A macOS Quick Action that streamlines your workflow startup. Instead of manually opening a terminal, navigating to a project, and then launching your editor, this script lets you right-click any project folder and ask: "Which terminal should we use today?"

• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• Configuration
  • Quick Start
  • Configuration Options
  • Custom Launch Arguments
  • Examples
• CLI Usage
• Documentation
• Troubleshooting
• Contributing
• License

• Interactive Picker: Uses native macOS dialogs to choose your terminal on the fly
• Multi-Editor Support: Configure multiple editors and pick the right one for each project
• Custom Launch Arguments: Pass specific flags to your terminals and editors
• External Configuration: JSON config file for easy customization without editing code
• Memory System: Remembers your terminal/editor choices per project
• Context Aware: Opens the terminal directly to the selected folder
• Comprehensive Logging: Optional rotating logs for troubleshooting
• Lightweight & Fast: Zero dependencies, launches in under 2 seconds
• Highly Customizable: 13+ configuration options to match your workflow

• Two-dialog workflow: Pick terminal → pick editor → both launch
• Optional combined mode via combined_dialog: true in config
• Faster workflow when both apps needed
• Maintains full backward compatibility

Add to ~/.zshrc:

dev() { python3 "$HOME/github_repo/macos-dev-launcher/open_dev_env.py" "${1:-.}" }

Reload:

source ~/.zshrc

Use:

dev . # Current directory dev my-project # Searches common paths dev ~/full/path/project # Full path

When you run dev, it:

1. Opens your terminal in the project directory
2. Asks which terminal you want (Ghostty, Kitty, Warp, etc.)
3. Asks which editor you want (VSCodium, etc.)
4. Remembers your choices for next time

git clone https://github.com/KnowOneActual/macos-dev-launcher.git ~/github_repo/macos-dev-launcher cd ~/github_repo/macos-dev-launcher python3 open_dev_env.py --create-config

Add this to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bash_profile:

dev() { python3 "$HOME/github_repo/macos-dev-launcher/open_dev_env.py" "${1:-.}" }

Then reload:

source ~/.zshrc

dev .

dev my-project

Searches in: ~/github_repo, ~/projects, ~/work, ~/dev, ~/src

dev ~/any/path/to/project

python3 open_dev_env.py --test

Edit ~/.config/macos-dev-launcher/config.json:

{ "terminals": ["Ghostty", "Kitty", "Warp", "Wave"], "editors": ["VSCodium"], "behavior": { "auto_open_editor": true, "remember_choices": true, "combined_dialog": true }, "logging": { "enabled": true, "level": "INFO", "file": "~/Library/Logs/macos-dev-launcher.log" } }

✅ Smart app detection - Only shows installed apps ✅ Project memory - Remembers your last choices ✅ Combined dialog - One screen for terminal + editor ✅ Validation - Checks paths and apps before launching ✅ Logging - Tracks what happens ✅ Config file - Customize everything ✅ Error handling - Clear messages if something goes wrong

Assuming projects are in ~/github_repo/:

dev my-web-app # Opens ~/github_repo/my-web-app dev . # Opens current directory

Edit your shell config to add more search directories:

dev() { # Add your custom paths here by editing the Python script python3 "$HOME/github_repo/macos-dev-launcher/open_dev_env.py" "${1:-.}" }

Or create a custom config at ~/.config/macos-dev-launcher/config.json.

Enable in config:

{ "behavior": { "remember_choices": true } }

Now when you open a project, next time it remembers if you chose Ghostty + VSCodium.

1. You run: dev my-project
2. Script finds: ~/github_repo/my-project
3. Dialog appears: Pick terminal (Ghostty, Kitty, Warp?)
4. Dialog appears: Pick editor (VSCodium, none, other?)
5. Terminal opens: At project directory
6. Editor opens: (if you chose one)
7. Saved: Your choices for next time (if enabled)

Make sure you added the function to ~/.zshrc and ran source ~/.zshrc.

Check that the repo is at ~/github_repo/macos-dev-launcher and the file exists there.

Make sure project is in one of these directories:

• ~/github_repo/
• ~/projects/
• ~/work/
• ~/dev/
• ~/src/

Or use the full path: dev ~/any/path/to/project

Install one of these:

• Ghostty
• Kitty
• Warp
• Wave

Phase 1: Path validation, app checking, error handling Phase 2: Config files, project memory, logging Phase 3.1: Combined dialog for terminal + editor Phase 4: Simple shell command dev

• macOS 10.14+
• Python 3.7+
• At least one terminal app installed
• (Optional) An editor app

MIT

Found a bug? Have an idea? Open an issue on GitHub.

That's it. Simple, clean, ready to use. ⚡