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Intelligent Terminal: Microsoft Unveils an AI-Powered New Console
On the occasion of Build 2026, Microsoft unveiled Intelligent Terminal version 0.1, an experimental open source fork of Windows Terminal. What is the point of this additional terminal? Here are the first details.
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A Terminal with Access to AI Agents
Windows Terminal works well and has established itself as the reference terminal on Windows. It is integrated into Windows, highly customizable, and pleasant to use every day. Yet Microsoft decided to create a fork: Intelligent Terminal. Since it is a fork, this new project inherits the interface and features of its predecessor.
If Windows was replaced by Intelligent in the name, it is because this project is about artificial intelligence, and more specifically AI agents. At the heart of Intelligent Terminal is the agent pane. This is a panel docked at the bottom of the window (which you can move), contextual, and fully configurable.
When you work in your Terminal, it makes interactions with AI easier. For example, instead of copying an error, opening a browser, and browsing forums to find a solution, you can directly ask an AI agent. You can ask it to explain an error or help you fix it. The useful part is that if an error is detected (and it will be automatically), you only need to click a button or use the shortcut Ctrl + Alt + . to summon the AI.
The advantage of Intelligent Terminal is that it keeps ready-to-use context about your console output at all times. That means it can immediately understand what you need help with. By default, the AI agent used is GitHub Copilot CLI, but the terminal is compatible with any agent that supports the ACP (Agent Client Protocol) standard. This makes it a flexible approach, including compatibility with AI tools running locally, while still working out of the box thanks to GitHub Copilot CLI.
"If the agent needs to perform multiple tasks or complex tasks, it will launch background jobs in new tabs so that your active terminal window remains in the foreground.", Microsoft explains.
Managing AI Agents with Intelligent Terminal
Intelligent Terminal inherits Windows Terminal's tab system. It is therefore possible to have several tabs open, each with access to an AI agent. As a result, managing the AI agents associated with your consoles can quickly become complicated. In response to this need, Intelligent Terminal includes an agent management pane.
It centralizes the status of all active agents and lists past sessions in the form of a history. This makes it possible to monitor the activity of a long-running task executing in the background and even resume a previous task.
Microsoft also came up with the idea of creating a link between Intelligent Terminal and the command palette available through PowerToys. It also serves as an entry point for invoking AI by using the ? character followed by your query.
The idea is simple: you are in your Intelligent Terminal tab, you open the command palette, and you type your query. In doing so, the terminal automatically injects the context from the active pane and starts the agent in a background tab without blocking your current session. This lets you launch a task without disrupting your console.
How Do You Install Intelligent Terminal?
Intelligent Terminal is distributed as a separate application from Windows Terminal and installs alongside your regular Windows Terminal. It is available via GitHub, the Microsoft Store, and WinGet.
To install it, open WinGet on Windows and run this command:
winget install Microsoft.IntelligentTerminalFinally, note that Intelligent Terminal also marks the end of the Terminal Chat feature, which until now was present in Windows Terminal Canary builds. It remains to be seen what will become of Intelligent Terminal in the future.
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