VSCode focus between terminal and code

I recently began to utilise the integrated terminal for VSCode more. And being a big fan of using my keyboard to switch around different parts is huge part of my work flows. One of my sticking points with the terminal in VSCode is by default you can not switch into and out of the terminal easily.

For example if I am editing some code, then need to switch to the terminal to run some commands, and then switch back to the code window. I got so used to using command + tab to switch windows. Wanting to try and use VSCode more it turns out this was a sticking point of my flow. With some digging and trial and error it turns out you can setting up a custom keybinding to handle this.

As there was already a default key binding to open a terminal, once opened you can not easily switch back. But with VSCode and key bindings you are able to use the when key to tell a key binding "when" something can be run. This allowed me to set the same key binding used to focus terminal as to focus back to the editor. Below is instructions and the key binding JSON to achieve this on a Mac.

Instructions for Mac

1. Code > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts
2. This opens a GUI for keyboard shortcuts - click on the tab "Keyboard Shortcuts", and an icon with a file and arrow will appear (title - Open Keyboard Shortcuts JSON)
3. Copy paste the below JSON into the file and save
4. Done

[
	{
		"key": "ctrl+`",
		"command": "workbench.action.terminal.focus"
	},
	{
		"key": "ctrl+`",
		"command": "workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup",
		"when": "terminalFocus"
	}
]

Another VSCode tip - VSCode zoom only font not whole editor.