Switch focus between editor and integrated terminal in Visual Studio Code

Question

Does anyone know the keyboard shortcut (Mac and Linux) to switch the focus between editor and integrated terminal in Visual Studio Code?

Answer 1

While there are a lot of modal toggles and navigation shortcuts for VS Code, there isn't one specifically for "move from editor to terminal, and back again". However you can compose the two steps by overloading the key and using the when clause.

Open the keybindings.json from the editor: CMD-SHIFT-P -> Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts File and add these entries:

// Toggle between terminal and editor focus
{ "key": "ctrl+`", "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focus"},
{ "key": "ctrl+`", "command": "workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup", "when": "terminalFocus"}

With these shortcuts I will focus between the editor and the Integrated Terminal using the same keystroke.

Answer 2

ctrl+` : To Focus on Integrated Terminal

ctrl+1 : To Focus on Editor (If editor-2 command would be ctrl+2)

More Info : https://www.rscoder.com/2020/11/14/how-to-switch-focus-between-editor-and-integrated-terminal-in-visual-studio-code/

Answer 3

Ctrl+J works; but also shows/hides the console.

Answer 4

A little late to the game but I configured mine as the following in the keybindings.json:

{
    "key": "ctrl+`",
    "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focus",
    "when": "editorTextFocus"
},
{
    "key": "ctrl+`",
    "command": "workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup",
    "when": "terminalFocus"
},
{
    "key": "alt+`",
    "command": "workbench.action.terminal.toggleTerminal"
}

I wanted separate keys for opening/closing terminal and switching focus back and forth between the windows.

Answer 5

As of version : 1.26.1 (linux), the shortcut is not set by default. To set the shortcut

1. open keyboard shortcuts panel [ctrl + k , ctrl + s]
2. Search for Focus Terminal

3. Set your shortcut

For editor focus is already set by default.

Answer 6

I configured mine as following since I found ctrl+` is a bit hard to press.

{
  "key": "ctrl+k",
  "command": "workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup",
  "when": "terminalFocus"
},
{
  "key": "ctrl+j",
  "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focus",
  "when": "!terminalFocus"
}

I also configured the following to move between editor group.

{
  "key": "ctrl+h",
  "command": "workbench.action.focusPreviousGroup",
  "when": "!terminalFocus"
},
{
  "key": "ctrl+l",
  "command": "workbench.action.focusNextGroup",
  "when": "!terminalFocus"
}

By the way, I configured Caps Lock to ctrl on Mac from the System Preferences => keyboard =>Modifier Keys.

Answer 7

The default keybinding to toggle the integrated terminal is "Ctrl+`" according to VS Code keyboard shortcuts documentation page. If you don't like that shortcut you can change it in your keybindings file by adding something similar to:

{ "key": "ctrl+l", "command": "workbench.action.terminal.toggleTerminal" }

There does not seem to be a default keybinding for simply focusing the bottom panel. So, if you do not want to toggle the bottom panel, you will need to add something similar to the following to your keybindings file:

{ "key": "ctrl+t", "command": "workbench.action.focusPanel" }

Answer 8

Generally, VS Code uses ctrl+j to open Terminal, so I created a keybinding to switch with ctrl+k combination, like below at keybindings.json:

[    
    {
        "key": "ctrl+k",
        "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focus"
    },
    {
        "key": "ctrl+k",
        "command": "workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup",
        "when": "terminalFocus"
    }
]

Answer 9

Try using ctrl+` to toggles the visibility of the terminal and as a result toggle the focus.

Answer 10

Hey my steps to make this work were:

1. ctrl + shift+ p and look for preferences: keyboard shortcuts

or you can use ctrl k + ctrl s to open it directly

2. Look in the search box for Terminal: Focus Terminal, I set up for myself alt + T alt + T but you can select the combination that you want

3. Look in the search box for View: Focus Active Editor Group, set up for myself alt + E alt + E but again you can select the combination that you want

That's it, I hope this help

Answer 11

The answer by Shubham Jain is the best option now using the inbuilt keyboard shortcuts.

I mapped

to Ctrl + ;

and remapped

to Ctrl + L

This way you can have move focus between terminal and editor, and toggle terminal all in close proximity.

Answer 12

It's not exactly what is asked, but I found it very useful and related.

If someone wants to change from one terminal to another terminal also open in the integrate terminal panel of Visual Studio, you can search for:

Terminal: Focus Next Terminal

Or add the following key shortcut and do it faster with keyboard combination.

  {
    "key": "alt+cmd+right",
    "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focusNext",
    "when": "terminalFocus"
  },
  {
    "key": "alt+cmd+left",
    "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focusPrevious",
    "when": "terminalFocus"
  },

Answer 13

SIMPLE WINDOWS SOLUTION FOR ANY KEYBOARD LAYOUT (may work for other OS but not tested)

I use a Finnish keyboard so none of the above worked but this should work for all keyboards.

• Terminal focus: Hover your mouse over the terminal text in the integrated terminal. The shortcut for focusing on the terminal will pop up - mine for example said CTRL+ö.
• Editor focus: as mentioned above use CTRL+1.

Answer 14

Actually, in VS Code 1.48.1, there is a toggleTerminal command; I don't know if it was available in previous versions ;) You can utilize it in the keybindings.json file.

This worked for me on Windows, and should also works on Linux.

{
    "key": "ctrl+alt+right",
    "command": "workbench.action.terminal.toggleTerminal",
    "when": "editorTextFocus || terminalFocus"
}

Answer 15

Here is a way to add your own keybinding for switching focus.

1. Open your VSCode
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+P and search for keyboard shortcuts and hit this (Preferences: Open Keyboard shortcuts).
3. Search for 'focus terminal' in the search panel and find this option (Terminal: Focus on Terminal View) and click on the plus icon.

5. Enter the shortcut as you like which is not used and hit Enter.
6. Go to Editor mode and try using your shortcut.
7. Now hit Alt+Shift+T to go to the terminal.
8. Want to go back to the editor? Just Hit Ctrl+tab

Tested on Windows 10 machine with VSCode(1.52.1)

Answer 16

Here is my approach, which provides a consistent way of navigating between active terminals as well as jumping between the terminal and editor panes without closing the terminal view. You can try adding this to your keybindings.json directly but I would recommend you go through the keybinding UI (cmd+K cmd+S on a Mac) so you can review/manage conflicts etc.

With this I can use ctrl+x <arrow direction> to navigate to any visible editor or terminal. Once the cursor is in the terminal section you can use ctrl+x ctrl+up or ctrl+x ctrl+down to cycle through the active terminals.

cmd-J is still used to hide/show the terminal pane.

    {
        "key": "ctrl+x right",
        "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focusNextPane",
        "when": "terminalFocus"
    },
    {
        "key": "ctrl+x left",
        "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focusPreviousPane",
        "when": "terminalFocus"
    },
    {
        "key": "ctrl+x ctrl+down",
        "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focusNext",
        "when": "terminalFocus"
    },
    {
        "key": "ctrl+x ctrl+up",
        "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focusPrevious",
        "when": "terminalFocus"
    },
    {
        "key": "ctrl+x up",
        "command": "workbench.action.navigateUp"
    },
    {
        "key": "ctrl+x down",
        "command": "workbench.action.navigateDown"
    },
    {
        "key": "ctrl+x left",
        "command": "workbench.action.navigateLeft",
        "when": "!terminalFocus"
    },
    {
        "key": "ctrl+x right",
        "command": "workbench.action.navigateRight",
        "when": "!terminalFocus"
    },

Answer 17

I did this by going to setting>Keyboard Shortcuts then in the section where it give a search bar type focus terminal and select the option. It will ask to type the combination which you want to set for this action. DO it. As for editor focus type" editor focus" in the search bar and type your desired key. IF you excellently add a key . it can be removed by going to edit jason as mentioned in above comments

Answer 18

control + '~' will work for toggling between the two. and '`' is just above the tab button. This shortcut only works in mac.

Answer 19

100% Working Settings...

[
    { "key": "alt+right", "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focus"},
    { "key": "alt+left", "command": "workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup", "when": "terminalFocus"}   
]

workbench.action.terminal.focus : To switch from editor to terminal. workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup : To switch from terminal to editor.