Terminal Management Skill

Description

Teaches AI agents to properly manage VS Code terminal lifecycle — always use background terminals and kill them after commands complete. Prevents zombie terminal accumulation in GitHub Codespaces and VS Code.

When to use

• •Any time an agent needs to run a terminal command
• •When working in GitHub Codespaces
• •When working in any VS Code-based environment
• •When agents spawn terminals via run_in_terminal

Rules

1. •Always use background terminals (isBackground: true) for every command so a terminal ID is returned
2. •Always kill the terminal after the command completes, whether it succeeds or fails — never leave terminals open
3. •Do not reuse foreground shell sessions — stale sessions block future terminal operations in Codespaces
4. •In GitHub Codespaces, agent-spawned terminals may be hidden — they still work. Do not assume a terminal is broken if you cannot see it
5. •If a terminal appears unresponsive, kill it and create a new one rather than retrying in the same terminal

Correct Pattern

1. run_in_terminal(command, isBackground=true)  → terminal_id
2. await_terminal(terminal_id, timeout)          → output
3. kill_terminal(terminal_id)                    → cleanup

Anti-Patterns

• •Running commands with isBackground: false (no terminal ID returned, cannot clean up)
• •Not calling kill_terminal after getting output
• •Retrying in the same terminal when it appears unresponsive
• •Assuming a hidden terminal is broken (common in Codespaces)

Keywords

terminal, kill_terminal, await_terminal, run_in_terminal, isBackground, zombie terminal, ghost terminal, Codespaces, VS Code