# How to create multiple profiles for Windows Terminal

**Prerequesites:**

You need to have the [Windows Terminal installed](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/terminal/get-started)

You also need to install the different environments you would like to add a profile for, like [Git Bash](https://git-scm.com/downloads), [Ubuntu/Linus for windows](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10) or [Azure Cloud Shell](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-shell/overview)

If you are using windows terminal you know that you can use multiple tabs. But did you know that you can create multiple profiles to choose from when opening a new tab? In this blogpost I will show you how to create multiple profiles for Windows Terminal, and how to create and add different color shemes to them.

![How to create multiple profiles for windows terminal, the image shows an example of different tabs with different profiles.](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1623432505620/UIQ8hosGX.jpeg)

Create the profiles
-------------------

To create the profiles is quite straightforward. Just go to settings by selecting the down-arrow next to your tabs and choosing “Settings” (or use the shortcut \[Ctrl + ,\]. This will open the settings.json file in your prefered editor.

Find the “Profiles” part of the json and add the profiles you would like. In the code-snippet below you can se the profiles I have added. Lets take a look at the different attributes in a profile.

**guid**: has to be unique between profiles  
**name**: The name that shows up in the dropdown list when you are opening a new tab.  
**commandline**: this command will run when you open a tab in this profile.  
**hidde**: if this is true the profile will not show up in the dropdown.  
**colorScheme**: name of color scheme you would like to use.  
**icon**: filepath or url to icon you would like to use

 "profiles":
    {
        "defaults":
        {
            // Put settings here that you want to apply to all profiles.
        },
        "list":
        \[
                {
                // Make changes here to the powershell.exe profile.
                "guid": "{61c54bbd-c2c6-5271-96e7-009a87ff44bf}",
                "name": "Windows PowerShell",
                "commandline": "powershell.exe",
                "hidden": false,
                "colorScheme" : "Elis-ps"
            },
            {
                // Make changes here to the cmd.exe profile.
                "guid": "{0caa0dad-35be-5f56-a8ff-afceeeaa6101}",
                "name": "Command Prompt",
                "commandline": "cmd.exe",
                "hidden": false,
                "colorScheme" : "Elis-cmd"
            },
            {
                //Azure Cloud Shell
                "guid": "{b453ae62-4e3d-5e58-b989-0a998ec441b8}",
                "hidden": false,
                "name": "Azure Cloud Shell",
                "source": "Windows.Terminal.Azure"
            },
            {
                "guid": "{b453ae62-4e3d-5e58-b989-0a998ec441b9}",
                "hidden": false,
                "name": "M365 CLI",
                "commandline": "cmd.exe m365",
                "icon": "https://blobs.officehome.msocdn.com/images/content/images/favicon\_metro-bb8cb440e5.ico",
                "colorScheme" : "Elis-cmd"
            },
            {
                "guid" : "{b453ae62-4e3d-5e58-b989-0a998ec441a6}",
                "hidden": false,
                "name" : "Git Bash",
                "commandline" : "\\"%PROGRAMFILES%\\\\git\\\\bin\\\\bash.exe\\"",
                "icon" : "%PROGRAMFILES%\\\\git\\\\mingw64\\\\share\\\\git\\\\git-for-windows.ico",
                "colorScheme" : "GitBash"
            },
            {
                "guid": "{2c4de342-38b7-51cf-b940-2309a097f518}",
                "hidden": false,
                "name": "Ubuntu",
                "source": "Windows.Terminal.Wsl",
                "commandline": "wsl ~"
            }
       \]
}

Create different color shemes for different profiles
----------------------------------------------------

![How to create different color shemes for windows terminal](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1623432508115/TfIk-zLqr.jpeg)

You can also create different color shemes. I have created one for the command promt, one for powershell, and one for git-bash – since those are the profiles I use the most. I think the different color shemes makes it easier to remember which context I’m in at a glance.

In the codesnippet below you can see the different color schemes I use. To add them to one of your profile just give them a name and add a “”colorScheme” : “color-scheme-name” attribute pair to the profile.

"schemes": \[
        {
        "name" : "Elis-cmd",
        "background" : "#0C0C0C",
        "foreground" : "#d1a587", 
        "black" : "#0C0C0C",
        "blue" : "#5b72b6",
        "cyan" : "#6789a3",
        "green" : "#608a5e",
        "purple" : "#6f4075",
        "red" : "#b1548a",
        "white" : "#ebc0e5",
        "yellow" : "#C19C00",
        "brightBlack" : "#e3e4e6",
        "brightBlue" : "#7a9adf",
        "brightCyan" : "#a5cacc",
        "brightGreen" : "#95d8c2",
        "brightPurple" : "#6c337e",
        "brightRed" : "#97248a",
        "brightWhite" : "#F2F2F2",
        "brightYellow" : "#F9F1A5"
         },
         {
            "name" : "Elis-ps",
            "background" : "#000000",
            "foreground" : "#5b9c9c", 
            "black" : "#0C0C0C",
            "blue" : "#5b72b6",
            "cyan" : "#6789a3",
            "green" : "#608a5e",
            "purple" : "#6f4075",
            "red" : "#b15454",
            "white" : "#ebc0e5",
            "yellow" : "#C19C00",
            "brightBlack" : "#e3e4e6",
            "brightBlue" : "#7a9adf",
            "brightCyan" : "#a5cacc",
            "brightGreen" : "#95d8c2",
            "brightPurple" : "#6c337e",
            "brightRed" : "#ca7f4c",
            "brightWhite" : "#F2F2F2",
            "brightYellow" : "#e9d76f"
             },
         {
            "name": "GitBash",
            "background" : "#000000",
            "black" : "#0C0C0C",
            "blue" : "#6060ff",
            "brightBlack" : "#767676",
            "brightBlue" : "#3B78FF",
            "brightCyan" : "#61D6D6",
            "brightGreen" : "#16C60C",
            "brightPurple" : "#B4009E",
            "brightRed" : "#E74856",
            "brightWhite" : "#F2F2F2",
            "brightYellow" : "#F9F1A5",
            "cyan" : "#3A96DD",
            "foreground" : "#bfbfbf",
            "green" : "#00a400",
            "purple" : "#bf00bf",
            "red" : "#bf0000",
            "white" : "#ffffff",
            "yellow" : "#bfbf00",
            "grey" : "#bfbfbf"
          }
    \],

* * *

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Thank you for reading, and happy coding!

/Eli

The post [How to create multiple profiles for Windows Terminal](https://elischei.com/how-to-create-multiple-profiles-for-windows-terminal/) first appeared on [A cup of dev](https://elischei.com).