cygwin
• Git Bash
• WSL

Answer 4

1. Go to File > Preferences > Settings
2. Type cwd in search bar
3. Then choose Integrated: cwd and type the address

Answer 5

in code to pasd in project

"terminal.integrated.cwd": "./example"

best to save it in file .vscode/settings.json).

thanks read me.

Answer 6

If anyone else had trouble getting this to work with ${workspaceFolder} in Windows like I did, keep in mind that the starting directory you set in Visual Studio Code will be overridden by anything in your PowerShell profile. You can edit your PowerShell profile by typing

code $PROFILE

in your terminal. I got tripped up even more because I had two profiles. To list all of your PowerShell profiles, try the command

Get-ChildItem -Path $PROFILE.AllUsersAllHosts,$PROFILE.AllUsersCurrentHost,$PROFILE.CurrentUserAllHosts,$PROFILE.CurrentUserCurrentHost -Filter *.ps1

and look through any items that come up to see if any of them are changing your default path. Also, having two PowerShell profiles is not a good idea, so combined them into the one pointed to by $PROFILE (the other was in the same directory named profile.ps1.

Once this is ironed out, setting something like "terminal.integrated.cwd": "${workspaceFolder}" should work.

Answer 7

Thanks for the original answer from Peter. Definitely helped ! It has now slightly changed in more recent versions of VS Code.

1. Navigate to File -> Preferences -> Settings
2. Type cwd in search
3. Choose Terminal > Integrated: Cwd settings
4. Type the default path you want to set in the text block below (simply, no need for double hashes to escape)
5. No need for saving, It's automatic
6. Restart VS Code

terminal cwd screen

Answer 8

As others have already explained, you can add a setting to change the default folder for your integrated terminal to start in. This setting also accepts Visual Studio Code variables, so to make a relative path from the root folder of your workspace you can use ${workspaceFolder}.

For example, for your terminal to always start in the subfolder mystart, your setting would be:

"terminal.integrated.cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/mystart"

Answer 9

You can also set it to a relative path to the open folder with

"terminal.integrated.cwd": "./example"

So if you do menu File → Open Folder... → project, and open the terminal with your keyboard shortcut, it will open to ~/project/example automatically.

It can be a general folder like src you would always use, or a specific one (but then it would be best to save it in file .vscode/settings.json).

Answer 10

Short answer

Edit the user preference "terminal.integrated.cwd": "" to the path that you want the integrated terminal to open to.

Long answer

The same answer, but the long step-by-step version,

In Visual Studio Code go to:

Menu File → Preferences → Settings

Now that you are in the "User Settings", using the "Search Settings" bar across the top of the window paste or type this:

terminal.integrated.cwd

It will list the following as a result:

// An explicit start path where the terminal will be launched, this is used
as the current working directory (cwd) for the shell process. This may be
particularly useful in workspace settings if the root directory is not a
convenient cwd.
"terminal.integrated.cwd": "",

You will notice that it will not let you type here to change this setting. That is because you can't change the default setting. You instead need to change your personal settings. Here's how...

Click the pencil icon to the left of the this option and then the "Copy to Settings" option that pops-up.

You should have a split screen in which the right side of the screen has the heading Place your settings here to overwrite the Default Settings. This is the correct place for you to make changes. You might already have a few personalized settings listed here.

When you clicked "Copy to Settings" it automatically added this line for you:

"terminal.integrated.cwd": ""

Notice that whichever item is last in this list will not have a trailing comma but any items before it in the list will require one.

FYI: you could have simply typed or copy/pasted this into the personalized settings yourself, but following these steps is the process to learn for changing other preferences as needed.

Now you are able to type to set the path you want to use. Make sure to use \\ in place of \ and you do not need the trailing \. For example including this line would always start your terminal in the baz directory:

{
    "terminal.integrated.cwd": "C:\\Users\\foo\\bar\\baz"
}

To apply the change, simply Save and restart Visual Studio Code.

Answer 11

The below option will help you do this.

Menu File → Preferences → Settings.

Add or edit the below setting.

terminal.integrated.shell.windows": ""

From the next terminal it will be reflected.

And add file .profile to your default shell, and add the default path to it.

More information can be found at Integrated Terminal.

Answer 12

Try this option in the "Intergrated Terminal" section of Settings.

"terminal.integrated.cwd": "",