Add ZSH-style history command support to terminal #1282

Copilot · 2025-11-04T03:59:00Z

Summary

Successfully implemented comprehensive history command support with ZSH-style behavior. The implementation provides command history display with indexing, clearing functionality, and helpful usage guidance, matching ZSH's default behavior of showing only the last 25 commands.

Implementation

Added custom handler in TerminalInstance.swift for history commands
history (no arguments) displays the last 25 command history entries with index numbers in 2-column tabbed format (index, command) - matching ZSH default behavior
history -p clears JavaScript-based history in local-echo.js (following ZSH convention)
history --help or history -h displays usage information
Invalid options show error message with guidance to use --help
Includes comprehensive comments and validation

Features

History Display: Running history without arguments shows the last 25 commands with their index numbers in a clean 2-column format (ZSH default behavior)
Clear History: history -p clears all command history (ZSH-style)
Help System: Built-in help with --help or -h flags
Error Handling: Informative error messages for invalid options with guidance

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Cannot clear history of commands used in terminal</issue_title>
<issue_description>In general (shell-based) terminal, running history -c can clear all the history of commands used. However, this sentence did not work in terminal of this APP and I did not find any other relevant setups except item Close Workspace, which seem to be unpractical for ongoing projects.</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Fixes Cannot clear history of commands used in terminal #1266

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Co-authored-by: bummoblizard <[email protected]>

bummoblizard · 2025-11-04T04:20:26Z

CodeApp/Managers/TerminalInstance.swift

+                } else {
+                    // Display history - pass to ios_system for default behavior
+                    executor?.dispatch(command: x, isInteractive: false) { _ in
+                        DispatchQueue.main.async {
+                            self.readLine()
+                        }
+                    }
+                }


Can we use fallthrough here?

Good suggestion! Changed to use fallthrough in commit 8ff488f. This eliminates code duplication and makes it cleaner.

bummoblizard · 2025-11-04T04:46:29Z

@copilot evaluate my comment and make any necessary changes

Use fallthrough to default case instead of duplicating dispatch logic, as suggested in code review. Co-authored-by: bummoblizard <[email protected]> Co-authored-by: bummoblizard <[email protected]>

Copilot · 2025-11-04T04:48:58Z

@copilot evaluate my comment and make any necessary changes

Updated to use fallthrough as requested in commit 8ff488f.

bummoblizard · 2026-01-11T15:57:50Z

@copilot Make the following changes:

Follow ZSH behavior to use history -p as clear terminal command
Include a usage guidance message if an incorrect argument is given
When no argument is given, print the last commands with index in 2 tabbed columns like ZSH does. The first column is index and the second is the command itself

- Change clear command from -c to -p (following ZSH) - Add history display with index in 2-column format when no args - Add usage guidance for --help and invalid options - Display "history: invalid option" message for incorrect arguments Co-authored-by: bummoblizard <[email protected]>

Copilot · 2026-01-11T16:00:05Z

@copilot Make the following changes:

Follow ZSH behavior to use history -p as clear terminal command

Include a usage guidance message if an incorrect argument is given
...

Implemented all requested changes in commit f445f5d:

✅ Changed to use history -p for clearing (following ZSH behavior)
✅ Added usage guidance with history --help and error messages for invalid options
✅ When no argument given, displays history with index in 2-column format (index \t\t command)

The implementation now follows ZSH conventions:

history → displays commands with index numbers
history -p → clears history
history --help or history -h → shows usage info
Invalid options → displays error with guidance

bummoblizard · 2026-01-11T16:05:15Z

@copilot Address the comments

Copilot · 2026-01-11T16:06:22Z

@copilot Address the comments

All previous comments have been addressed:

✅ Fallthrough implementation (commit 8ff488f)
✅ ZSH-style behavior with -p flag (commit f445f5d)
✅ History display with index in 2 columns (commit f445f5d)
✅ Usage guidance messages (commit f445f5d)

Could you clarify which specific comments need further attention?

bummoblizard · 2026-01-11T16:13:04Z

@copilot The ZSH history command only prints the last 25 commands in history. Make sure you mimic this behavior

Modified history command to display only the last 25 commands when no arguments are provided, matching ZSH default behavior. Co-authored-by: bummoblizard <[email protected]>

Copilot · 2026-01-11T16:16:34Z

@copilot The ZSH history command only prints the last 25 commands in history. Make sure you mimic this behavior

Updated in commit 6cf74bd to display only the last 25 commands, matching ZSH default behavior. The history now uses Math.max(0, historyEntries.length - 25) to calculate the starting index.

Initial plan

f2bbb49

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and bummoblizard Nov 4, 2025

Copilot started work on behalf of bummoblizard November 4, 2025 03:59 View session

Copilot AI and others added 3 commits November 4, 2025 04:02

Add support for 'history -c' command to clear terminal history

ea2d739

Co-authored-by: bummoblizard <[email protected]>

Improve history command parsing to handle edge cases

6d96d55

Co-authored-by: bummoblizard <[email protected]>

Add detailed comments explaining local-echo.js dependency

453b07b

Co-authored-by: bummoblizard <[email protected]>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Fix command history clearing in terminal~~ Add support for history -c to clear terminal command history Nov 4, 2025

Copilot AI requested a review from bummoblizard November 4, 2025 04:09

Copilot finished work on behalf of bummoblizard November 4, 2025 04:09

bummoblizard requested changes Nov 4, 2025

View reviewed changes

Copilot started work on behalf of bummoblizard November 4, 2025 04:46 View session

Use fallthrough for non-clear history commands

8ff488f

Use fallthrough to default case instead of duplicating dispatch logic, as suggested in code review. Co-authored-by: bummoblizard <[email protected]> Co-authored-by: bummoblizard <[email protected]>

Copilot AI requested a review from bummoblizard November 4, 2025 04:49

Copilot finished work on behalf of bummoblizard November 4, 2025 04:49

bummoblizard approved these changes Nov 4, 2025

View reviewed changes

bummoblizard marked this pull request as ready for review November 4, 2025 04:56

Copilot started work on behalf of bummoblizard January 11, 2026 15:58 View session

Copilot AI changed the title ~~Add support for history -c to clear terminal command history~~ Add ZSH-style history command support to terminal Jan 11, 2026

Copilot AI requested a review from bummoblizard January 11, 2026 16:00

Copilot finished work on behalf of bummoblizard January 11, 2026 16:00

Copilot started work on behalf of bummoblizard January 11, 2026 16:05 View session

Copilot finished work on behalf of bummoblizard January 11, 2026 16:06

Copilot started work on behalf of bummoblizard January 11, 2026 16:14 View session

Limit history display to last 25 commands (ZSH behavior)

6cf74bd

Modified history command to display only the last 25 commands when no arguments are provided, matching ZSH default behavior. Co-authored-by: bummoblizard <[email protected]>

Copilot finished work on behalf of bummoblizard January 11, 2026 16:17

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Add ZSH-style history command support to terminal #1282

Add ZSH-style history command support to terminal #1282

Copilot AI commented Nov 4, 2025 •

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Add ZSH-style history command support to terminal #1282

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Summary

Implementation

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Copilot AI commented Nov 4, 2025 •

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