How do I resolve 'command not found' errors in the VS Code terminal?
Jul 04, 2025 am 12:50 AM1. Confirm whether the command is installed 2. Check the terminal shell type 3. Update the PATH environment variable 4. Restart VS Code or terminal. When you enter a command in the VS Code terminal, you should first check whether the command has been installed correctly and can be verified through other terminals of the system; secondly, confirm the shell type used by VS Code and check its configuration file; then make sure that the path where the command is located has been added to the PATH environment variable, and manually add and reload the configuration if necessary; finally close and reopen the terminal or restart VS Code to make the changes take effect.
You type a command into the VS Code terminal, hit Enter, and instead of running, it says "command not found." It's frustrating, especially if you know that command works elsewhere. The issue usually isn't with VS Code itself — more often than not, it has to do with your environment setup, shell configuration, or PATH variables.
Here are some common causes and how to fix them.
Check if the Command is installed
This might sound obvious, but before diving into complex debugging, make sure the command you're trying to run is actually installed on your system.
- If you're using
npm
, try reinstalling the package globally:npm install -g <package-name>
- For Python tools like
black
orflake8
, use pip:pip install <tool-name>
If you're unsure whether it's installed, try running the command in another terminal (like Terminal.app on macOS or CMD/PowerShell on Windows). If it still doesn't work there, then the tool just isn't available on your system yet.
Verify Your Terminal Shell
VS Code uses the system's default shell by default, but sometimes it ends up using something else — like an older version or a misconfigured one.
To check which shell you're using:
echo $SHELL
Or just open a new terminal tab and see what prompt appears.
Common shells include:
- Bash
- Zsh
- Fish
- PowerShell (Windows)
Each shell may have its own config files ( ~/.bashrc
, ~/.zshrc
, etc.). Make sure the command path is included in the correct config file for your current shell.
Update Your PATH Environment Variable
Even if the command is installed, VS Code might not be able to find it because it's not in your PATH.
To check where your command lives:
which <command-name>
If this returns nothing, your shell doesn't know where the command is located.
You can temporarily test by adding it manually:
export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/command
But to make it stick, edit your shell config file (eg, .bashrc
, .zshrc
) and add that line at the end.
Then reload the config:
source ~/.zshrc # or .bashrc depending on your shell
Restart VS Code or Reopen the Terminal
Sometimes changes aren't picked up until you restart the terminal session — or even the whole editor.
Try closing and reopening the terminal panel in VS Code. If that doesn't help, fully quit and relaunch VS Code.
Also, if you're using a dev container or remote SSH connection, make sure the PATH and installations are done inside that environment too.
That should cover most cases. Sometimes it's just a missing package, other times it's a PATH issue hiding in your shell config. Once you verify each step, these errors usually go away quickly.
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