🔧 How to Increase the Scrollback Buffer in VSCode Terminal

Intro

If you’re like me and often run long commands or processes in your VSCode terminal, you know how quickly it can fill up with output. And sometimes, it’s a pain when you can’t scroll back far enough to see everything. Luckily, you can adjust the scrollback buffer (basically how much output VSCode keeps in memory) to store more lines. Here’s how you can check and tweak it!

Checking and Setting the Scrollback Buffer

1: Open VSCode Settings

Hit Ctrl + , (or Cmd + , on macOS or Fedora) to open Settings.
In the search bar, type "terminal.integrated.scrollback".
This is the setting that controls how many lines of terminal output VSCode keeps in memory.

2: Change the Scrollback Buffer Size

By default, VSCode saves only 3000 lines of output, which can run out pretty fast during long processes. You can change that to a higher number.

• You’ll see a setting called Terminal › Integrated: Scrollback.
• Increase the value to however many lines you want to keep. You can go as high as 50,000 lines.

For example, to set it to 3000 lines, use:

"terminal.integrated.scrollback": 3000

Step 3: Restart Your Terminal

Once you change the setting, you’ll need to restart your terminal for the changes to kick in.

Why Bother with a Bigger Buffer?

Increasing the scrollback buffer is super useful when:

• You’re running commands that produce tons of output (like compiling code or running long logs).
• You want to keep a larger history of output in case you need to reference it later.

Wrapping It Up

The scrollback buffer setting in VSCode is a handy way to make sure you never lose track of your terminal output. Adjusting it is simple, and it can save you a lot of headaches if you’re working on big projects with tons of logs or long-running commands.