The shell-pop Emacs package provides on-demand access to a terminal through a single, configurable key binding.

The package supports multiple terminal implementations, including term, eshell, ansi-term, vterm,eat and ghostel, and ensures your original window configuration is restored when the terminal is hidden.

To install shell-pop from MELPA:

1. If you haven't already done so, add MELPA repository to your Emacs configuration.

2. Add the following code to your Emacs init file to install shell-pop from MELPA:

(use-package shell-pop
  ;; :bind automatically sets up the keybinding AND tells Emacs to lazy-load the
  ;; package the moment the key is pressed.
  :bind (("C-c t" . shell-pop))
  :custom
  ;; The key sequence used to toggle the shell window.
  (shell-pop-universal-key "C-c t")

  ;; Sets the screen position where the shell popup appears.
  ;; You can choose "bottom", "top", "right", "left", or "full".
  (shell-pop-window-position "bottom")

  ;; If non-nil, the window stretches across the entire frame width.
  (shell-pop-full-span nil)

  ;; The path to the shell executable used by the terminal emulator
  ;; (e.g., "/usr/bin/env bash").
  (shell-pop-term-shell shell-file-name)

  ;; The height or width of the window as a percentage of the frame.
  (shell-pop-window-size 30)

  ;; Defines the terminal implementation and its initialization logic.
  (shell-pop-shell-type '("ansi-term" "*ansi-term*"
                          (lambda ()
                            (ansi-term shell-pop-term-shell))))

  ;; Setting this to non-nil sends commands to the shell. This is not always
  ;; desirable, as it can send commands to any prompt.
  (shell-pop-autocd-to-working-dir nil))

You can install shell-pop.el from MELPA using package.el.

M-x package-install RET shell-pop RET

Then add the following to your init file (e.g., ~/.emacs.d/init.el):

(require 'shell-pop)

Here are the exact configurations for the most popular Emacs shells. Simply copy and paste your preferred option into your init file:

Note: This will use the shell defined in your shell-file-name variable (e.g., bash, zsh).

(with-eval-after-load 'shell-pop
  (setopt shell-pop-shell-type '("ansi-term" "*ansi-term*"
                                 (lambda ()
                                   (ansi-term shell-pop-term-shell)))))

(with-eval-after-load 'shell-pop
  (setopt shell-pop-shell-type '("terminal" "*terminal*"
                                 (lambda ()
                                   (term shell-pop-term-shell)))))

Note: Requires the vterm package to be installed.

(with-eval-after-load 'shell-pop
  (setopt shell-pop-shell-type '("vterm" "*vterm*"
                                 (lambda ()
                                   (when (fboundp 'vterm)
                                     (let ((vterm-shell shell-pop-term-shell))
                                       (vterm)))))))

Note: Requires the eat package to be installed.

(with-eval-after-load 'shell-pop
  (setopt shell-pop-shell-type '("eat" "*eat*"
                                 (lambda ()
                                   (when (fboundp 'eat)
                                     (eat shell-pop-term-shell))))))

Note: Requires the ghostel package to be installed.

(with-eval-after-load 'shell-pop
  (setopt shell-pop-shell-type '("ghostel" "*ghostel*"
                                 (lambda ()
                                   (when (fboundp 'ghostel)
                                     (let ((ghostel-shell shell-pop-term-shell))
                                       (ghostel)))))))

(with-eval-after-load 'shell-pop
  (setopt shell-pop-shell-type '("shell" "*shell*"
                                 (lambda ()
                                   (shell)))))

(with-eval-after-load 'shell-pop
  (setopt shell-pop-shell-type '("eshell" "*eshell*"
                                 (lambda ()
                                   (eshell)))))

The position of the popup window. You can choose "bottom", "top", "right", "left", or "full". Use the entire frame when this value is set to "full".

The percentage of the frame used for the shell buffer window size.

This option allows you to generate the shell window with the same width as the current Emacs frame. It is beneficial when you use multiple side-by-side windows in Emacs. For more details, see Issue #21.

If non-nil, toggles shell-pop separately for each source window. Invoking shell-pop from a non-shell window hides only the popup associated with that window, or creates one if none exists. This option has no effect when shell-pop-full-span is non-nil or when shell-pop uses a full-frame popup.

If non-nil, invoking shell-pop with a prefix argument from an existing shell-pop window creates another popup instead of switching the current popup to the requested shell buffer. This option has no effect when shell-pop-full-span is non-nil.

If non-nil, changes the current directory to this specific path when first starting the shell.

The path to the shell executable used by the term and ansi-term implementations (e.g., "/bin/bash" or "/bin/zsh").

If non-nil, automatically changes the directory of the shell buffer to match the working directory from which shell-pop was invoked.

If non-nil, restores the window configuration when the shell-pop buffer is closed. The shell window is deleted in any case. This variable has no effect when the shell-pop-window-position value is "full".

If non-nil, cleans up the shell's buffer automatically after its underlying process exits.

• shell-pop-in-hook: Runs before the shell buffer pops up.
• shell-pop-in-after-hook: Runs after the shell buffer pops up.
• shell-pop-out-hook: Runs before the shell buffer pops out.
• shell-pop-process-exit-hook: Runs when the shell's process exits.

Use M-x customize-variable RET shell-pop-shell-type RET to customize the shell to use. Six pre-set options are: shell, terminal, ansi-term, eshell, vterm, eat and ghostel. You can also set your custom shell if you use other configuration.

For the terminal and ansi-term options, you can set the underlying shell by customizing shell-pop-term-shell. By default, shell-file-name is used, but you can also specify paths like /bin/tcsh, /bin/bash, or /bin/zsh.

Use M-x customize-group RET shell-pop RET to set further options such as hotkeys, window height, and position.

After saving the customized values, your init file will look similar to the following.

(custom-set-variables
 ;; custom-set-variables was added by Custom.
 ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
 ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
 ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
 '(shell-pop-default-directory "/Users/kyagi/git")
 '(shell-pop-shell-type (quote ("ansi-term" "*ansi-term*" (lambda nil (ansi-term shell-pop-term-shell)))))
 '(shell-pop-term-shell "/bin/bash")
 '(shell-pop-universal-key "C-t")
 '(shell-pop-window-size 30)
 '(shell-pop-full-span t)
 '(shell-pop-window-position "bottom")
 '(shell-pop-autocd-to-working-dir t)
 '(shell-pop-restore-window-configuration t)
 '(shell-pop-cleanup-buffer-at-process-exit t))

Hit the hotkey you customized for shell-pop-universal-key. For example, press C-t based on the configuration above.

You can open multiple shell buffers by running shell-pop with universal arguments. For example, press C-u 2 C-t. You can increase the number (2, 3, 4, etc.) as much as you want to open different shell buffers.

The shell-pop Emacs package is maintained by Kazuo YAGI (original author) and James Cherti.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

• shell-pop @GitHub
• shell-pop @MELPA
• shell-pop @MELPA-Stable