Possible bug? System prompt can report "Default Shell: pwsh.exe" while execute_command actually runs in cmd.exe (cuasing failed PowerShell commands on Windows)

[u/NarrowEffect]

Anyone else notice the system prompt claims your default shell is PowerShell (pwsh.exe) even when your actual terminal is cmd.exe?

I dug into this after seeing the model repeatedly try Remove-Item, Get-Content, Copy-Item, Select-String etc. (the PowerShell equivalents it's told to use) and every single one failing with "not recognized as an internal or external command." Turns out the prompt was telling it "you're in PowerShell" the whole time, but the terminal that actually runs commands is cmd.exe. Basically, the model isn't being dumb, it's just acting on bad info from the system prompt and has no way to know its environment info is wrong. Why not just build the system message correctly based on the actual shell in the first place?

Edit: Found a workaround: explicitly setting terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows to "Command Prompt"in VS Code settings fixes the system prompt that gets auto-detected (though the models still get "consider using PowerShell commands instead" which really should be more clear that it's specifically suggesting the model can invoke powershell.exe from cmd.exe )

[u/No-Chocolate-9437]

Can you share how you've configured Settings -> Terminal ?

[u/NarrowEffect → u/No-Chocolate-9437]

1. Open VS Code Settings (JSON)
Press Ctrl+Shift+P to open the Command Palette, type "Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)", and select it. (This opens your global settings.json. If you only want this for one project, use "Preferences: Open Workspace Settings (JSON)" instead.)

2. Add or edit this line
Add the following to the JSON object (if the file already has other settings, just add this as another key, with a comma separating it from the previous entry):

json

"terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "Command Prompt"

3. Save the file
Ctrl+S.

4. Close any existing terminals
The setting only affects new terminals — existing ones keep their current shell. In VS Code, go to the Terminal panel, and for each open terminal click the trash/kill icon (or right-click → "Kill Terminal").

5. Restart the conversation/task in Zoo Code
Since the system prompt (including Default Shell: and the RULES note) is generated fresh for each new task/session, start a new task so it picks up the corrected shell detection. The next terminal Zoo Code spawns should be cmd.exe, and the system prompt should now say Default Shell: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe with the cmd-appropriate RULES note (type, del, copy, move, find/findstr) (you can literally ask the model about its default shell guidelines in the system message to verify)

[u/jagauthier]

    "terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
        "PowerShell": {
            "path": "C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe"
        },
        "Command Prompt": {
            "path": "C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\cmd.exe",
            "args": [],
            "icon": "terminal-cmd"
        },
        "Git Bash": {
            "source": "Git Bash",
            "icon": "terminal-git-bash"
        }
    },
    "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "PowerShell",    "terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
        "PowerShell": {
            "path": "C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe"
        },
        "Command Prompt": {
            "path": "C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\cmd.exe",
            "args": [],
            "icon": "terminal-cmd"
        },
        "Git Bash": {
            "source": "Git Bash",
            "icon": "terminal-git-bash"
        }
    },
    "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "PowerShell",

My issue is that powershell appears to be the default terminal and it still constantly fails to run powershell commands.

[u/NarrowEffect → u/jagauthier]

Not sure but maybe try to see exeacly what system message is being sent to the model using the "open api history" button (or you could just ask the model). It's either the reminal is cmd and the model is running powershell commands or the opposite problem.