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Terminals and launch modes

DasDuo edited this page Jun 14, 2026 · 1 revision

Terminals & launch modes

Terminal choice

ShuttleX offers only the terminals that are actually installed. Switch in the dropdown footer or in Settings.

Supported: Terminal, iTerm2, Ghostty, Warp, Alacritty, kitty, WezTerm.

  • Terminal.app and iTerm2 are driven via AppleScript (addressed by bundle id, so the iTerm/iTerm2 naming doesn't matter).
  • Ghostty, Alacritty, kitty and WezTerm are launched via command-line arguments.
  • Warp is launched via a launch configuration (warp://launch/…).

Launch modes

Choose how a connection opens (dropdown footer or Settings) — depending on what the terminal supports:

Terminal Window Tab Split right Split down
iTerm2
Terminal.app
Ghostty, Warp, Alacritty, kitty, WezTerm
  • Unsupported modes fall back to "new window" automatically.
  • When the terminal isn't running yet, a new window is always opened — tab/split only apply once a window exists. ShuttleX reuses the window the terminal opens on startup instead of creating a second one.

Permissions

  • On first connect, macOS asks once for permission to control Terminal/iTerm2 (Automation). Allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation.
  • The "new tab" mode in Terminal.app uses a simulated Cmd+T keystroke (Terminal has no AppleScript API for tabs), which needs Accessibility permission for ShuttleX. iTerm2 doesn't need this — its tabs/splits go straight through AppleScript.

If a connection fails because of permissions, ShuttleX shows a hint pointing to the right settings pane. See Troubleshooting.

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