Adding Git-Bash to the new Windows Terminal

Question

I'm trying to add a new terminal (Git Bash) to the new Windows Terminal. However, I can't get it to work.

I tried changing the commandline property in the profiles array to git-bash.exe but no luck.

Does anyone have an idea how to get this to work?

Answer 1

Overview

1. Open settings with ctrl + ,
2. You'll want to append one of the profiles options below (depending on what version of git you have installed) to the "list": portion of the settings.json file

{
    "$schema": "https://aka.ms/terminal-profiles-schema",

    "defaultProfile": "{00000000-0000-0000-ba54-000000000001}",

    "profiles":
    {
        "defaults":
        {
            // Put settings here that you want to apply to all profiles
        },
        "list":
        [
            <put one of the configuration below right here>
        ]
    }
}

Profile options

Uncomment correct paths for commandline and icon if you are using:

• Git for Windows in %PROGRAMFILES%
• Git for Windows in %USERPROFILE%
• If you're using scoop

{
    "guid": "{00000000-0000-0000-ba54-000000000002}",
    "commandline": "%PROGRAMFILES%/git/usr/bin/bash.exe -i -l",
    // "commandline": "%USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/Programs/Git/bin/bash.exe -l -i",
    // "commandline": "%USERPROFILE%/scoop/apps/git/current/usr/bin/bash.exe -l -i",
    "icon": "%PROGRAMFILES%/Git/mingw64/share/git/git-for-windows.ico",
    // "icon": "%USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/Programs/Git/mingw64/share/git/git-for-windows.ico",
    // "icon": "%USERPROFILE%/apps/git/current/usr/share/git/git-for-windows.ico",
    "name" : "Bash",
    "startingDirectory" : "%USERPROFILE%"
},

You can also add other options like:

{
    "guid": "{00000000-0000-0000-ba54-000000000002}",
    // ...
    "acrylicOpacity" : 0.75,
    "closeOnExit" : true,
    "colorScheme" : "Campbell",
    "cursorColor" : "#FFFFFF",
    "cursorShape" : "bar",
    "fontFace" : "Consolas",
    "fontSize" : 10,
    "historySize" : 9001,
    "padding" : "0, 0, 0, 0",
    "snapOnInput" : true,
    "useAcrylic" : true
}

Notes

• make your own guid as of https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/pull/2475 this is no longer generated.
• the guid can be used in in the globals > defaultProfile so you can press you can press CtrlShiftT or start a Windows terminal and it will start up bash by default

"defaultProfile" : "{00000000-0000-0000-ba54-000000000001}",

• -l -i to make sure that .bash_profile gets loaded
• use environment variables so they can map to different systems correctly.
• target git/bin/bash.exe to avoid spawning off additional processes which saves about 10MB per process according to Process Explorer compared to using bin/bash or git-bash

I have my configuration that uses Scoop in https://gist.github.com/trajano/24f4edccd9a997fad8b4de29ea252cc8

Answer 2

There are below things to do.

1. Make sure your git command can be run successfully in CMD

That means you need to add git to path when install git or add it to system environment later.

2. Update the config file profile.json

Open Settings, add following snippet inside the word profiles:

        { 
            "tabTitle": "Git Bash",
            "acrylicOpacity" : 0.75, 
            "closeOnExit" : true, 
            "colorScheme" : "Campbell", 
            "commandline" : "C:/Program Files/Git/bin/bash.exe --login", 
            "cursorColor" : "#FFFFFF", 
            "cursorShape" : "bar", 
            "fontFace" : "Consolas", 
            "fontSize" : 12, 
            "guid" : "{14ad203f-52cc-4110-90d6-d96e0f41b64d}", 
            "historySize" : 9001, 
            "icon": "ms-appdata:///roaming/git-bash_32px.ico",
            "name" : "Git Bash", 
            "padding" : "0, 0, 0, 0", 
            "snapOnInput" : true, 
            "useAcrylic" : true 
        }

The icon can be obtained here: git-bash_32px.ico

You can add icons for Tab to this location:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\RoamingState

Put 32x32 PNG/icons in this folder, and then in profile.json you can reference the image resource with the path starting with ms-appdata:// .

Note that, please make sure the Guidis correct and it matches the corresponding correct configs.

3. Test git bash works well in Windows Terminal

The final result is below:

Answer 3

This is the complete answer (GitBash + color scheme + icon + context menu)

1) Set default profile:

"globals" : 
{
    "defaultProfile" : "{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}",
    ...

2) Add GitBash profile

"profiles" : 
[
    {
        "guid": "{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}",
        "acrylicOpacity" : 0.75,
        "closeOnExit" : true,
        "colorScheme" : "GitBash",
        "commandline" : "\"%PROGRAMFILES%\\Git\\usr\\bin\\bash.exe\" --login -i -l",
        "cursorColor" : "#FFFFFF",
        "cursorShape" : "bar",
        "fontFace" : "Consolas",
        "fontSize" : 10,
        "historySize" : 9001,
        "icon" : "%PROGRAMFILES%\\Git\\mingw64\\share\\git\\git-for-windows.ico", 
        "name" : "GitBash",
        "padding" : "0, 0, 0, 0",
        "snapOnInput" : true,
        "startingDirectory" : "%USERPROFILE%",
        "useAcrylic" : false        
    },

3) Add GitBash color scheme

"schemes" : 
[
    {
        "background" : "#000000",
        "black" : "#0C0C0C",
        "blue" : "#6060ff",
        "brightBlack" : "#767676",
        "brightBlue" : "#3B78FF",
        "brightCyan" : "#61D6D6",
        "brightGreen" : "#16C60C",
        "brightPurple" : "#B4009E",
        "brightRed" : "#E74856",
        "brightWhite" : "#F2F2F2",
        "brightYellow" : "#F9F1A5",
        "cyan" : "#3A96DD",
        "foreground" : "#bfbfbf",
        "green" : "#00a400",
        "name" : "GitBash",
        "purple" : "#bf00bf",
        "red" : "#bf0000",
        "white" : "#ffffff",
        "yellow" : "#bfbf00",
        "grey" : "#bfbfbf"
    },  

4) To add a right-click context menu "Windows Terminal Here"

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\wt]
@="Windows terminal here"
"Icon"="C:\\Users\\{YOUR_WINDOWS_USERNAME}\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\WindowsApps\\{YOUR_ICONS_FOLDER}\\icon.ico"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\wt\command]
@="\"C:\\Users\\{YOUR_WINDOWS_USERNAME}\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\WindowsApps\\wt.exe\""

• replace {YOUR_WINDOWS_USERNAME}
• create icon folder, put the icon there and replace {YOUR_ICONS_FOLDER}
• save this in a whatever_filename.reg file and run it.

Answer 4

Because most answers either show a lot of unrelated configuration or don't show the configuration, I created my own answer that tries to be more focused. It is mainly based on the profile settings reference and Archimedes Trajano's answer.

Steps

1. Open PowerShell and enter [guid]::NewGuid() to generate a new GUID. We will use it at step 3.

   > [guid]::NewGuid()
   
   Guid
   ----
   a3da8d92-2f3f-4e36-9714-98876b6cb480
   

2. Open the settings of Windows Terminal. (CTRL+,)

3. Add the following JSON object to profiles.list. Replace guid with the one you generated at step 1.

   {
     "guid": "{a3da8d92-2f3f-4e36-9714-98876b6cb480}",
     "name": "Git Bash",
     "commandline": "\"%PROGRAMFILES%\\Git\\usr\\bin\\bash.exe\" -i -l",
     "icon": "%PROGRAMFILES%\\Git\\mingw64\\share\\git\\git-for-windows.ico",
     "startingDirectory" : "%USERPROFILE%"
   },
   

Notes

• There is currently an issue that you cannot use your arrow keys (and some other keys). It seems to work with the latest preview version, though. (issue #6859)

• Specifying "startingDirectory" : "%USERPROFILE%" shouldn't be necessary according to the reference. However, if I don't specify it, the starting directory was different depending on how I started the terminal initially.

• Settings that shall apply to all terminals can be specified in profiles.defaults.

• I recommend to set "antialiasingMode": "cleartype" in profiles.defaults. You have to remove "useAcrylic" (if you have added it as suggested by some other answers) to make it work. It improves the quality of text rendering. However, you cannot have transparent background without useAcrylic. See issue #1298.

• If you have problems with the cursor, you can try another shape like "cursorShape": "filledBox". See cursor settings for more information.

Answer 5

That's how I've added mine in profiles json table,

{
    "guid": "{00000000-0000-0000-ba54-000000000002}",
    "name": "Git",
    "commandline": "C:/Program Files/Git/bin/bash.exe --login",
    "icon": "%PROGRAMFILES%/Git/mingw64/share/git/git-for-windows.ico",
    "startingDirectory": "%USERPROFILE%",
    "hidden": false
}

Answer 6

Another item to note - in settings.json I discovered if you don't use "commandline": "C:/Program Files/Git/bin/bash.exe"

and instead use: "commandline": "C:/Program Files/Git/git-bash.exe"

the Git shell will open up in an independent window outside of Windows Terminal instead of on a tab - which is not the desired behavior. In addition, the tab in Windows Terminal that opens will also need to be closed manually as it will display process exited information - [process exited with code 3221225786] etc.

Might save someone some headache

Answer 7

Change the profiles parameter to "commandline": "%PROGRAMFILES%\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe -l -i"

This works for me and allows for my .bash_profile alias autocomplete scripts to run.

Answer 8

If you want to display an icon and are using a dark theme. Which means the icon provided above doesn't look that great. Then you can find the icon here

C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\share\git\git-for-windows I copied it into.

%LOCALAPPDATA%\packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\RoamingState

and named it git-bash_32px as suggested above.

Control the opacity with CTRL + SHIFT + scrolling.

        {
            "acrylicOpacity" : 0.75,
            "closeOnExit" : true,
            "colorScheme" : "Campbell",
            "commandline" : "\"%PROGRAMFILES%\\git\\usr\\bin\\bash.exe\" -i -l",
            "cursorColor" : "#FFFFFF",
            "cursorShape" : "bar",
            "fontFace" : "Consolas",
            "fontSize" : 10,
            "guid" : "{73225108-7633-47ae-80c1-5d00111ef646}",
            "historySize" : 9001,
            "icon" : "ms-appdata:///roaming/git-bash_32px.ico",
            "name" : "Bash",
            "padding" : "0, 0, 0, 0",
            "snapOnInput" : true,
            "startingDirectory" : "%USERPROFILE%",
            "useAcrylic" : true
        },

Answer 9

The new version of windows terminal can be configured through its GUI.

Setting -> Add new
Under "command line" add the path -> path/to/Git/bin/bash.exe

Answer 10

I did as follows:

1. Add "%programfiles%\Git\Bin" to your PATH
2. On the profiles.json, set the desired command-line as "commandline" : "sh --cd-to-home"
3. Restart the Windows Terminal

It worked for me.

Answer 11

Adding "%PROGRAMFILES%\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe -l -i" doesn't work for me. Because of space symbol (which is separator in cmd) in %PROGRAMFILES% terminal executes command "C:\Program" instead of "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe -l -i". The solution should be something like adding quotation marks in json file, but I didn't figure out how. The only solution is to add "C:\Program Files\Git\bin" to %PATH% and write "commandline": "bash.exe" in profiles.json