webstorm has a nice built in terminal (at least on mac) that you can use to do node stuff. I had it set up to run unit tests for example right in the IDE

Can this work in Webstorm on Windows with say an Ubuntu WSL?

im not sure how its hooked up i think its just their own internal one that hooks into your main system one. There may be some setup you can do somewhere but that'll be a google adventure

Ya, I think I'll move onto using the cli and abandon the plugin

I have been using the CLI exclusively, mostly through Webstorm terminal window (ubuntu WSL)