Using the Terminal

What is a Terminal?

A terminal (also called a command line or command prompt) is a text-based interface for interacting with your computer. Instead of clicking icons and menus, you type short commands and press Enter. The computer reads your command and responds with text output.

You do not need to memorise dozens of commands. For the CoEngineers guides, you only need a handful of basics, and your AI coding tool will handle the rest.

Step 1: Open the Terminal

Open the Terminal

macOS

There are two easy ways to open Terminal on macOS:

Option A: Spotlight Search

1. Press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight.
2. Type Terminal.
3. Press Enter to open it.

Option B: Finder

1. Open Finder.
2. Go to Applications > Utilities.
3. Double-click Terminal.

You will see a window with a blinking cursor. This is your terminal, ready for commands.

Windows

There are two easy ways to open a terminal on Windows:

Option A: Search

1. Press the Windows key or click the Start menu.
2. Type PowerShell or Command Prompt.
3. Click the result to open it.

Option B: Run dialog

1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog.
2. Type powershell and press Enter.

We recommend using PowerShell as it is the modern default terminal on Windows. You will see a window with a blinking cursor, ready for commands.

Step 2: Understand the Prompt

When the terminal opens, you will see something like this:

What the prompt looks like

macOS

yourname@MacBook ~ %

 

• yourname@MacBook is your username and computer name.
• ~ means you are in your home folder.
• % is the prompt symbol. It means the terminal is waiting for your input.

Windows

PS C:\Users\YourName>

 

• PS stands for PowerShell.
• C:\Users\YourName is your current folder location.
• > is the prompt symbol. It means the terminal is waiting for your input.

You type your command after the prompt symbol and press Enter to run it.

Step 3: Try Your First Commands

Here are a few safe commands to try. Type each one and press Enter.

See where you are

pwd

This prints the path to the folder you are currently in. pwd stands for “print working directory.”

List files in the current folder

List files

macOS

ls

Windows

dir

 

Or, if you are using PowerShell, ls also works.

This shows all files and folders in your current location.

Move into a folder

cd Documents

This moves you into the Documents folder. cd stands for “change directory.” To go back up one level:

cd ..

Clear the screen

Clear the screen

macOS

clear

 

Or press Cmd + K.

Windows

cls

 

Or press Ctrl + L in PowerShell.

Quick Reference

Action	macOS	Windows (PowerShell)
Open terminal	Cmd + Space, type “Terminal”	Windows key, type “PowerShell”
See current folder	pwd	pwd
List files	ls	ls or dir
Move into a folder	cd foldername	cd foldername
Go up one level	cd ..	cd ..
Clear screen	clear or Cmd + K	cls or Ctrl + L
Copy text	Cmd + C	Ctrl + C
Paste text	Cmd + V	Right-click or Ctrl + V

Tips for Beginners

• You cannot break your computer by typing commands in the terminal. If something goes wrong, close the terminal window and open a new one.
• Spelling matters. Commands are case-sensitive on macOS. cd Documents is not the same as cd documents.
• Use Tab to autocomplete. Start typing a folder or file name and press Tab. The terminal will fill in the rest for you.
• Use the up arrow to repeat your last command. Press the up arrow key to scroll through your command history.
• Paste prompts from the guides. When you see an LLM Prompt Box in the CoEngineers guides, copy the text and paste it into your terminal using the keyboard shortcuts above.

Next Steps

Now that you know how to open and use the terminal, head back to the Prerequisites page and choose your LLM tool to install.