Configuring terminal type for Remote-SSH on VSCode

Question

I'm using Remote-SSH for VSCode to connect to a linux server for development. I need my terminal type to default to xterm instead of xterm-256color which seems to be the default terminal type when using Remote-SSH.

I have tried adding SetEnv TERM=xterm as well as SendEnv TERM=xterm to the SSH config file but neither works. The only way I can get it to work is by manually running export TERM=xterm in the bash terminal once I'm connected, but this setting is lost when I open a new bash.

In VSCode, I can see that my terminal for linux is set to xterm so I'm not sure why it's still defaulting to xterm-256color when using Remote-SSH. I don't have this problem when using Putty outside of VSCode.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

The setting you are referring to in your screenshot does not set the TERM variable but the executable that is run if you're using an external terminal.

Seems like the TERM value for the integrated terminal is hardcoded to xterm-256color .

Easy workaround should be to set it in your ~/.profile or ~/.bash_profile on the remote:

export TERM=xterm