JetBrains has announced a beta for its new terminal across its IDEs, which will be an overhaul of the terminal that keeps the main functionality of the old terminal and adds newer features that improve productivity and efficiency. 

Users running JetBrains IDE 2024.1 or later can switch between the new and old terminal by going to the Terminal section of Settings. 

Visually, this new terminal will align with the UI seen since JetBrains IDE 2024.1. The main distinction in look is that each command gets displayed in a separate block to help users quickly see where each command starts and stops. Users can navigate through the blocks using the keyboard arrows. 

There is also a command history section that can be used to add even more ease and allow users to quickly navigate to recently executed commands.  

Another significant update in the new terminal is that there is a command auto completion feature that supports commands, paths, arguments, and options.

And finally, the color palette was also updated to make it more “aesthetically pleasing and easy to read.” 

Architecturally, there were several changes that had to happen in order to enable this new terminal. Users now have more control in the prompt area of the terminal, allowing them to use editor actions and move the cursor during command input. 

Command completion utilizes all of the IDE’s knowledge, which improves suggestion quality. 

JetBrains has also added its own command prompt that shows the current directory, Git branch, Python virtual environment, and Anaconda environment. 

The company has a number of other features planned for the new terminal, such as more visual customization options, the ability to switch between the built-in and shell prompt, context actions for blocks, better tab management, and AI capabilities. 

“Our goal is that the new terminal will have the same capabilities as the old one, while offering a host of beneficial new features,” JetBrains explained in a blog post.