Microsoft is now classifying Windows Terminal as an inbox app, which means that it will now ship by default in upcoming versions of Windows 10.
Currently, Windows Terminal needs to be manually installed via the Microsoft Store. Starting with Windows 10 Insider build 21337, Microsoft has classified Windows Terminal as an inbox app, which means it will be automatically installed as an essential application.
This is a good thing, as Windows Terminal is one of the best apps that Microsoft has released in a long time, other than maybe the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), For those not familiar with Windows Terminal, it is an open-source application that allows you to open multiple console tabs in the same Window. Each of these console tabs can be a different shell, such as the Windows command prompt, PowerShell, Linux shells installed in WSL, or other custom shells installed by the user.
Windows Terminal also comes with a handy list of console features, including clickable URLs, Unicode support, customizable themes, a command palette, GPU acceleration, split tabs, and an upcoming graphical settings interface.
While the general release of Windows Terminal will automatically be installed in Windows 10, users can still install the Windows Terminal Preview version (currently 1.7) from the Microsoft Store.
Installing the preview version allows you to try out new features before being released to the general public.
Windows Terminal was not the only application classified as an Inbox app this week in Windows 10 build 21337.
With this release, Microsoft is also classifying Notepad and Power Automate Desktop as inbox apps.
These apps, including Windows Terminal, will be updated through the Microsoft Store, which means that they can receive updates outside the regular Windows 10 update schedule.
