claude mcp add BashTerm -- npx vscode-terminal-mcp@latest

{
  "servers": {
    "BashTerm": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["vscode-terminal-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "BashTerm": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "vscode-terminal-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "BashTerm": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "vscode-terminal-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

> Run npm test

$ npm test
PASS src/utils.test.ts (3 tests)
PASS src/index.test.ts (5 tests)

[exit: 0 | 1243ms | session-abc123]

> Start `npm run build` without waiting, then check progress

> Run npm init and answer the prompts

> Have one agent run tests while another runs the linter

## Terminal Execution

Prefer the BashTerm MCP tools (`run`, `exec`, `read`, etc.) over the built-in Bash tool for executing commands.
BashTerm runs commands in visible VSCode terminal tabs where the user can see output in real time.
Only fall back to the built-in Bash tool for simple, non-interactive operations like reading environment variables.

For commands that may take longer than 30 seconds or produce large amounts of output (builds, test suites,
deployments, installs), use the pull mode pattern:
1. Call `run` with `waitForCompletion: false` to launch the command without blocking.
2. Call `read` with `offset: -10` to check the last 10 lines of output.
3. Repeat step 2 until you see the command has finished (look for exit messages, prompts, or "Done").
4. Report the final result to the user.

This prevents conversation timeouts and lets the user watch progress in the terminal in real time.

cd /path/to/vscode-terminal-mcp
npm run build
cp dist/extension.js ~/.vscode/extensions/sirlordt.vscode-terminal-mcp-<version>/dist/extension.js

# 1. Uninstall and remove all copies
code --uninstall-extension sirlordt.vscode-terminal-mcp
rm -rf ~/.vscode/extensions/sirlordt.vscode-terminal-mcp-*

# 2. Check for ghost entries with old publisher names
# Look in ~/.vscode/extensions/extensions.json for stale entries
# Remove any entries with old publisher IDs (e.g., "terminal-mcp.vscode-terminal-mcp")

# 3. Close VSCode completely (not just reload)

# 4. Rebuild and install
npm run build
npx vsce package --allow-missing-repository
code --install-extension vscode-terminal-mcp-<version>.vsix --force

# 5. Open VSCode

# Check which extension directories exist
ls ~/.vscode/extensions/ | grep terminal

# Verify your changes are in the installed extension
grep "YOUR_UNIQUE_STRING" ~/.vscode/extensions/sirlordt.vscode-terminal-mcp-*/dist/extension.js

# Compare checksums
md5sum dist/extension.js ~/.vscode/extensions/sirlordt.vscode-terminal-mcp-*/dist/extension.js

# Get the last 50 lines (most relevant for status)
tail -50 /path/to/saved/file.txt

# Or parse the JSON to extract the text content
python3 -c "import json; data=json.load(open('/path/to/file.txt')); print(data[0]['text'][-2000:])"