Scripting iTerm2 using AppleScript

July 5, 2016

As a developer and as a OSX user I use iTerm2 in a daily basis. It’s an awesome open source piece of software. Besides, when you get familiar with features such as split panes, it’s also an amazing productivity booster.

From time to time I need to SSH to multiple servers to make some checks. For example, a few days ago I needed to SSH to 8 Varnish Cache and 3 Redis servers to check some log files, access certain stats, etc. I needed to do that at 10 AM, then 20 minutes later again, then at 12 PM, etc. Every time I would need to create a new iTerm2 tab, then create enough panes, then execute SSH commands, etc. It looks like something a machine could do for me, isn’t it?

Of course the answer is yes. The pleasant surprise here was how extremely simple it happened to be creating a disposable trivial script to do the job. All panes and SSH connections ready in less than five seconds anytime I needed them. Combine this with the iTerm2 broadcasting feature and you’ll understand what love is :)️

#! /usr/bin/osascript

set commands to { ¬
    { ¬
        connection: "ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 carlos@...", ¬
        action: "tail -f /var/log/messages | grep ..." ¬
    }, ¬
    { ¬
        connection: "ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 carlos@...", ¬
        action: "tail -f /var/log/messages | grep ..." ¬
    }, ¬
    { ¬
        connection: "ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 carlos@...", ¬
        action: "tail -f /var/log/messages | grep ..." ¬
    }, ¬
    { ¬
        connection: "ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 carlos@...", ¬
        action: "tail -f /var/log/messages | grep ..." ¬
    }, ¬
    { ¬
        connection: "ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 carlos@...", ¬
        action: "tail -f /var/log/messages | grep ..." ¬
    }, ¬
    { ¬
        connection: "ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 carlos@...", ¬
        action: "tail -f /var/log/messages | grep ..." ¬
    }, ¬
    { ¬
        connection: "ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 carlos@...", ¬
        action: "tail -f /var/log/messages | grep ..." ¬
    }, ¬
    { ¬
        connection: "ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 carlos@...", ¬
        action: "tail -f /var/log/messages | grep ..." ¬
    }, ¬
    { ¬
        connection: "ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 carlos@...", ¬
        action: "redis-cli -c -p 6379" ¬
    }, ¬
    { ¬
        connection: "ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 carlos@...", ¬
        action: "redis-cli -c -p 6379" ¬
    }, ¬
    { ¬
        connection: "ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 carlos@...", ¬
        action: "redis-cli -c -p 6379" ¬
    } ¬
}

tell application "iTerm"
    # Create tab.
    tell current window
        create tab with default profile
    end tell

    # Create sessions.
    tell current session of current window
        split horizontally with default profile
        split horizontally with default profile
        split horizontally with default profile
        split horizontally with default profile
    end tell
    tell session 1 of current tab of current window
        split vertically with default profile
    end tell
    tell session 3 of current tab of current window
        split vertically with default profile
    end tell
    tell session 5 of current tab of current window
        split vertically with default profile
    end tell
    tell session 7 of current tab of current window
        split vertically with default profile
    end tell
    tell session 9 of current tab of current window
        split vertically with default profile
        split vertically with default profile
    end tell

    # Establish connections & execute actions.
    repeat with i from 1 to count of commands
        tell session i of current tab of current window
            write text (connection of item i of commands)
            write text (action of item i of commands)
        end tell
    end repeat
end tell

#english #dev