Input & Interaction
Secondary Terminal is designed to behave like a serious editor-integrated terminal, not a simplified console widget. It supports normal clipboard flows, multilingual input through IME, precise cursor positioning, multiline prompts, and selection commands that matter in real development work.
Input Features at a Glance
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Full clipboard | Copy and paste with familiar VS Code-style shortcuts. |
| Image paste on macOS | Paste screenshots directly into Claude Code with Cmd+V. |
| Alt+Click cursor positioning | Move the shell cursor under the mouse when supported by the shell. |
| IME support | Handles Japanese, Chinese, and Korean composition correctly. |
| Multiline input | Insert a newline without immediately submitting the command. |
| Select All | Select the whole terminal buffer for copying or review. |
Common Shortcuts
| Action | Shortcut | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Copy | Ctrl+C / Cmd+C | Copies selection, or sends SIGINT when nothing is selected. |
| Paste | Ctrl+V / Cmd+V | Works with text, and images on supported macOS workflows. |
| Insert newline | Shift+Enter | Useful for multiline prompts. |
| Alternative newline on macOS | Option+Enter | Another way to add a line without submitting. |
| Select all | Ctrl+A / Cmd+A | Selects the current terminal content. |
Clipboard Behavior
Clipboard support is intended to match normal VS Code expectations as closely as possible. That means copying a selection should feel obvious, and pasting should not require special terminal-only shortcuts.
These behaviors are governed by the feature flag settings below:
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
secondaryTerminal.features.vscodeKeyboardShortcuts | true | Enables VS Code-style copy, paste, and related keyboard behavior. |
secondaryTerminal.allowChords | true | Allows multi-key sequences like Ctrl+K Ctrl+C. |
secondaryTerminal.allowMnemonics | true | Preserves platform mnemonic behavior where applicable. |
secondaryTerminal.sendKeybindingsToShell | false | Sends fewer workbench shortcuts straight to the shell. |
Image Paste for Claude Code on macOS
If you are running Claude Code, you can paste screenshots directly from the macOS clipboard into the terminal with Cmd+V. This is especially useful when an agent needs a UI screenshot, error dialog capture, or diagram snippet.
Typical workflow:
1. Capture screenshot with Cmd+Shift+4
2. Focus the Secondary Terminal running claude
3. Press Cmd+V
4. Claude Code receives the pasted imageAlt+Click Cursor Positioning
When secondaryTerminal.altClickMovesCursor is enabled, holding Alt on Windows/Linux or Option on macOS while clicking attempts to move the shell cursor to the clicked position.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
secondaryTerminal.altClickMovesCursor | true | Enables Alt/Option-click cursor repositioning. |
This depends on shell behavior, so it may work better in some shells than others.
IME Support
The extension includes explicit support for IME composition so developers using Japanese, Chinese, or Korean input methods are not forced into broken or partial terminal input behavior.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
secondaryTerminal.features.vscodeStandardIME | true | Uses VS Code-like IME composition handling. |
If you switch between English commands and multilingual natural language prompts, this setting matters a lot in AI workflows.
Multiline Input
Multiline prompts are common when writing AI instructions, shell heredocs, SQL, or quick notes before execution. Secondary Terminal keeps this simple:
Shift+Enter -> insert a newline
Option+Enter -> insert a newline on macOS
Enter -> submit the commandThis prevents accidental command submission while still keeping the shell responsive.