Windows Terminal: Modern Terminal for PowerShell, CMD and WSL on Windows

Windows Terminal is Microsoft's modern terminal replacing old cmd.exe and PowerShell windows. Tabs, GPU acceleration, Unicode support, full customization — all in one.

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Install

winget install Microsoft.WindowsTerminal

Built into Windows 11 by default.

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Ctrl+Shift+T	New tab
Ctrl+Tab	Next tab
Ctrl+Shift+W	Close tab
Alt+Shift++	Split vertically
Alt+Shift+-	Split horizontally
Alt+arrows	Switch panes
Ctrl+,	Open settings
F11	Fullscreen

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Configure Profiles (settings.json)

{
    "profiles": {
        "defaults": {
            "font": { "face": "JetBrains Mono", "size": 12 },
            "opacity": 95,
            "useAcrylic": true,
            "bellStyle": "none"
        },
        "list": [
            {
                "name": "PowerShell",
                "commandline": "pwsh.exe",
                "startingDirectory": "%USERPROFILE%"
            },
            {
                "name": "Git Bash",
                "commandline": "C:\\Program Files\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe"
            }
        ]
    }
}

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Themes

Browse and copy themes from windowsterminalthemes.dev → paste into schemes section in settings.json.

Nerd Fonts for icons in prompt: download from nerdfonts.com → set in profile font settings.

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Oh My Posh — Beautiful Prompt

winget install JanDeDobbeleer.OhMyPosh

# Add to PowerShell profile
notepad $PROFILE
# Add: oh-my-posh init pwsh --config "$env:POSH_THEMES_PATH\atomic.omp.json" | Invoke-Expression

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Quake Mode

{
    "keybindings": [{
        "command": { "action": "globalSummon", "monitor": "any" },
        "keys": "ctrl+`"
    }]
}

Press Ctrl+` — terminal drops down from the top of screen.

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Summary

Task	Solution
Install	winget install Microsoft.WindowsTerminal
New tab	Ctrl+Shift+T
Split pane	Alt+Shift+=
Settings	Ctrl+, or settings.json
Themes	windowsterminalthemes.dev
Beautiful prompt	Oh My Posh