I work on a Mac with Lion (10.7.5). I want to create a clickable desktop shortcut that will open the terminal app with multiple tabs where each tab is an ssh session to a remote machine. What is the best way to do this?
Macos – Open terminal app with multiple ssh tabs
macmacosterminal.app
Best Answer
Open your SSH connections using Shell » New Remote Connection (just type
ssh user@hostname
into the text field at the bottom, no need to set up a configuration). They'll each open in a new window, but you can merge them e.g. using Window » Merge All Windows.Once you're happy with your setup, select Window » Save Windows As Group and check Restore all commands.
Restart Terminal. Select Window » Open Window Group », then select the window group you just saved.
Now we need a way to open this window group.
Alternative A: Export window group
Go to Terminal » Preferences… » Window Groups, select the window group you created, and select Export… in the gear menu. Save to the desktop.
You can now double-click the window group configuration on the desktop to open it.
Note that this actually imports it, creating a duplicate window group every time you "open" it.
Alternative B: UI Automation
To automate opening the window group, we'll use UI scripting, as there's no other API to control this part of Terminal. Open AppleScript Editor, and paste the following:
Replace
foo
with the name you assigned your window group.Optionally click Run to test this in AppleScript Editor. You might need to change your Assistive Apps security configuration in System Preferences for this.
If it works as desired, select File » Save As… in AppleScript Editor and save to your desktop as application. Quit AppleScript Editor and double-click the script application you just created. You'll need to change your Security preferences once again, and from then on it should work.