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wt --help should print text to terminal, instead of popping open a modal dialog ("Add a CLI executable for interacting with WT") #10113

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opened 2026-01-31 02:12:51 +00:00 by claunia · 5 comments
claunia commented 2026-01-31 02:12:51 +00:00
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Originally created by @pcgeek86 on GitHub (Aug 12, 2020).

Description of the new feature/enhancement

When I run the wt command with the --help parameter, a modal dialog is popped up containing the help text. Instead, I would expect that the help text is printed directly to the terminal and immediately returns control to the user.

The modal dialog is visually disruptive to the terminal workflow, as it appears outside the bounds of the terminal window and doesn't match the terminal styling.

image

Proposed technical implementation details (optional)

n/a

Originally created by @pcgeek86 on GitHub (Aug 12, 2020). <!-- 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 I ACKNOWLEDGE THE FOLLOWING BEFORE PROCEEDING: 1. If I delete this entire template and go my own path, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 2. If I list multiple bugs/concerns in this one issue, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 3. If I write an issue that has many duplicates, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement (and without necessarily spending time to find the exact duplicate ID number). 4. If I leave the title incomplete when filing the issue, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 5. If I file something completely blank in the body, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. All good? Then proceed! --> # Description of the new feature/enhancement When I run the `wt` command with the `--help` parameter, a modal dialog is popped up containing the help text. Instead, I would expect that the help text is printed directly to the terminal and immediately returns control to the user. The modal dialog is visually disruptive to the terminal workflow, as it appears outside the bounds of the terminal window and doesn't match the terminal styling. ![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/466713/90035611-3a94a980-dc7f-11ea-8403-77f2d127be82.png) # Proposed technical implementation details (optional) n/a
claunia added the Issue-FeatureProduct-TerminalArea-Commandline labels 2026-01-31 02:12:51 +00:00
claunia commented 2026-01-31 02:12:51 +00:00
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@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Aug 12, 2020):

Oh man, you and me both. As it turns out, this is a Hard problem. If you want more background on why we're stuck in this hellscape, I'd take a look at this doc.

Maybe we could do something silly like wt-help.exe, that's a commandline executable that just does help messages printed to the terminal? I also kinda hate that, so I'm not sure that's a great solution.

There are a few args/commands that really would be best served by a commandline-specifc tool, but we don't have that currently. I'm thinking:

  • all the --help commands
  • wt --version
  • list-profiles

and maybe even in the post #5000 world, there might even be something like

  • wt list-windows to show you a list of all the open WT windows and their IDs/titles/PIDs/number of panes/whatever.

I have half a mind to leave this open as "ship a sidecar commandline executable for only doing commandline activities."

Oh there's also #4887

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Aug 12, 2020): Oh man, you and me both. As it turns out, this is a **H**ard problem. If you want more background on why we're stuck in this hellscape, I'd take a look at [this doc](https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/blob/master/doc/specs/%23607%20-%20Commandline%20Arguments%20for%20the%20Windows%20Terminal.md#L586-L623). Maybe we could do something silly like `wt-help.exe`, that's a commandline executable that just does help messages printed to the terminal? I also kinda hate that, so I'm not sure that's a great solution. There are a few args/commands that really would be best served by a commandline-specifc tool, but we don't have that currently. I'm thinking: * all the `--help` commands * `wt --version` * `list-profiles` and maybe even in the post #5000 world, there might even be something like * `wt list-windows` to show you a list of all the open WT windows and their IDs/titles/PIDs/number of panes/whatever. I have half a mind to leave this open as "ship a sidecar commandline executable for only doing commandline activities." Oh there's also #4887
claunia commented 2026-01-31 02:12:52 +00:00
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@pcgeek86 commented on GitHub (Aug 12, 2020):

I honestly don't know the codebase, and am not qualified to comment on the proposed implementation. However, I appreciate your interest in improving the UX! 👍 I will be keeping an eye on this thread.

@pcgeek86 commented on GitHub (Aug 12, 2020): I honestly don't know the codebase, and am not qualified to comment on the proposed implementation. However, I appreciate your interest in improving the UX! 👍 I will be keeping an eye on this thread.
claunia commented 2026-01-31 02:12:52 +00:00
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@FallenHoot commented on GitHub (Mar 25, 2021):

My closed thread is different from this thread but has the same concept. Any update if this will become a feature?

It really is silly to have this MessageBox. Would be great to have something like:
$PSVersionTable.PSVersion
or
cmd --version

My use case:
I want to verify if WT or WT Preview is installed. I also want to know what release version of WT or WT Preview is being used without the MessageBox.

@FallenHoot commented on GitHub (Mar 25, 2021): My closed thread is different from this thread but has the same concept. Any update if this will become a feature? It really is silly to have this MessageBox. Would be great to have something like: $PSVersionTable.PSVersion or cmd --version My use case: I want to verify if WT or WT Preview is installed. I also want to know what release version of WT or WT Preview is being used without the MessageBox.
claunia commented 2026-01-31 02:12:52 +00:00
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@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Mar 25, 2021):

The idea we've tossed around in meetings before is shipping a totally separate exe, wtc.exe (or something less dumb), that's a SUBSYSTEM=Console executable. That would work well for wt -v, wt --help, and would useful for printing things like, the list of profiles or the list of open windows. It wouldn't be able to actually create new windows though. There's no plan to do that anytime soon though.

There was discussion previously about maybe creating a special manifest entry that would let an application not allocate a console if it didn't have one, but also otherwise act like a SUBSYSTEM=Console application, so that something like cmd.exe would block on it. That was being tracked in #7335, #7337, but that's not going to actually work IIRC.

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Mar 25, 2021): The idea we've tossed around in meetings before is shipping a totally separate exe, `wtc.exe` (or something less dumb), that's a SUBSYSTEM=Console executable. That would work well for `wt -v`, `wt --help`, and would useful for printing things like, the list of profiles or the list of open windows. It wouldn't be able to actually create new windows though. There's no plan to do that anytime soon though. There was discussion previously about maybe creating a special manifest entry that would let an application not allocate a console if it didn't have one, but also otherwise act like a `SUBSYSTEM=Console` application, so that something like `cmd.exe` would block on it. That was being tracked in #7335, #7337, but that's not going to actually work IIRC.
claunia commented 2026-01-31 02:12:52 +00:00
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@KalleOlaviNiemitalo commented on GitHub (May 17, 2021):

Would it work if wtc.exe created a pipe, started WindowsTerminal.exe with the write end of the pipe as stdout, and forwarded the output from the pipe to its own stdout? I hope this would avoid any problems with the GUI process not inheriting a console. By keeping wtc.exe running until the write end of the pipe is closed, this would be somewhat independent of the process model of WindowsTerminal.exe. OTOH, perhaps it needs to wait for the WindowsTerminal.exe process to exit anyway, so that it can forward the exit code.

@KalleOlaviNiemitalo commented on GitHub (May 17, 2021): Would it work if wtc.exe created a pipe, started WindowsTerminal.exe with the write end of the pipe as stdout, and forwarded the output from the pipe to its own stdout? I hope this would avoid any problems with the GUI process not inheriting a console. By keeping wtc.exe running until the write end of the pipe is closed, this would be somewhat independent of the process model of WindowsTerminal.exe. OTOH, perhaps it needs to wait for the WindowsTerminal.exe process to exit anyway, so that it can forward the exit code.
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