ULW Sidebar Terminal

ULW is a small VS Code extension that runs one native shell terminal in the secondary sidebar.

It intentionally has no terminal multiplexer, session manager, AI integration, HTTP service, dashboard, or multi-pane layout. Opening ULW creates one node-pty process and connects it to one xterm.js terminal in either the secondary sidebar or an editor-group tab.

Use

1. Install the extension.
2. Reload VS Code. ULW opens in an editor-group tab by default; set ulw.defaultLocation to sidebar to use the secondary sidebar instead.
3. Type directly in the terminal.

The shell starts in the first workspace folder. When no workspace is open, it starts in the user's home directory.

Run ULW: Toggle Terminal Location (ulw.toggleEditorLocation) to move the same shell between the secondary sidebar and an editor-group tab. Toggle again, or close the editor tab, to return to the sidebar. Switching surfaces reuses the same shell and replays recent scrollback into the newly focused xterm.

The terminal automatically inherits the active VS Code terminal palette, including ANSI colors, cursor colors, selections, and live theme changes. Drag-selecting terminal text copies the finished selection to the system clipboard.

Commands

Command	Purpose
ulw.toggleEditorLocation	Toggle the terminal between secondary sidebar and editor group
ulw.sendSelectionToTerminal	Send the active editor selection to the terminal
ulw.sendFileToTerminal	Send an explorer file path to the terminal

Settings

Setting	Default	Purpose
ulw.defaultLocation	editor	Open in an editor-group tab or the secondary sidebar
ulw.fontSize	14	Terminal font size
ulw.fontFamily	Nerd Font and monospace fallbacks	Terminal font family
ulw.cursorBlink	true	Blink the cursor
ulw.cursorStyle	block	block, underline, or bar
ulw.scrollback	10000	Scrollback line count
ulw.shellPath	empty	Shell executable; empty uses the VS Code or system default
ulw.shellArgs	[]	Arguments passed to the shell

Development

npm ci
npm run test
npm run lint
npm run package
npm run test:e2e

Production output is limited to dist/extension.js and dist/webview.js. The E2E test opens the actual sidebar view, waits for the PTY start event, sends a shell command, and verifies its output without fixed sleeps.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.106 or newer
• Node.js 20 or newer

License

MIT

Acknowledgment

Based on vscode-sidebar-terminal by s-hiraoku.