microsoft/Terminal

Suggestion: ability for terminals to set their tab icon

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#1,868 opened on Jul 8, 2019

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Area-VTHelp WantedIssue-FeatureProduct-Terminal

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Description

#1685 Summary of the new feature/enhancement

The terminal currently provides a way for shells to specify the title:

image

In the world of web apps, both title and icon can be specified.

image

It would be useful for shells to be able to specify an icon for their tab for the same reasons:

  • Sometimes visuals are more obvious than text. The node.js green gem, or the python logo, or some custom app icon all 'pop' visually more than the equivalent text does

  • Terminals can update their icon to indicate specific conditions (a bell should be used for serious differences, but this could be used for more subtle ones, eg, showing a tunnel icon for an ssh tunnel running, then a shell icon if it stops and returns to the prompt)

  • If we let terminals specify their title, why not let them specify their icon?

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate how tab titles are set via escape sequences, then extend to allow icon paths or base64 encoded images.
Tech stack
cpp
Domain
frontend
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
C++Windows Terminal development
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60