Title: Feature request: Start Extension Terminal as hidden/background terminal to avoid stealing focus on VS Code
Nobody has claimed this yet.
Assessment
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Newbie friendliness
- 68/100
- Issue type
- Feature
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Activity status
- Active
- Tech stack
- powershell, typescript, vscode
- Domain
- developer-experience, tooling
Research direction
Start by locating the extension terminal creation and startup activation path, then review how VS Code's terminal API handles the proposed hideFromUser option. Verify the behavior by opening VS Code with a PowerShell file and confirming the terminal remains hidden until explicitly opened or used, without stealing editor focus.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Description
Prerequisites
- I have written a descriptive issue title.
- I have searched all issues to ensure it has not already been reported.
Summary
When VS Code starts, the PowerShell Extension Terminal launches and grabs window/panel focus,
interrupting whatever the user was doing (e.g., opening a file, using the editor).
Expected behavior
The Extension Terminal should start as a hidden background terminal. It should only become
visible/focused when the user explicitly opens it or runs a PowerShell command.
VS Code supports creating terminals in a hidden state via the hideFromUser option in the
terminal API — the extension could leverage this so IntelliSense/language services start
without the terminal panel stealing focus.
Current behavior
On VS Code startup with a .ps1 file open, the Extension Terminal panel opens and takes focus.
Steps to reproduce
- Open VS Code with any PowerShell file
- The Extension Terminal panel activates and steals focus from the editor
The relevant prior issues are PowerShell/vscode-powershell#1058 (F5 steals focus, partially resolved via powershell.integratedConsole.focusConsoleOnExecute: false)
Proposed Design
VSCode now supports hidden terminals please use it
- Dominant language
- TypeScript
- Stars
- 1.9k
- Forks
- 548
- PR merge metrics
- No merged PRs in 30d
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
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