Enhanced support for legacy terminal shells

Type: Feature Request

Our company uses TCSH as its primary shell in Linux. In VSCode, TCSH does not have the integration support of other terminals like BASH or ZSH. Copilot chat is unable to natively see the terminal output as context when using TSCH. Would it be possible to provide a terminal.context.buffer.size option which can be set to a non-zero value to always capture the last N lines of terminal output to a buffer that Copilot has access to? Users who use older shells could use this to pass the terminal output to Copilot without having to constanly cut and paste. For bonus points, if there was a way for Copilot to spawn new terminals it creates from the active terminal that would be amazing. Often, we will need to source some environment to run tools after VSCode has been loaded, so all new terminals Copilot creates will not have the right setup to assist with debug. If Copilot could spawn the new terminals from the active terminal session the terminals would then inherit the environment currently being used.

VS Code version: Code 1.130.0 (1b6a188127eeaf9194f945eb6eb89a657e93c54c, 2026-07-22T14:55:04Z)
OS version: Linux x64 5.14.21-150400.24.158-default
Modes:

System Info

|Item|Value|
|---|---|
|CPUs|Intel(R) Xeon(R) E-2378G CPU @ 2.80GHz (8 x 4537)|
|GPU Status|2d_canvas: disabled_software
GPU0: VENDOR= 0x0000, DEVICE=0x0000
Machine model name:
Machine model version:
direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok
gpu_compositing: disabled_software
multiple_raster_threads: disabled_off
opengl: disabled_off
rasterization: disabled_software
raw_draw: disabled_off_ok
skia_graphite: disabled_off
trees_in_viz: disabled_off
video_decode: disabled_software
video_encode: disabled_software
vulkan: disabled_off
webgl: disabled_off
webgpu: disabled_off
webgpu_on_vk_via_gl_interop: disabled_off
webnn: disabled_off|
|Load (avg)|0, 0, 0|
|Memory (System)|125.34GB (99.02GB free)|
|Process Argv|--crash-reporter-id b51dbdc1-5614-449a-8c42-2c2224b06edb|
|Screen Reader|no|
|VM|0%|
|DESKTOP_SESSION|xfce|
|XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP|XFCE|
|XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP|undefined|
|XDG_SESSION_TYPE|undefined|
Extensions (54)

Name|Identifier|Author|Version
---|---|---|---
CodeSnap|adpyke.codesnap|adpyke|1.3.4
Bookmarks|alefragnani.bookmarks|alefragnani|14.1.1
Conflict Squeezer|angelomollame.conflict-squeezer|angelomollame|1.0.1
Easy CodeSnap|arthurlobo.easy-codesnap|ArthurLobo|1.37.4
Nomo Dark Icon Theme|be5invis.vscode-icontheme-nomo-dark|be5invis|1.3.9
Tcl/Tk, iRules, EDA-Tools, Expect LSP/MCP|bitwisecook.tcl-lsp|bitwisecook|1.11.4
Catppuccin Icons for VSCode|catppuccin.catppuccin-vsc-icons|Catppuccin|1.26.0
Perl|cfgweb.vscode-perl|cfgweb|1.19.0
GitLens — Git supercharged|eamodio.gitlens|eamodio|18.3.0
SystemVerilog - Language Support|eirikpre.systemverilog|eirikpre|0.15.0
VSCode Great Icons|emmanuelbeziat.vscode-great-icons|emmanuelbeziat|2.1.121
GitHub Repositories|github.remotehub|GitHub|0.64.0
GitHub Actions|github.vscode-github-actions|github|0.32.3
GitHub Pull Requests|github.vscode-pull-request-github|GitHub|0.158.0
Spreadsheet Viewer|grapecity.gc-excelviewer|GrapeCity|4.2.66
perl-outline|hitode909.perl-outline|hitode909|0.0.7
PDF Viewer|mathematic.vscode-pdf|mathematic|0.1.11
Rainbow CSV|mechatroner.rainbow-csv|mechatroner|3.24.1
Git Graph|mhutchie.git-graph|mhutchie|1.30.0
Monokai Pro|monokai.theme-monokai-pro-vscode|monokai|2.0.13
Python Debugger|ms-python.debugpy|ms-python|2026.6.0
Python|ms-python.python|ms-python|2026.4.0
Pylance|ms-python.vscode-pylance|ms-python|2026.3.1
Python Environments|ms-python.vscode-python-envs|ms-python|1.36.0
Jupyter|ms-toolsai.jupyter|ms-toolsai|2025.9.1
Jupyter Keymap|ms-toolsai.jupyter-keymap|ms-toolsai|1.1.2
Jupyter Notebook Renderers|ms-toolsai.jupyter-renderers|ms-toolsai|1.3.0
Jupyter Cell Tags|ms-toolsai.vscode-jupyter-cell-tags|ms-toolsai|0.1.9
Jupyter Slide Show|ms-toolsai.vscode-jupyter-slideshow|ms-toolsai|0.1.6
Dev Containers|ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers|ms-vscode-remote|0.466.0
Remote - SSH|ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh|ms-vscode-remote|0.124.0
Remote - SSH: Editing Configuration Files|ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-edit|ms-vscode-remote|0.87.0
WSL|ms-vscode-remote.remote-wsl|ms-vscode-remote|0.104.3
Remote Development|ms-vscode-remote.vscode-remote-extensionpack|ms-vscode-remote|0.26.0
Live Preview|ms-vscode.live-server|ms-vscode|0.4.19
Remote Explorer|ms-vscode.remote-explorer|ms-vscode|0.5.0
Remote Repositories|ms-vscode.remote-repositories|ms-vscode|0.42.0
Remote - Tunnels|ms-vscode.remote-server|ms-vscode|1.5.3
VS Code Speech|ms-vscode.vscode-speech|ms-vscode|0.16.0
Live Share|ms-vsliveshare.vsliveshare|ms-vsliveshare|1.1.122
Material Icon Theme|pkief.material-icon-theme|PKief|5.37.0
YAML|redhat.vscode-yaml|redhat|1.24.0
SynthWave '84|robbowen.synthwave-vscode|RobbOwen|0.1.20
Better Jinja|samuelcolvin.jinjahtml|samuelcolvin|0.20.0
Markdown Preview Enhanced|shd101wyy.markdown-preview-enhanced|shd101wyy|0.8.30
Graphviz Interactive Preview|tintinweb.graphviz-interactive-preview|tintinweb|0.3.5
vscode-pdf|tomoki1207.pdf|tomoki1207|1.2.2
Gradle for Java|vscjava.vscode-gradle|vscjava|3.18.0
vscode-icons|vscode-icons-team.vscode-icons|vscode-icons-team|12.19.0
Vim|vscodevim.vim|vscodevim|1.32.4
Git Blame|waderyan.gitblame|waderyan|13.1.0
Jinja|wholroyd.jinja|wholroyd|0.0.8
Markdown PDF|yzane.markdown-pdf|yzane|2.1.0
One Dark Pro|zhuangtongfa.material-theme|zhuangtongfa|3.19.0

A/B Experiments

```
vsliv368:30146709
binariesv615:30325510
nativeloc1:31344060
dwcopilot:31170013
dwoutputs:31242946
copilot_t_ci:31333650
e5gg6876:31282496
pythonrdcb7:31342333
6518g693:31463988
aj953862:31281341
envsactivate1:31551504
cloudbuttont:31379625
3efgi100_wstrepl:31403338
bj468946:31457056
ec5jj548:31422691
cp_cls_t_966_ss:31526232
4je02754:31466945
c3h7c220:31478652
ge8j1254_inline_auto_hint_haiku:31490510
cp_cls_c_1081:31454833
conptydll_true:31498968
e9c30283:31461165
test_control1:31471004
c9b86496:31447327
capico_a_098a3278:31555650
idci7584:31464702
e3e4d672:31494082
ei9d7968:31496641
nes-extended-on:31455476
chat:31457767
8hig5102:31480529
89g7j272:31518289
7e187181:31503455
i2gc6536:31499202
52612955:31516516
ghj88844:31499326
ddid_c:31478207
hmra_i5g22:31518061
ie3bb177:31557831
7df3h592:31512476
cp_cls_t_1082:31535311
logging_enabled_new:31498466
db5d2638:31499441
jb_cp_cls_t_632:31543129
748c7209:31512887
32d76977:31512328
ha629193:31508444
cdk-lw-on:31524445
f9bf7985:31543584
jh5f2457_c:31540921
g4a0e106:31529594
41836166:31537719
jbcp_cls_pctr_t:31531130
61138546:31518536
cp_intellij_t_nes:31548657
gf14b233:31526830
nes-curr-leftover-1500:31538366
ahp-both-windows:31556933
h561g132:31533256
session_8:31532895
ihg5j128:31534457
f412h606:31551416
7g2b5551:31542111
sandbox-ui-on-2:31543161
5fe6f778:31554331
allow-none:31555437
fd5dc207:31551400
8hc4g144:31558143
0dg73464:31554319
d4c76da2:31557006
treatment-23-1:31555779
unuse_dynamic_mcp:31555281

```