Macos – How to set iTerm as the default terminal in OS X

itermiterm2macosterminal

I want to configure iTerm2 to be the default terminal on my Mac (Mountain Lion 10.8.4), so that when I right-click on a folder and choose "New Terminal Tab at Folder", it should open iTerm.

How can I do this?

Best Answer

The New Terminal Tab at Folder service is provided by Terminal, so it can't be used with iTerm. You could make your own service for iTerm though:

on run {input, parameters}
    set p to POSIX path of item 1 of input
    tell application "iTerm"
        reopen
        tell current terminal
            tell (launch session "Default Session")
                write text "cd " & quoted form of p
            end tell
        end tell
        activate
    end tell
end run

As far as I know, there is no such a thing as a default terminal on OS X. You can change the default application for .command files from Finder, and you can use duti to change the default application for x-man-page or ssh URLs.

Related Solutions

Macos – Mac OS: How to launch the iTerm terminal, with a specific profile, from Automator or AppleScript

The previous answer no longer works on the latest version of iTerm2 (3), since terminal has been discontinued. The new approach is to use create window with profile.

However, this doesn't work as expected: while if iTerm is running, it will open the new window using the appropriate profile. But if iTerm is not running, it will open a window using the default profile, and then it will open the second window with the supplied other profile. I came up with the following script to address this:

-- this script will start/activate iTerm (close the default window if the app had been newly started), then open a new session with a desired profile

on is_running(appName)
    tell application "System Events" to (name of processes) contains appName
end is_running

set iTermRunning to is_running("iTerm2")

tell application "iTerm"
    activate
    if not (iTermRunning) then
        delay 0.5
        close the current window
    end if
    create window with profile "xxxxxx"
end tell

Of course, it would have been really easy if iTerm supported command line parameters. Hopefully it will at some point.

Macos – How to automatically restore window arrangement from last time in iTerm

In iTerm2's preferences (Cmd + ,), change General > Startup from Open Default Window Arrangement to Use System Window Restoration Setting.

In System Preferences, turn off General > Close windows when quitting an app.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Macos – Mac OS: How to launch the iTerm terminal, with a specific profile, from Automator or AppleScript

Macos – How to automatically restore window arrangement from last time in iTerm

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