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When I start a session programming on my macbook pro, I have a bunch of apps I'd like open and ready:

  • DevNull smtp java server (run from terminal with java -jar DevNull.jar)
  • Terminal shell in the tomcat/bin directory with startup.sh;tail -f ../logs/catalina.out running after rm -rf work and test webapp directories
  • IntelliJ running
  • after tomcat loads (fine with just having a timer), Firefox with my webapp loaded
  • after tomcat loads, Chrome with my webapp loaded
  • ForkLift
  • TextMate
  • Couple of Finder windows open in particular directories

Those are pretty core... then it depends on what exactly I'm working on as far as other apps I need open.

So how do I write a script I can double click on and have all the above ready for me, saving me a couple minutes each day and being a little less annoying getting started? Is there a nice app that can easily do the above for me? Do I need to write a bash or python script for this? Or learn applescript?

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I'd use a bash script for this as everything that you list can be opened in bash. Use the open command pointing to the application to run the application or a folder location to open a particular folder with finder.

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  • sounds easy, what about loading firefox or chrome only after tomcat has fully loaded? Is there an easy way to do this? Could I run tail -f on catalina.out, pipe it to grep for the startup line and then load chrome and firefox somehow?
    – at01
    Apr 18, 2011 at 0:09
  • I would just use the bash sleep command in the script to pause the script for a short period whilst tomcat loads. A lot simpler. See ss64.com/bash/sleep.html I would load Chrome and Firefox last in the script, so the sleep time should be minimal.
    – robzolkos
    Apr 18, 2011 at 0:20
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I use Concentrate to load up apps relevant to whatever I'm doing right now - you can run terminal commands, Applescripts, load programs, etc. I hit 'concentrate', make some tea, and then return to everything running. I know I could do this with Automator, but I'm too lazy to learn how.

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