Opening a Terminal

Eleventy runs in a Terminal application. If you’re not familiar with Terminal applications, they’re used to run typed commands (and programs) on your computer. A Terminal application is mostly synonymous with terms like Command Line Interface (CLI) or shell prompt.

Here’s how to open a Terminal in various operating systems:

macOS#

macOS includes an application called Terminal which can be used to run Eleventy. Depending on your version of macOS, it likely lives in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal. It may also be called Terminal.app if your operating system is configured to show file extensions.

• Open or quit Terminal on Mac on the Apple Terminal User Guide

Windows#

Depending on your version of Windows, it may include the Terminal application (aka Windows PowerShell, preferred), or the Command Prompt (also known as cmd.exe, not preferred), or both.

For the best terminal experience, we recommend installing PowerShell Core on your Windows machine, a newer and more future-compatible terminal application (also newly cross-platform!).

Linux#

Depending on your flavor of Linux, it may be called Terminal, Shell, Gnome Terminal, Konsole, or XTerm.

Editors#

Some code editors bundle a terminal for you!

• Nova (macOS)
• Visual Studio Code (macOS, Windows, Linux)
  • On Windows, Visual Studio Code is bundled with Windows Powershell.
• WebStorm (macOS, Windows, Linux)

More resources#

• DigitalOcean: An introduction to the Linux Terminal
• Ubuntu guide: The Linux command line for beginners
• OpenSource.com: A guide to the Linux terminal for beginners

Other pages in Getting Started:

• Command Line Usage
  • Debug Mode
• Starter Projects
• Migrating to Eleventy