Shortcut for running terminal command in VS code

You can accomplish this with VSCode tasks and then wire up your task to a keybinding. The downside to this approach is you have to have a tasks.json file in your workspace .vscode folder (it can't be global).

Here is an example where I wanted to open a file in a custom GitHub remote:

// tasks.json
{
    // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
    // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "Open in remote",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "open https://github.custom.com/org/repo/blob/master/${relativeFile}#L${lineNumber}"
        }
    ]
}

// keybindings.json
{
    "key": "ctrl+o",
    "command": "workbench.action.tasks.runTask",
    "args": "Open in remote"
},

Here are some more VS Code variables you can use if you are curious: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/variables-reference

There is a long standing issue open here which should make this easier to do without tasks: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/871

Typically you would set up a build or another task or an npm script and then trigger that with a hotkey.

There is another new way to do it with send text to the terminal.

For example, try this in your keybindings (Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON)):

{
  "key": "ctrl+alt+u",
  "command": "workbench.action.terminal.sendSequence",
  "args": {
    "text": "node -v\u000D"
  }
}

for an npm script:

{
  "key": "ctrl+alt+u",
  "command": "workbench.action.terminal.sendSequence",
  "args": {
    "text": "npm run-script test\u000D"
  }
}

The first will run the node -v command (the \u000D is a return so it runs). I still recommend actually setting up a build task though, and then there are keychords for running your build task: Ctrl-shift-B. Or an npm script.

For example, if you had a more complex script to run, see how to bind a task to a keybinding or how to keybind an external command.

---

EDIT: As of v1.32 you can now do something like this:

{
  "key": "ctrl+shift+t",
  "command": "workbench.action.terminal.sendSequence",
  "args": { "text": "tsc '${file}'\u000D" }
}

You can now use the built-in variables, like ${file}, with the sendSequence command in a keybinding. I wrapped ${file} in single quotes in case your directory structure has a folder with a space in the name. And \u000D is a return.