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What is openinterminal?

ji4n1ng/openinterminal — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-24

6,828SwiftAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

In one sentence

macOS utility that adds a button to the Finder toolbar so you can open any folder directly in your terminal or code editor with a single click. Supports dozens of apps including iTerm2, Warp, VS Code, Cursor, and the full JetBrains suite.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((OpenInTerminal))
    What it does
      Open folder in terminal
      Open file in editor
      Finder toolbar button
      Context menu option
    Supported Terminals
      iTerm2
      Warp
      Alacritty
      kitty
    Supported Editors
      VS Code
      JetBrains suite
      Cursor
      Xcode
    Setup
      Homebrew install
      Direct download
      Lite version available
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Code map

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Open the current Finder folder in your preferred terminal with one click instead of manually navigating there in the command line.

USE CASE 2

Open a selected file directly in VS Code, Cursor, Xcode, or any JetBrains IDE without leaving Finder.

USE CASE 3

Add a right-click context menu option in Finder to open items in a specific app like GitHub Desktop.

USE CASE 4

Use keyboard shortcuts to launch your terminal or editor on the current Finder location without touching the mouse.

What is it built with?

SwiftmacOSHomebrew

How does it compare?

ji4n1ng/openinterminalronitsingh10/finetunesjj1024/pakeplus-ios
Stars6,8286,8326,858
LanguageSwiftSwiftSwift
Setup difficultyeasyeasyeasy
Complexity1/52/52/5
Audiencedevelopergeneralvibe coder

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

So what is it?

OpenInTerminal is a macOS utility that adds a button to the Finder toolbar so you can open any folder directly in your preferred terminal or code editor with a single click. Instead of switching to a terminal app and navigating to the folder manually, you click a button in Finder and the folder opens there immediately. The app supports a wide range of terminals: macOS's built-in Terminal, iTerm2, Hyper, Alacritty, kitty, Warp, WezTerm, Tabby, and Ghostty. For code editors, it supports TextEdit, Xcode, Visual Studio Code (including the Insiders build), Atom, Sublime Text, VSCodium, BBEdit, TextMate, CotEditor, MacVim, Typora, Nova, Cursor, neovim, notepad--, and the full JetBrains suite including IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, GoLand, WebStorm, Android Studio, and others. You can also configure it to open in any other app, though not all apps accept folders this way. There are two versions of the app. The full version, OpenInTerminal, has a graphical preferences panel and supports keyboard shortcuts. The lite version, OpenInTerminal-Lite, is smaller and opens your chosen terminal or editor with a single click instead of two. The author notes they personally prefer the lite version for its simplicity. The Finder toolbar button can open the current folder in a terminal, open a selected file or folder in an editor, or open a selected item in another app like GitHub Desktop. A right-click context menu option in Finder is also available. The app supports English, Chinese, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, German, and Korean. Installation is available through Homebrew or a direct download from the releases page. The project is open source and accepts sponsorship through GitHub Sponsors, PayPal, and Chinese payment platforms.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I add OpenInTerminal to my Finder toolbar so I can open folders in iTerm2 with a single click on macOS?
Prompt 2
Configure OpenInTerminal to open files in Cursor instead of VS Code as the default editor.
Prompt 3
How do I install OpenInTerminal-Lite with Homebrew and set it up for the simplest single-click terminal opening experience?
Prompt 4
Set up OpenInTerminal so right-clicking a folder in Finder shows an option to open it in GitHub Desktop.

Frequently asked questions

What is openinterminal?

macOS utility that adds a button to the Finder toolbar so you can open any folder directly in your terminal or code editor with a single click. Supports dozens of apps including iTerm2, Warp, VS Code, Cursor, and the full JetBrains suite.

What language is openinterminal written in?

Mainly Swift. The stack also includes Swift, macOS, Homebrew.

How hard is openinterminal to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is openinterminal for?

Mainly developer.

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