Microsoft has announced that it is making Terminal Chat open source and invites developers from the open source community to join and contribute to the development of artificial intelligence in a terminal application.

According to a company blog post, the move is in line with the team’s desire to let users and developers shape the future of artificial intelligence in Windows Terminal by fostering a collaborative environment for innovation.

Terminal Chat, which is currently available in Windows Terminal Canary, allows users to have conversations with an AI service directly in the terminal. This feature enables users to receive intelligent suggestions, such as searching for commands or understanding error messages, while maintaining the context of their terminal session.

The current implementation of the Terminal Chat feature in Windows Terminal requires users to furnish their own Azure OpenAI Service endpoint and key, as it lacks an integrated large-language model. Those keen on utilizing Terminal Chat can locate the corresponding code in the feature/llm branch of the Windows Terminal repository on GitHub. Furthermore, the most recent build of Windows Terminal Canary, inclusive of the Terminal Chat functionality, can be obtained by downloading from the GitHub repository.

Configuring Terminal Chat in Windows Terminal Canary involves the manual addition of an AI service endpoint and key to the Terminal Chat settings. Currently, Terminal Chat exclusively integrates with the Azure OpenAI Service. To acquire the essential Azure OpenAI Service endpoint and key, users must create and deploy an Azure OpenAI Service resource.