Using with AI Agents

Secondary Terminal is designed to work seamlessly with CLI-based AI agents. It auto-detects running agents and optimizes the terminal experience for AI-assisted workflows.

Supported Agents

Agent	Detection	Status
Claude Code	Automatic on claude command	Real-time connection indicator
Codex CLI	Automatic on codex command	Real-time connection indicator
Gemini CLI	Automatic on gemini command (v0.28.2+)	Real-time connection indicator
GitHub Copilot CLI	Automatic on copilot or gh copilot command	Real-time connection indicator

How Detection Works

When you run a supported CLI agent, Secondary Terminal:

1. Detects the agent from terminal output using pattern matching
2. Shows status in the terminal header with a color-coded indicator
3. Optimizes rendering -- switches from 60fps to 250fps adaptive buffering for smooth AI streaming
4. Monitors state -- tracks whether the agent is active or disconnected

File Reference Shortcuts

Quickly send file references to your AI agent:

Action	Shortcut	Result
Current file	Ctrl+Alt+L / Cmd+Alt+L	Inserts @filename with the current editor file path
All open files	Ctrl+Alt+A / Cmd+Alt+A	Inserts all open editor file paths

Image Paste (macOS)

On macOS, you can paste screenshots directly into Claude Code:

1. Take a screenshot (Cmd+Shift+4)
2. Focus the terminal with Claude Code running
3. Paste with Cmd+V

The image is sent directly to the AI agent.

OS-Native Notifications (v0.3.4+)

Desktop notifications that work even when VS Code is not in the foreground. When an AI agent completes processing, you'll get an OS-level notification and optionally VS Code will be brought to the front.

Setting	Default	Description
nativeNotification.enabled	true	Show OS-native desktop notifications
nativeNotification.activateWindow	true	Bring VS Code window to foreground
nativeNotification.cooldownMs	10000	Minimum time between native notifications (ms)

Platform support:

Platform	Notification	Window Activation
macOS	osascript (Notification Center)	AppleScript app activate
Windows	PowerShell ToastNotification	PowerShell SetForegroundWindow
Linux	notify-send	wmctrl (install separately if needed)

Toast Notifications

Status bar messages inside VS Code:

Setting	Default	Description
agentToastNotification.enabled	true	Show status bar toast notifications when an agent completes processing
agentToastNotification.cooldownMs	10000	Minimum time between toast notifications (ms)

Multi-Agent Workflows

Run different agents in different terminals:

1. Open terminal 1 -- run claude
2. Open terminal 2 -- run gemini
3. Switch between them with Alt+1 / Alt+2 (or Cmd+Alt+1 / Cmd+Alt+2 on Mac)

Each terminal independently tracks its agent status. Session persistence ensures you can pick up where you left off after restarting VS Code.

GitHub Copilot Chat Integration

Activate GitHub Copilot Chat directly from the terminal:

• Shortcut: Ctrl+K Ctrl+C / Cmd+K Cmd+C
• Setting: enableGitHubCopilotIntegration (default: true)

This sends the current context to Copilot Chat in #file: format.

Performance

AI agent rendering is optimized for high-throughput output:

Metric	Standard	AI Agent Mode
Buffer flush interval	16ms (60fps)	4ms (250fps)
Rendering	Standard xterm.js	WebGL-accelerated with auto-fallback
Scrollback	2,000 lines	2,000 lines (configurable)