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Automated terminal activation kills all running tasks in terminals #1375
Description
When I run uv sync on a freshly-cloned project, VS Code detects the new virtual environment, and activates it in all terminals.
However, in order to do this, it sends an interrupt signal in all terminals, causing most running tasks to exit. This is incredibly annoying in some projects, especially as the action can sometimes occur randomly up to 2 minutes after the virtual environment is created.
To reproduce
git clonea Python project- Start up the project, eg by running
uv run [program] - UV creates the virtual environment and starts the program
- VS Code then immediately kills the freshly-started program
Why this is incredibly disruptive to my workflow
I work as a university tutor. I am currently assignment marking, and to do so I must uv run large numbers of student projects. Every time I do this, VS Code kills their project part-way through testing.
Activity
anthonykim1 commentedon Mar 23, 2026
Could you try switching to shell startup? Then it wont send any activation command visible, but rather terminal would be ready from the start.
Please set
python-envs.terminal.autoActivationTypetoshellStartupin your settings.Also add
"python.useEnvironmentsExtension": true,to your settings.json.MaddyGuthridge commentedon Mar 23, 2026
Indeed that does work. Could it be a good idea to make that option be the default, as it (a) performs better and (b) is less disruptive.
joneuhauser commentedon Jun 22, 2026
On an SSH session, that config seems to be disabled. Instead i set
eleanorjboyd commentedon Sep 23, 2026
🤖 Thanks for the report and for confirming the workaround. Command-based activation is intentionally the default because it can activate environments in any shell;
shellStartupis the non-disruptive opt-in for supported shells, andoffis available where no automatic activation is wanted. The same Ctrl+C behavior was subsequently reviewed and closed as designed in #1570. Please continue using"python-envs.terminal.autoActivationType": "shellStartup"for this workflow.