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Migrate to Warp from Windows Terminal

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Switching from Windows Terminal and PowerShell to Warp on Windows? Here's how to reconfigure profiles, shells, fonts, and keybindings, and where to find Warp's equivalents for Windows Terminal features.

Warp on Windows covers everything you use Windows Terminal for today — profiles, PowerShell, color schemes, keybindings — with Agent Mode and blocks on top. This page walks through the migration.

Warp doesn’t ship a Windows Terminal importer, but it can do most of the work for you agentically. Windows Terminal stores its settings in a single JSON file at:

Terminal window
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json
Section titled “Use Warp’s agent to migrate your settings (recommended)”

The fastest way to bring over your Windows Terminal setup is to ask Warp’s agent to translate settings.json directly. Warp ships a settings.toml file and a bundled modify-settings skill that lets the agent read your existing config and write equivalent values into Warp’s settings, including translating your color schemes into a Warp custom theme.

  1. In Warp, open a new tab and switch to Agent Mode with Ctrl+I.

  2. Paste a prompt like:

    Read my Windows Terminal settings.json at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json and port the active profile and color scheme into my Warp settings.toml using the modify-settings skill. Create a matching custom theme. Show me a diff before applying.

  3. Review the proposed diff and approve. Warp hot-reloads settings.toml.

If you’d rather configure each setting manually through the Settings UI, the steps below cover the most common cases.

Warp on Windows supports PowerShell (pwsh and powershell.exe), Command Prompt (cmd), bash, zsh, and fish. Warp auto-detects your login shell; to override, go to Settings > Features > Session and pick a shell from Startup shell for new sessions.

If you use PowerShell modules or a custom $PROFILE, Warp loads them the same way Windows Terminal does.

Windows Terminal uses profiles to group shell, theme, starting directory, and font together. Warp doesn’t have a single profile concept; instead, match each dimension separately:

  • Shell - Settings > Features > Session.
  • Starting directory - Settings > Features > Session > Working directory.
  • Font family, size - Settings > Appearance > Text, fonts, & cursor.
  • Color scheme - Settings > Appearance > Themes. Translate your Windows Terminal color scheme into a custom Warp theme using the same 16 ANSI color values.
  • Reusable layouts - create a tab config for each workflow that used to be a profile.

Windows Terminal’s schemes array defines foreground, background, cursor, and ANSI colors. To match an existing scheme:

  1. Copy the color values from the scheme you use in your settings.json.
  2. Open Settings > Appearance > Themes in Warp and either pick a preset that matches or create a custom theme.

Warp’s default keyboard shortcuts cover most Windows Terminal bindings. For custom bindings from settings.json’s actions array, add them in Settings > Keyboard shortcuts.

If you use oh-my-posh or a custom PowerShell prompt, it continues to work in Warp. To choose between Warp’s native prompt and your existing shell prompt, go to Settings > Appearance > Prompt. See prompt.

Features Windows Terminal users commonly look for in Warp:

From Windows TerminalIn Warp
ProfilesTab configs + themes + per-session shell settings
Tabs and panesTabs, vertical tabs, split panes
Command paletteCommand Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
Oh My Posh promptsKeep using them; pick Shell prompt (PS1) in Warp
Quake modeGlobal hotkey

Beyond Windows Terminal’s feature set, Warp adds Agent Mode, blocks, and Warp Drive. See Warp for Windows installation if you haven’t installed yet.