Windows Terminal
Windows Terminal is Microsoft's modern tabbed terminal app for Windows, built on ConPTY with support for PowerShell, cmd, WSL, and custom profiles.
Windows Terminal is Microsoft's modern, tabbed, GPU-accelerated terminal application for Windows. It supports multiple profiles (PowerShell, cmd, WSL distros, Azure Cloud Shell, anything you configure), split panes, themes, and customization through a JSON settings file. It's the terminal that replaced conhost.exe for most developers on Windows 10 and 11.
Why it matters
Before Windows Terminal, Windows lacked a modern terminal. conhost.exe had basic colors and no tabs; third-party options (ConEmu, Cmder) filled the gap but felt dated. Windows Terminal, paired with ConPTY underneath, brought parity with macOS/Linux terminals: true-color rendering, good ANSI support, tabs, panes, search, and scrollback.
For SpaceSpider users on Windows, Windows Terminal is often where you'd run the installer or first test your AI CLIs. Once the CLIs work there, they'll work inside SpaceSpider's grid layout — because SpaceSpider uses ConPTY the same way Windows Terminal does. See install-windows.
How it works
Windows Terminal is a modern UWP/WinUI app. For each tab or split, it creates a ConPTY session and connects it to the renderer. Tabs map to independent shell processes. Profiles let you control starting directory, font, color scheme, and startup command per shell.
Key features:
- Tabs and split panes per window
- JSON-based config (
settings.json) with schema-driven editing - Color scheme library (popular themes are one-click)
- GPU-accelerated DirectWrite rendering
- Keybinding customization
wt.execommand for scripted window/pane creation- First-class WSL integration
How it's used
Typical Windows Terminal usage:
- Daily driver terminal for PowerShell + WSL work
- Custom profile per project (opens in the right directory, sets env vars)
wt -d c:\project pwshto open a new window from scripts- Fallback terminal while also running SpaceSpider for AI workflows
See /compare/spacespider-vs-windows-terminal.
Related terms
- ConPTY — the Windows pseudo-console Windows Terminal is built on
- Shell — what runs inside (PowerShell, cmd, WSL bash)
- ANSI escape codes — what gives it color
- Warp — a third-party alternative
- Terminal multiplexer — an orthogonal tool
FAQ
Is Windows Terminal open source?
Yes. github.com/microsoft/terminal is under a permissive license. ConPTY itself is part of the Windows OS, not open source, but the terminal UI is.
Can I use Windows Terminal and SpaceSpider together?
Absolutely. Windows Terminal is a general-purpose terminal; SpaceSpider is a focused workspace for parallel AI CLIs. Most Windows users keep both and pick per task.
What about cmd.exe?
cmd.exe is the legacy Windows command processor. You can still run it inside Windows Terminal or SpaceSpider, but PowerShell (especially pwsh 7+) is the modern default.
Related terms
- Agentic codingAgentic coding is software development where an LLM-powered agent plans, edits, runs, and verifies code on its own using tools, not just autocomplete.
- AI pair programmingAI pair programming is a collaboration style where an LLM assistant sits alongside you, suggesting code and reviewing changes in real time as you work.
- ANSI escape codesANSI escape codes are control sequences that terminals interpret for colors, cursor movement, and screen clearing — the language of every modern CLI UI.
- Autonomous agentAn autonomous agent is an AI program that perceives, decides, and acts on its own toward a goal — the architecture behind modern coding CLIs.
- CheckpointA checkpoint is a saved snapshot of file state that lets you roll back an AI coding agent's changes to a known-good point.
- Claude CodeClaude Code is Anthropic's official command-line agent that plans, edits, runs, and verifies code across your repo using Claude models and tool use.