Open the VS Code terminal or create a separate session

Choose visibility or a new process

Showing the terminal brings an existing terminal context into view, while creating another terminal starts a separate session. Those sessions can have different shells, directories, environment variables and running processes. Decide which state you need before creating another panel and assuming it is equivalent to the one already open.

Inspect the prompt before executing a command

A terminal can change files or interact with remote systems. Read its working directory and any connection context before entering a command. The keyboard shortcut only changes access to the terminal interface; it is not permission to run a destructive operation or evidence that a previous process completed successfully.

Return to the editor deliberately

After inspecting output, place focus back in the intended editor before typing code. Some editor key combinations are handled differently when terminal focus is active. Practice opening the panel and creating a harmless extra shell session without running project commands, then close the session you no longer need.

Documented commands for this workflow

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Keep going

• Run a VS Code build task after checking what it executes
• Split VS Code editors and move focus between groups