VS Code nRF Connect build output corrupted / overwritten in integrated terminal after recent updates (Windows)

[loicg]

Hi,

I’m running into a terminal output issue with nRF Connect for VS Code on Windows that seems to have appeared after recent updates. I did not have this problem in 2025 with older versions.

Problem description

When building an application using the nRF Connect VS Code extension (Build button / build task), the build output in the VS Code integrated terminal becomes unreadable:

• characters are misaligned

• lines appear to be partially overwritten

• Ninja progress lines ([x/y]) and compiler errors get mixed together

• error messages are very hard to read or truncated

This looks like carriage-return (\r) redraw handling going wrong in the terminal.

Example symptoms (simplified):

[39/213] Building C object ...
ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.modbus_peripheral_t *peripheral)
...

What works reliably

If I do not use the VS Code integrated terminal, but instead:

1. Launch an external toolchain shell:

nrfutil toolchain-manager launch --terminal powershell --ncs-version v3.1.0

2. Then run the exact same west build command manually:

west build --build-dir c:/Users/loicg/work/in-terra/wip/embedded/logr-logic-workspace/logr-logic/app/build_dev `
c:/Users/loicg/work/in-terra/wip/embedded/logr-logic-workspace/logr-logic/app `
--pristine `
--board [email protected]/nrf52840 `
--no-sysbuild `
-- `
-DCONFIG_DEBUG_OPTIMIZATIONS=y `
-DCONFIG_DEBUG_THREAD_INFO=y `
-DCONF_FILE="prj.conf" `
-DEXTRA_CONF_FILE="overlay-bt.conf;overlay-gpio-expander.conf;overlay-lora.conf;overlay-measurement.conf;overlay-modbus-wpre.conf;overlay-modbus.conf;overlay-nus-console.conf;overlay-nus-shell.conf;overlay-powerboard.conf;overlay-uart-dynpincontrol.conf;overlay-settings.conf" `
-DDTC_OVERLAY_FILE="dts-bme280.overlay;dts-gpio-hogs.overlay;dts-modbus.overlay;dts-nus-console.overlay;dts-uart0-dynpinctrl.overlay"

️ The output is perfectly readable in that case.

So this appears to be specific to how the VS Code integrated terminal / tasks handle the build output, not a toolchain or project issue.

Things I’ve already tried (no success)

• Disabling terminal GPU acceleration

• Restarting VS Code after changing settings

• Switching shells for nRF Connect tasks:

  • PowerShell 7 (pwsh)

  • cmd.exe

• Disabling ConPTY

• Disabling shell integration

• Increasing terminal scrollback

• Verifying that the correct toolchain and environment are used

None of these resolved the mixed / overwritten output when the build is launched from nRF Connect inside VS Code.

Environment

• OS: Windows

• nRF Connect for VS Code: recent version (problem appeared after recent updates)

• NCS: v3.1.0

• Build system: west / CMake / Ninja

• Board: [email protected]/nrf52840

Question

• Is this a known issue with recent nRF Connect VS Code releases or VS Code terminal integration?

• Is there a recommended way to force non-redrawing / line-based output for builds launched from the extension?

• Or a way to make nRF Connect run builds in an external terminal instead of the integrated one?

Thanks for any pointers — happy to provide logs or try test builds if needed.

[Simon D-M]

Hi,

I have never heard about that issue before.

Some small questions before investigating too deep:

• Have you tried rebooting your computer ?
• Are you using the latest version of the extension ?
• Are you using the latest VS Code version ?
• Did you perform all the Windows updates ?

If the problem still persists, can you please give more logs of what is happening.

Also, if you open an nRF terminal in VS Code and try to build the project manually in this terminal, does it also happen ? Or is it only happening when using the "actions" buttons ?

Is there a recommended way to force non-redrawing / line-based output for builds launched from the extension?

I found the option "nrf-connect.buildTerminal.condensedProgress" in the VS Code extension settings. I never used it, but I believe this is what you are looking for here.

Or a way to make nRF Connect run builds in an external terminal instead of the integrated one?

I haven't found a way to do so. I was able to use the option "nrf-connect.terminalProfile.shell" to make the terminal open in another shell when you click the "Open terminal" button, but it doesn't do it for the actions.

Best regards,

Simon D-M

[loicg]

Hi Simon,

Thanks again for looking into this. Here is a consolidated reply with the requested information and additional details.

---

Environment

VS Code

• Version: 1.109.2 (user setup)

• Commit: 591199df409fbf59b4b52d5ad4ee0470152a9b31

• Date: 2026-02-10

• Electron: 39.3.0

• OS: Windows 10 x64 (10.0.26200)

nRF Extensions

• nordic-semiconductor.nrf-connect — 2026.1.1327

• nordic-semiconductor.nrf-devicetree — 2026.1.448

• nordic-semiconductor.nrf-kconfig — 2026.1.230

• nordic-semiconductor.nrf-terminal — 2026.1.235

NCS

• v3.1.0

---

Issue summary

When building via the nRF Connect “Actions” button (Build), the integrated task terminal output becomes corrupted:

• lines are partially overwritten

• Ninja progress lines mix with compiler warnings

• memory usage table gets interleaved with previous lines

• output becomes difficult to read

Example excerpt (from Actions build):

... [-Wformat-truncation=]                                                                                                                                                                                               tween 1 and 32 [-Wformat-tr[28/28] Linking C executable zephyr\zephyr.elf
Memory region         Used Size  Region Size  %age Usedrce->name), "%s Temp", instance->name);
           FLASH:      351388 B         1 MB     33.51%rkspace/logr-lo^~~~~

It clearly looks like progress redraw (\r) handling going wrong inside the task terminal.

---

Control case (works correctly)

If I launch an external toolchain shell:

nrfutil toolchain-manager launch --terminal powershell --ncs-version v3.1.0

and then run the exact same west build command manually, the output is perfectly clean and readable.

Also, if I click:

“Start New Terminal in Sources of This Build”

and build from there, the output is clean as well.

So the issue seems specific to the Actions/task terminal, not west, not Ninja itself, and not the toolchain.

---

About nrf-connect.buildTerminal.condensedProgress

I searched for:

• condensedProgress

• buildTerminal

• nrf-connect.buildTerminal

but I cannot find this setting in:

• VS Code Settings UI

• settings.json (not recognized / not suggested by IntelliSense)

It appears that even buildTerminal is not exposed in the current extension version (2026.1.1327), unless it is hidden or renamed.

...

Could you confirm whether this setting still exists in the current release?

Let me know if you would like a full raw build log or developer console logs.

Best regards,
Loïc

[Simon D-M]

Hi,

I got confirmation that the setting "nrf-connect.buildTerminal.condensedProgress" is indeed not supported anymore. Sorry for recommending that.

Apparently someone was able to reproduce your issue internally, I'll keep you updated as soon as we have some more information.

Best regards,

Simon D-M

[chromedev]

This was frustrating me a lot this morning and I found a stupid work around that solves my immediatiate issue, here it is if it helps anyone else.  (I tried all of the stuff you will have gpu accel, various settings..nothing worked).

What I found is if I size the terminal windows down vertically so that (for me), it is only taking 25%-15% of the vertical size of visual code window, the build works and looks coherent and if you then resize the terminal window vertically after the build is complete everything looks normal.  It may still have anomalies higher up in the terminal windows as you scroll but its way better for me anyway as I can see the build summaries at the bottom now clearly, larger terminal windows on my win 11 box are just trashed.

[chromedev]

side note.  Its 2026 nobody should be wasting cycles on this. Easily handed by AI IMHO.

[loicg]

Thx for the input, what about compilation errors or warnings ? Does this workaround only solve the last lines (you mention build summaries) ?