[BUG] Terminal Management

[b1231227]

Problem (one or two sentences)

The ROO CODE seems to lack a terminal management mechanism. During development, it calls up terminals, but leaves behind a large number of useless terminals, like zombie processes. This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed!

Context (who is affected and when)

call terminal

Reproduction steps

call terminal

Expected result

After using the terminal, close it.

Actual result

zombie processes terminals

Variations tried (optional)

No response

App Version

3.52.1

API Provider (optional)

None

Model Used (optional)

No response

Roo Code Task Links (optional)

No response

Relevant logs or errors (optional)

I've analyzed the terminal management code and identified the root causes of terminal accumulation. Here's my proposed implementation plan:

Problem Analysis

The terminal lifecycle in TerminalRegistry has several gaps that cause "zombie" terminals to pile up:

1. releaseTerminalsForTask() only unsets taskId - When a task ends (Task.dispose()), it calls releaseTerminalsForTask(taskId) which merely sets terminal.taskId = undefined. The VSCode terminal remains open and visible to the user.

2. getOrCreateTerminal() reuse is cwd-sensitive - Terminal reuse only happens when the working directory matches exactly. If tasks use different directories (which is common), new terminals are created every time.

3. No terminal count limit - There is no cap on how many terminals can exist. Over a long session with many tasks, terminals accumulate without bound.

4. No proactive cleanup - There is no mechanism to dispose idle terminals that have been sitting unused for a while.

Proposed Solution

I propose a two-part approach that balances terminal cleanup with user experience:

1. Dispose terminals on task release (conservative cleanup)

In TerminalRegistry.releaseTerminalsForTask(), instead of just unsetting taskId, actually dispose (close) idle VSCode terminals that:

• Are not busy (no running process)
• Were assigned to the ending task
• Have no unretrieved output remaining

This would require adding a dispose() method to BaseTerminal/Terminal that calls vscode.Terminal.dispose() and cleans up resources, and then calling it from releaseTerminalsForTask.

2. Add a configurable terminal reuse pool limit

Add a max terminal pool size (e.g., default 5) to TerminalRegistry. When creating a new terminal and the pool exceeds this limit, dispose the oldest idle terminal first. This prevents unbounded growth even across tasks.

Files to modify

1. src/integrations/terminal/BaseTerminal.ts - Add abstract dispose() method
2. src/integrations/terminal/Terminal.ts - Implement dispose() to call this.terminal.dispose()
3. src/integrations/terminal/ExecaTerminal.ts - Implement dispose() (no-op or cleanup)
4. src/integrations/terminal/TerminalRegistry.ts - Update releaseTerminalsForTask() to dispose idle terminals; add pool size limit logic in createTerminal()
5. src/integrations/terminal/__tests__/TerminalRegistry.spec.ts - Add tests for new cleanup behavior

This approach ensures terminals created by Roo Code are cleaned up when tasks complete, while keeping any terminal that still has running processes or pending output intact.

Please mention @roomote in a comment saying that you approve this plan, and I'll proceed with the implementation.

[b1231227]

@roomote It looks good, but the maximum terminal pool size should be adjustable by the user. These mechanisms must exist regardless of whether an embedded terminal is used.

I've seen your comment and agree -- the maximum terminal pool size should be user-configurable, and the cleanup mechanisms should apply regardless of whether an embedded terminal is used. I'll explore a potential implementation and open a PR to share progress.

Opened a draft PR with my attempt at addressing this: #12156

The implementation adds a user-configurable maxTerminalPoolSize setting (1-20, default 5) and disposes idle terminals both when the pool limit is exceeded and when tasks complete. These mechanisms apply to both the VSCode integrated terminal and the inline (execa) terminal. Feedback welcome!