One click in Finder opens a terminal in the current folder. Native Swift (AppKit + SwiftUI + FinderSync), no third-party dependencies.
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Finder toolbar icon ──click──▶ terminal opens already cd'd into that window's folder
- One click: drag
Interm.appinto the Finder toolbar; a single click opens a terminal at the front Finder window's folder. - Native context menu: the bundled FinderSync extension adds “Open in Terminal” to right-click menus (window background or selection).
- Services menu: Finder › Services › Open in Terminal (default
⌃⌥T, rebindable). - Scriptable:
open "interm://open?path=/tmp",Interm --open-at <dir>. - Multiple terminals: Terminal (default), iTerm2, Warp, kitty, WezTerm, Alacritty, or a custom app + argument template.
- Diagnosable:
--selftest, plus a settings window that shows extension state, the last opened folder, and a one-click self-test.
- macOS 14 or newer (developed and verified on macOS 27.2 / Xcode 27.2 / Swift 6.4)
- Builds for the current architecture only (arm64 here); not notarized, not distributed on the App Store
Prebuilt binary: Releases — arm64, ad-hoc signed, not notarized.
git clone <repo> Interm && cd Interm
make build # compile and assemble dist/Interm.app
make selftest # structure + self-test (optional)
make install # install to ~/Applications and register the extensionThen do two things:
-
Put the icon in the Finder toolbar (recommended one-click entry) Open the Applications folder, hold
⌘and dragInterm.apponto a Finder window's toolbar. After that, one click on that icon opens a terminal in the current folder. -
Enable the Finder extension (context menu + toolbar popup) System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions › Extensions › Finder Extensions, tick Interm; or open Interm's settings window and click “Enable / Manage Extension…”.
The first click on the toolbar icon asks “Interm wants to control Finder”. That is the only way to read which folder the front window shows; allow it once. If you decline, that click falls back to the Desktop and shows a dialog telling you where to change it.
To install into /Applications instead: make install-system (may trigger the App Management prompt).
| Entry point | Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Finder toolbar | Click the Interm icon | Opens a terminal in the front Finder window's folder |
| Context menu | Right-click a window background or selection › Open in Terminal | Provided by the FinderSync extension |
| Services | Finder › Services › Open in Terminal | ⌃⌥T by default; rebindable in System Settings |
| URL | open "interm://open?path=/tmp" |
Optionally add &terminal=iterm2 |
| CLI | Interm --open-at ~/code |
Add --dry-run to print the command instead of running it |
| Menu bar | Menu bar icon › Open Current Folder in Terminal | Same as a toolbar click |
The settings window (menu bar icon › Settings…) lets you switch terminals, fill in a custom argument template, inspect extension state and run the self-test.
| Terminal | How it is opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal | Folder handed to LaunchServices as a document | Verified locally |
| iTerm2 | Same | Not installed; implemented per its docs |
| Warp | Same | Not installed; implemented per its docs |
| kitty | kitty --directory <dir> |
Not installed |
| WezTerm | wezterm start --cwd <dir> |
Not installed |
| Alacritty | alacritty --working-directory <dir> |
Not installed |
| Custom | App path + argument template ({dir} placeholder) |
Verified locally with a test app |
Only installed terminals are listed; on another machine the setting falls back to Terminal.
| Permission | Why it is needed | Avoidable? |
|---|---|---|
| Automation (control Finder) | Read the front window's folder on a toolbar click | No — this is the only system-provided route |
| Accessibility / Full Disk Access | Not needed | — |
| Extension sandbox | Hard requirement for FinderSync extensions | No — the extension only reads the path and forwards it; the host app launches the terminal |
Interm makes no network requests and never uploads paths. Everything happens locally.
Toolbar click → host app (not sandboxed) ──AppleScript──▶ Finder: front window folder
└──▶ NSWorkspace hands the folder to the terminal as a document
(the new window starts in that folder)
Context menu → FinderSync extension (sandboxed) ──interm://open?path=…──▶ host app ──▶ same as above
Design notes, SDK evidence and the pitfalls we hit (FinderSync toolbar buttons can only open a menu; the extension entry point must be NSExtensionMain) are in docs/DESIGN.md — currently written in Chinese.
make build # compile + assemble dist/Interm.app
make test # unit tests (no GUI needed)
make install # install to ~/Applications
make uninstall # uninstall (unregisters the extension before deleting files)
make selftest # structure / signature / registration / runtime self-test
make smoke # verify path resolution without opening a window
make icons # regenerate the icons
make cleanTroubleshooting: docs/TROUBLESHOOTING.md (Chinese).
Sources/IntermCore/ UI-free logic (URL scheme, path normalisation, presets, launcher, preferences, menu model)
Sources/Interm/ Host app (CLI, URL, Services, menu bar, SwiftUI settings)
Sources/IntermFinder/ FinderSync extension (sandboxed; forwards paths only)
Tests/IntermCoreTests/ 70 unit tests
Scripts/ build, sign, install, icons, self-test
Bundle/ Info.plist, entitlements, generated icons
swift build produces just the two executables; Scripts/build.sh assembles the .app/.appex, writes the Info.plists, signs from the inside out with an ad-hoc identity, and verifies the result.
- No Developer ID certificate: the build is ad-hoc signed and not notarized, so it is meant for local/personal use. Distributing it to others requires your own signing and notarization.
- Builds for the current architecture only; no universal binary.
- A FinderSync toolbar item can only open a menu (the SDK has no
toolbarItemClicked), so the true one-click button is the app icon you drag into the toolbar.
The app icon and the Finder toolbar icon are based on Lucide's terminal icon (ISC licence), redrawn as CGPath from the original geometry in Scripts/make-icons.swift — no bitmap assets in the repository.
Assets and licence text: docs/icons/README.md.
MIT — see LICENSE.