How to start the new Windows Terminal with multiple panes by default?

Question

Is there a setting to split the new Windows Terminal into multiple panes by default? For example to start with two columns and the second column split into two horizontal parts?

Answer 1

This feature is currently in preview mode and the way it works might change in the future, but currently this can be accomplished by adding startupActions to your settings.json.

For example, to start with two panes, split vertically and to move the cursor to the left pane (it will stay on the last created pane default), your settings.json should look like this:

{
  "$schema": "https://aka.ms/terminal-profiles-schema",
  "defaultProfile": "{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}",
  "launchMode": "maximized",
  "startupActions": "split-pane; move-focus left", // This is the new line you need
  "profiles": {
    "defaults": {
    },
    "list": [
      {
        "guid": "{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}",
        "acrylicOpacity": 0.9,
        "useAcrylic": true,
        "closeOnExit": true,
        "colorScheme": "Solarized Dark",
        "commandline": "\"%PROGRAMFILES%\\Git\\usr\\bin\\bash.exe\" --login -i -l",
        "cursorColor": "#FFFFFF",
        "cursorShape": "bar",
        "fontFace": "Consolas",
        "fontSize": 10,
        "historySize": 9001,
        "icon": "%PROGRAMFILES%\\Git\\mingw64\\share\\git\\git-for-windows.ico",
        "name": "GitBash",
        "padding": "15, 5, 10, 55",
        "snapOnInput": true,
        "startingDirectory": "%USERPROFILE%\\Desktop"
      }
    ]
  },
  "schemes": [],
  "keybindings": []
}

Some of the commands that you can use are new-tab, split-pane, focus-tab, move-focus...