Changing the shell in a codespace

You can change your shell in a codespace to keep the setup you're used to.

In this article

When you're working in a codespace, you can open a new terminal window with a shell of your choice, change your default shell for new terminal windows, or install a new shell. You can also use dotfiles to configure your shell.

Codespaces that use the default dev container image come with the bash, zsh, and fish shells installed. If you open a new codespace in the VS Code web client, or connect to a codespace over SSH, the terminal opens with a bash session running by default. In the VS Code desktop application, the default shell depends on your local settings and operating system. For more information, see Terminal Profiles in the VS Code documentation.

Changing from the default shell in VS Code

If you don't want to use the default shell, you can open a new terminal session with a different shell.

  1. If you cannot see the integrated terminal in VS Code, press Ctrl+`.

  2. To the right of the icon for opening a new terminal window, select the dropdown icon.

    Screenshot of the integrated terminal in VS Code. Next to the plus icon, a downward-facing arrow is outlined in orange.

  3. In the dropdown menu, click the name of the shell you want to use.

Installing a new shell

If you want to use a shell that isn't already installed in the base image or dev container configuration for a codespace, you can install a new shell.

If you're using the default dev container image, look for installation instructions for Ubuntu Linux. If you just want to use a different shell for one session, you can use the command line to install the shell in the codespace you're working in. However, you may lose programs you have installed if you rebuild the container in the codespace. For more information, see Deep dive into GitHub Codespaces.

A more robust option for installing new shells is to include the installation commands either in a dotfiles repository, or as a lifecycle command such as postCreateCommand in a devcontainer.json file. You should use a dotfiles repository to install a shell you want to use in all your own codespaces, and a devcontainer.json file for a shell that contributors to a specific repository should have installed. For more information, see Personalizing GitHub Codespaces for your account and Introduction to dev containers.

Adding a VS Code terminal profile for a new shell

VS Code automatically detects most standard shells and adds them as a terminal profile, so you can easily open new terminal windows using the shell you have installed.

If the shell you install isn't detected automatically, you can add a new terminal profile to your user settings. This setting is dependent on your operating system, so you should use linux for the VS Code web client and your local operating system for the desktop application.

  1. To open the Visual Studio Code Command Palette, press Command+Shift+P (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows).

  2. Start typing "user settings," then click Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON).

  3. In the settings.json file, inside the JSON object, add a new property like the following. Replace OPERATING-SYSTEM with the relevant operating system (such as linux, windows, or osx) and SHELL with the shell you have installed.

    JSON
    "terminal.integrated.profiles.OPERATING-SYSTEM": {
  "SHELL": {
    "path":