Windows Terminal

Windows Terminal is a Microsoft product brand for a modern, tabbed command-line terminal application built for Windows. It was first announced at Microsoft's Build developer conference in May 2019 and released as a preview in the Microsoft Store shortly afterwards, with the 1.0 stable release arriving in May 2020. The application is designed to be the central host for command-line tools on Windows: it can run PowerShell, the classic Command Prompt (cmd.exe), the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) distributions, and any other console application that uses the Windows console infrastructure, all inside a single window with multiple tabs and split panes. Windows Terminal is positioned as a developer- and power-user-oriented tool rather than a mass-consumer product. Its feature set includes GPU-accelerated text rendering via DirectWrite and DirectX, customizable profiles, a JSON-based settings model, color schemes, background image and acrylic transparency support, Unicode and emoji support, and a command palette. It is distributed free of charge through the Microsoft Store, GitHub releases, and Windows Package Manager (winget), and it became the default terminal experience in Windows 11, replacing the legacy Windows Console host for many scenarios. The brand sits within Microsoft's broader developer-tools portfolio alongside PowerShell, WSL, Visual Studio Code and the Windows SDK. It is open source, developed in the open on GitHub under the Microsoft organization, and accepts community contributions and issue reports. Because it is a Microsoft-owned product brand rather than a separate company, it has no independent financials, ownership or listing; its commercial value lies in strengthening the Windows developer platform and the appeal of Windows as a development environment. Windows Terminal is typically updated on a frequent cadence, with preview builds in the Store and stable releases tied to Windows feature updates. Its identity is closely tied to the modern Windows developer experience: a single, fast, customizable terminal that unifies the many shells Windows users rely on.

Windows Terminal emerged from Microsoft's recognition that the legacy Windows Console host, which dated back to the Windows NT era, was ill-suited to modern developer workflows. At Microsoft Build in May 2019, Microsoft announced a new terminal application intended to modernize the command-line experience on Windows. A preview build was published to the Microsoft Store within weeks, and the source code was released on GitHub under an open-source license, allowing the community to follow development and contribute. The project progressed through a series of preview releases during 2019 and early 2020, adding features such as multiple tabs, split panes, customizable profiles, color schemes, and improved rendering. Version 1.0 reached general availability in May 2020, marking the brand's transition from experiment to supported product. Subsequent releases added further capabilities, including the command palette, quake mode (a drop-down terminal summoned with a keyboard shortcut), support for Unicode and emoji, and deeper integration with the Windows Subsystem for Linux. With Windows 11, Microsoft made Windows Terminal the default terminal application, so that console applications launched from the shell open in Windows Terminal rather than the legacy console host. Microsoft has continued to ship preview and stable builds in parallel, and the application is also distributed through GitHub and Windows Package Manager. The brand remains closely tied to Microsoft's developer-tools strategy, alongside PowerShell, WSL and Visual Studio Code, and is developed in the open with community participation.

• 2021

  Became the default terminal application in Windows 11.

• 2020

  Version 1.0 reached general availability in May 2020.

• 2019

  Announced at Microsoft Build in May 2019 and released as a preview in the Microsoft Store.

Free, open-source, developer-focused modern terminal that unifies Windows command-line shells and serves as the default terminal in Windows 11.

• Windows Terminal (stable)

  The generally available release distributed via the Microsoft Store, GitHub and winget.

• Windows Terminal Preview

  A preview channel that delivers new features ahead of stable releases.

• Windows Terminal Canary

  An experimental channel for early testing of the newest changes.

• 2019-09-25

  Windows Terminal Version 1909 preview update[4]Windows Terminal Version 1909预览版更新tech.sina.com.cn

  Reported: 2019-09-25

  Microsoft released the latest preview of Windows Terminal, Version 1909, with a settings architecture, text-selection and window-closing changes, bug fixes, and a dropdown menu showing installed WSL distributions.

1. 1Windows Terminal - GitHubgithub.com
2. 2Windows Terminal - Microsoft Storeapps.microsoft.com
3. 3Windows Terminal documentation - Microsoft Learnlearn.microsoft.com
4. 4Windows Terminal Version 1909预览版更新tech.sina.com.cn
5. 5微软发布 Windows Terminal Preview 1.1tech.sina.com.cn
6. 6微软Windows Terminal 1.7正式版发布：设置UI成为默认打开方式finance.sina.com.cn