macOS: AppleScript interface for Ghostty Automations

[kkilchrist]

TL;DR:
Extensive AppleScript support for Ghostty wrapping all App Intents.
AppleScript models "terminal" objects properties index (1-indexed), uuid, title, working directory, current window contents. This implementation wraps existing Ghostty APIs rather than creating parallel code paths. (c.f. @j-c-m 's earlier discussion/work here)

code is here https://github.com/kkilchrist/ghostty-applescript

I can share a notarized binary (signed with my account) if anyone is unable to build but wants to test, but better to build yourself if possible.

Problem:
There are several discussions around how Ghostty's behavior on macOS open -n "Ghostty" leave something to be desired. In my use case, I built a menu bar app to invoke Claude code with a particular directory + model + prompt (e.g., paste bug to create categorized issue in some repo). My preferred interface is Ghostty.

• Ghostty does not support ghostty cli commands on Mac (unlike Linux)
• open -a "Ghostty" somecommand does not work
• The hack for my menubar app was open -na Ghostty.app --args -e /bin/bash -c "cd '~/some-directory' && somecommand" but this opened new instances of Ghostty.app for each new session.

c.f. 1, 2

As a workaround, many users report using system events scripting and key bindings (e.g., "focus on Ghostty" then "click File -> New Window" then paste my command). But this is hackish and gives limited true automation potential, especially to do anything other than "launch and forget"

Ghostty already supports the App Intent framework, but as far as I can tell, this is not accessible from another application or script, without the user creating a Shortcut that can be invoked.

I have another app I am working on which implements AppleScript (in my case, for Claude Code to navigate and control my markdown viewer which operates from within the AppStore sandbox).

So, Claude Code and I wrapped the existing Ghostty App Intents with AppleScript, with the aim of implementing AppleScript (bindings/interfaces) for all exposed App Intents, and added a couple new aspects for ergonomics.

Examples:

Use Case	Command
New window	osascript -e 'tell application "Ghostty" to new terminal'
New window with command	osascript -e 'tell application "Ghostty" to new terminal command "htop"'
New window with directory	osascript -e 'tell application "Ghostty" to new terminal directory "~/projects"'
New window with both	osascript -e 'tell application "Ghostty" to new terminal command "htop" directory "/tmp"'
New tab	osascript -e 'tell application "Ghostty" to new terminal location tab'
New tab with command	osascript -e 'tell application "Ghostty" to new terminal location tab command "htop"'
Quick terminal (dropdown)	osascript -e 'tell application "Ghostty" to open quick terminal'
Send text to terminal 1	osascript -e 'tell application "Ghostty" to send text "feedback for claude" to terminal 1'
Get terminal contents	osascript -e 'tell application "Ghostty" to get contents of terminal 1'
Split right	osascript -e 'tell application "Ghostty" to split direction right in terminal 1'

After I had substantially completed this work, I found @j-c-m 's earlier discussion here and PR.

That implementation has not seen activity since October, and implemented a relatively limited number of controls. Apologies that I did not build on top of it.

Feature	PR #9249	This Implementation
Create window/tab	✓	✓
Command parameter	✓	✓
Directory parameter	✗	✓
wait after command	✓	✓
Query terminals	✗	✓
Terminal properties	✗	✓
send text	✗	✓
focus/close terminal	✗	✓
open quick terminal	✗	✓
perform action (keybinds)	✗	✓
Returns terminal object	✗	✓

Happy to make any changes as the community would like. Can also add features like zoom etc, although these are already accessible via applescript -> keybinding handlers

Disclosures:

• The text of this post is human written (assistance w/ table formatting & example commands, all hand tested)
• Attached some demos: APPLESCRIPT_DEMOS.md
• The code is primarily written by Claude Code
• All exposed functions were verified as working by me

[mitchellh]

#11208