How to increase productivity at work with a pretty Windows Terminal and smart Powerline tools
Tags: windowsterminal, powershel, cmd, tutorial
Published: 2022-03-05 08:02:18

![windows terminal](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/y2eqspuo6mux91i68csz.jpeg)

> Windows Terminal is the latest software update for your boring and ugly looking command-line tools like cmd, powershell and WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

### Top Features:

- Google Chrome like multi-tabs suppport
- GPU acceleration (for faster text rendering)
- Split panes support(eg: 4 cmd tabs at once)
- Custom themes and styling (you dress it like you want)
- Open Source project (you too can contribute to make it better)

> Microsoft’s intervention in the open-source community has opened up new doors for developers like us and has brought in more flexibility too.

### Pre-requisites

- [Install Windows Terminal](https://aka.ms/terminal) (recommended)
- [Install Powershell Core](https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/tag/v7.0.3)

```
// Windows Users, downoad file with the extension .msi
PowerShell-X.X.X-win-x64.msi
```
- Setup [Git for Windows](https://git-scm.com/downloads)
- Get a good [powerline](https://www.nerdfonts.com/font-downloads) font to make your prompt smart and beautiful
  - [Cascadia Code PL](https://github.com/microsoft/cascadia-code/releases) (official command line font from Microsoft)
  - [Nerd Fonts](https://www.nerdfonts.com/font-downloads) (choose from a variety of good fonts for the nerds like us)

```
STEPS TO INSTALL:
1. Download the .zip file from the releases page
2. Right-click on the font file and install it
```

### Installation Steps - Guide

1. Open PowerShell Core prompt
2. Install [Posh-Git](https://github.com/dahlbyk/posh-git) using this command:

```
Install-Module posh-git -Scope CurrentUser
```

_Posh-Git solves our age-old problem for checking `git status` or `git branch` information and provides interesting features :_

_Tab completion intellisense (type-in the command and it gives you auto-completion just by hitting `Tab` button)_

- Git commands
- Parameters /git flags
- Branch names

3. Install [Oh-My-Posh](https://github.com/JanDeDobbeleer/oh-my-posh) using this command: 

`
Install-Module oh-my-posh -Scope CurrentUser
`

> Oh-My-Posh adds powerful theming support and other capabilities to Powershell for making a fluid git experience possible

`NOTE: While running the above commands, you may get an option to install NuGet. So go ahead and install it by pressing [Y] key`

- (Optional) Install **PSReadline** if you are running PowerShell Core
- Customize the PowerShell prompt with custom styles
```
notepad $PROFILE
```
- Add the following lines to the notepad file and save it using `Ctrl + S` (Windows)

```
Import-Module posh-git
Import-Module oh-my-posh
Set-Theme Paradox
```
- Open Windows Terminal settings config file
1. Open Windows Terminal
2. `Ctrl + ,` (or manually go to settings like below)

![terminal settings](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ti29axxufi21yr788ok3.png)

- Set a nice default font-family for your Windows Terminal 

1. Find "defaults" object under "profiles" object
2. Paste the following line under "defaults" object

```
"defaults":
   {
     // Put settings here that you want to apply to all profiles.
     "fontFace": "Cascadia Code PL",
   },
```

### Bingo!

Now your productivity will boost up while you work on your dreams…