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Peter Davis
Peter Davis

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Windows Terminal Themes

A quick guide showing how to change your Windows Terminal from looking like this.

Windows Terminal Before

To this.

Windows Terminal Theme

Install Fonts

Download the Cascadia Code (aka Caskaydia Cove Nerd Font) from Nerd Fonts.

Direct Link: Caskaydia Cove Nerd Font

Unzip the file and double click on the Caskaydia Cove Nerd Font Complete file and choose Install.

Install Caskaydia Cove Nerd Font

Install PowerShell Core (Optional)

If you want to use the new cross platform and open source version of PowerShell head over to GitHub and follow the install instructions applicable to you.

In this example we'll download the Windows (x64) MSI (Direct Link) and then run the MSI to install.

Once finished, re-open windows terminal and you should see a new PowerShell option.

Windows Terminal Powershell Core

You can also change your Windows Terminal start-up options to set PowerShell Core as your default profile.

Windows Terminal Default Profile

The following steps will need to be performed in both PowerShell versions if you want to match your themes across both

Set default Font

Within Windows Terminal Settings > PowerShell > Appearance change the Font face to CaskaydiaCove Nerd Font.

Windows Terminal Font face

Install Oh My Posh

Oh My Posh is the package that allows us to theme our terminal window. The installation process has changed several times since I started using it a couple of years ago but it's now pretty simple.

Make sure you have the latest version of App Installer from the Windows Store as this will provide you with winget, this should be installed by default on Windows 11 but may require an update.

App Installer

In PowerShell run the following command.

winget install JanDeDobbeleer.OhMyPosh
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winget Oh My Posh

Create a new PowerShell profile if one doesn't exist with the following command.

if (!(Test-Path -Path $PROFILE )) { New-Item -Type File -Path $PROFILE -Force }
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If you're using the original PoweShell run the following command as administrator to allow script execution.

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope LocalMachine
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This is not required for PowerShell Core.


To install new terminal icons (these change the folder/file icons in terminal) run the following command.

Install-Module -Name Terminal-Icons -Repository PSGallery
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Edit your profile by using the following command.

notepad $PROFILE
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Add the following lines, where {username} is replaced with your Windows username.

oh-my-posh init pwsh --config C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Programs\oh-my-posh\themes\paradox.omp.json | Invoke-Expression
Import-Module -Name Terminal-Icons
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Save and then restart Windows Terminal and you should see your new theme.

Windows Terminal Theme

Other Themes

You can see the other themes available to you at Oh My Posh Themes, or by running the following command.

Get-PoshThemes
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You can then change paradox.omp.json in your profile file to a different theme, i.e. jandedobbeleer.omp.json.

jandedobbeleer theme

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