ResizeTerminal

ResizeTerminal is a PowerShell module that temporarily resizes your terminal window when running certain commands, creating a "ribbon" effect for commands with long output. After the command completes, the terminal returns to its original size. Primarily intended for me to babysit build processes while saving screen space.

Features

• Automatically shrinks your terminal window when running configured commands
• Smooth animations when resizing (with customizable easing functions)
• Easily create and manage shims for your most-used commands
• Trigger resizing only when specific arguments are used
• Works with Windows Terminal, PowerShell, cmd, and other console applications
• Works great with Windows-Terminal-Quake

Installation

Manual Installation

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/nimbuldev/wt-shrink.git

2. Copy the module to your PowerShell modules directory:

# Create the module directory if it doesn't exist
$modulesDir = "$env:USERPROFILE\Documents\PowerShell\Modules\ResizeTerminal"
if (-not (Test-Path $modulesDir)) {
    New-Item -Path $modulesDir -ItemType Directory -Force
}

# Copy module files
Copy-Item -Path ".\wt-shrink\*" -Destination $modulesDir -Recurse -Force

Loading the Module in Your PowerShell Profile

Add the following to your PowerShell profile to load the module automatically when PowerShell starts:

1. Open your PowerShell profile:

notepad $PROFILE # best code editor

2. Add the following line to your profile:

Import-Module ResizeTerminal

# Optionally, add your shims here for persistence.

3. Save and close the file.

4. Reload your profile:

. $PROFILE

Basic Usage

Direct Command Execution with Resizing

# Run a command in a resized terminal window (basic usage)
Resize-Terminal -Command "npm install" -RibbonHeight 150

# Run a command with custom animation
Resize-Terminal -Command { docker ps -a } -RibbonHeight 200 -AnimationType "EaseInOut" -AnimationDuration 300 -AnimationFrameRate 90

resize.mp4

Creating Simple Command Shims

# Create a basic shim for npm
New-ResizeShim "npm" -RibbonHeight 150

# Now just run the command as usual, and it will execute with the terminal resized
npm install

# Create a shim with custom animation settings
New-ResizeShim "docker" -RibbonHeight 200 -AnimationType "EaseInOut" -AnimationDuration 300

Note: Creating a shim with arguments or using a relative path is not fully supported. For example, New-ResizeShim "npm install" -RibbonHeight 150 will alias "npm" to invoke "npm install." If you're trying to do this, you're probably actually looking for the next section of this README.

Conditional Resizing with Triggers

You can create shims that only resize the terminal when specific subcommands or arguments are present:

# Only resize terminal when running "npm install" or "npm update", but not other npm commands
New-ResizeShim "npm" -Trigger @("install", "update") -RibbonHeight 150

# Create a shim for python that only resizes when running a specific script
New-ResizeShim "python" -Trigger @("data_processing.py", "long_running.py") -RibbonHeight 200

# Shim for kubectl that resizes only when viewing logs
New-ResizeShim "kubectl" -Trigger @("logs", "describe pod") -RibbonHeight 300

trigger.mp4

Managing Shims

Shims are session-scoped. This module saves no files and has no persistence. For permanent shims, add the module and New-ResizeShim commands to your terminal profile.

# List all created shims
Get-ResizeShim

# Get details about a specific shim
Get-ResizeShim npm

# Remove a shim
Remove-ResizeShim npm

Configuration Options

Ribbon Height

Control how tall the ribbon should be:

New-ResizeShim "npm" -RibbonHeight 150  # Smaller ribbon (minimum: 50)
New-ResizeShim "docker" -RibbonHeight 300    # Larger ribbon

Animation Settings

Customize the animation behavior:

# Disable animation
New-ResizeShim "npm" -EnableAnimation:$false

# Change animation duration (milliseconds)
New-ResizeShim "npm" -AnimationDuration 500  # Slower animation
New-ResizeShim "npm" -AnimationDuration 100  # Faster animation

# Change animation easing type
New-ResizeShim "npm" -AnimationType "Linear"    # Linear animation
New-ResizeShim "npm" -AnimationType "EaseIn"    # Accelerating animation
New-ResizeShim "npm" -AnimationType "EaseOut"   # Decelerating animation (default)
New-ResizeShim "npm" -AnimationType "EaseInOut" # Smooth acceleration and deceleration

Troubleshooting

Window Detection Issues

If the module fails to detect your terminal window correctly, try running in the main terminal window (not a nested console)

Command Not Found After Creating Shim

If your command is not found after creating a shim:

# Check if the shim exists
Get-ResizeShim yourcommand

# Try removing and recreating the shim
Remove-ResizeShim yourcommand
New-ResizeShim "yourcommand" -RibbonHeight 150

# Or just do that faster with -Force
New-ResizeShim "yourcommand" -RibbonHeight 150 -Force

Animation Not Working

Verify your Windows config has animation enabled.

Compatibility

• Windows 10/11
• PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7+
• Probably like... most terminals. If you have an integrated terminal that loads your profile-- be warned. My VSCode is still sore.
• Works with Windows Terminal Quake Mode

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License I guess - you know the one. I don't care what you do.