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Microsoft has taken another significant step in its AI integration strategy by introducing "Terminal Chat," an AI assistant now available in Windows Terminal. This latest feature brings conversational AI capabilities directly to the command-line interface, marking a notable advancement in making terminal operations more accessible to users of all skill levels. The new feature, currently available in Windows Terminal (Canary), leverages various AI services, including ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, and Azure OpenAI, to provide interactive assistance for command-line operations. What sets Terminal Chat apart is its context-aware functionality, which automatically recognizes the specific shell environment being used—whether it's PowerShell, Command Prompt, WSL Ubuntu, or Azure Cloud Shell—and tailors its responses accordingly.
Users can interact with Terminal Chat through a dedicated interface within Windows Terminal, where they can ask questions, troubleshoot errors, and request guidance on specific commands. The system provides shell-specific suggestions, automatically adjusting its recommendations based on whether a user is working in Windows PowerShell, Linux, or other environments. For example, when asked about creating a directory, Terminal Chat will suggest "New-Item -ItemType Directory" for PowerShell users while providing "mkdir" as the appropriate command for Linux environments. This intelligent adaptation helps bridge the knowledge gap between different command-line interfaces. Below are some examples courtesy of Windows Latest and their testing:
While the feature shows promising potential for both newcomers and experienced users, it does require a paid API key from either GitHub Copilot, OpenAI, or Azure OpenAI services. Microsoft has also implemented privacy-conscious features, such as not saving chat histories by default, though users can export conversations to text files if needed. This integration is making complex computing tasks more approachable through natural language interaction. However, as AI is prone to mistakes, caution is advised when using system commands you don't have idea about (famous fork bomb and rm -rf).
View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
Users can interact with Terminal Chat through a dedicated interface within Windows Terminal, where they can ask questions, troubleshoot errors, and request guidance on specific commands. The system provides shell-specific suggestions, automatically adjusting its recommendations based on whether a user is working in Windows PowerShell, Linux, or other environments. For example, when asked about creating a directory, Terminal Chat will suggest "New-Item -ItemType Directory" for PowerShell users while providing "mkdir" as the appropriate command for Linux environments. This intelligent adaptation helps bridge the knowledge gap between different command-line interfaces. Below are some examples courtesy of Windows Latest and their testing:
While the feature shows promising potential for both newcomers and experienced users, it does require a paid API key from either GitHub Copilot, OpenAI, or Azure OpenAI services. Microsoft has also implemented privacy-conscious features, such as not saving chat histories by default, though users can export conversations to text files if needed. This integration is making complex computing tasks more approachable through natural language interaction. However, as AI is prone to mistakes, caution is advised when using system commands you don't have idea about (famous fork bomb and rm -rf).
View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
