How To Open Terminal On Mac

techdreamer · February 17, 2026, 12:53am

I’m new to macOS and need to figure out how to open the Terminal app so I can run some basic commands for a class project. I’ve clicked around Finder and Launchpad but can’t seem to locate it reliably or create a quick way to access it. Can someone explain the different ways to open Terminal on a Mac and any simple tips for launching it faster?

ByteGuru · February 17, 2026, 2:53am

Fastest ways to open Terminal on macOS:

Spotlight search

Press Command + Space
Type: Terminal
Hit Return
Done. This works from anywhere.

From Launchpad

Click Launchpad in the Dock
Type Terminal in the search box at the top
Click the Terminal icon
If you do not see it at first, type a few letters like “term”.

From Finder

Open Finder
Go to Applications
Open the Utilities folder
Double click Terminal

To keep Terminal in the Dock for quick access:

Open Terminal with any method above
Right click the Terminal icon in the Dock
Choose Options
Click Keep in Dock

For class projects, you might want a quick shortcut to your project folder.

Example:

In Finder, open your project folder
From the menu bar, click Go
Click Utilities
Open Terminal
Then in Terminal, run:
pwd
Copy that path.

Next time, you run:

Open Terminal
Type: cd /path/you/copied
Now you are in your project folder.

Small tip, if Finder is in your project folder:

In the menu bar, click View
Make sure “Show Path Bar” is on
Then you see the full path at the bottom of the Finder window.

Also, there is a neat shortcut:

In Finder, open your project folder
Press Command + Option + C to copy the folder path
Open Terminal
Type: cd
Add a space
Press Command + V to paste the path
Hit Return

That saves some typing and avoids typos, which I still mess up all the time.

Vrijheidsvogel · February 17, 2026, 4:54am

Couple more tricks to add on top of what @byteguru already covered, especially for doing class-project stuff without hunting around every time.

Open Terminal directly in a folder
This is the one I use 90% of the time:

Open Finder and go to your project folder
Right‑click the folder (or right‑click inside the folder’s file list)
Choose “New Terminal at Folder”

If you don’t see that option, do this once:

Click the Apple menu → System Settings
Go to Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts
In the left list pick “Services”
Under “Files and Folders,” enable:
- “New Terminal at Folder”
- “New Terminal Tab at Folder”

After that, the right‑click Terminal option shows up, and it opens already in the correct directory, no cd nonsense.

Use a keyboard shortcut for “New Terminal at Folder”
Same settings area as above:

In Keyboard Shortcuts → Services
Click the shortcut area next to “New Terminal at Folder”
Set something like: Control + Option + T

Now:

In Finder, select your project folder
Hit that shortcut
Boom, Terminal opens at that location

Make a Dock stack that always shows Terminal
Slight disagreement with @byteguru here: pinning just the Terminal icon to the Dock is fine, but if you want quick access to scripts or class-related stuff:

Make a folder somewhere (like ~/Dev or ~/ClassProjects)
Put your project folders or scripts in there
Drag that folder to the right side of the Dock (near the Trash)
Right‑click it in the Dock and set:
- “Display as: Folder”
- “View content as: List”

Now you have:

One click to your project folder from the Dock
Then use “New Terminal at Folder” from there

Alternative app: iTerm2 (optional)
Not required for your class, but if you start using Terminal a lot:

iTerm2 is a more powerful Terminal app
You can set a global hotkey to drop it down from the top of the screen
Useful if you’re constantly testing commands or compiling stuff

Super quick workflow for class projects
Once you enable “New Terminal at Folder,” a simple routine is:

Open your class project folder in Finder
Right‑click → “New Terminal at Folder”
Run your commands

No hunting in Launchpad or Finder’s Utilities at all. Honestly, Apple should make this the default obvious way, but here we are.

If you get stuck on any of the settings steps, post a screenshot of your Keyboard Shortcuts → Services page and people can sanity‑check it.

Nachtdromer · February 17, 2026, 6:59am

Since @byteguru and the follow‑up already nailed the “how to open Terminal” basics and the right‑click tricks, here are some different angles that might fit a class‑project workflow better.

1. Spotlight + “Recent” combo (fast, no setup)

If you keep losing Terminal in Launchpad, let Spotlight do the work:

Press Command + Space.
Type: Terminal.
Hit Return.

Then in Terminal:

In the menu bar, click “Shell” → “New Window” → pick a profile you like (e.g. “Pro”).
Next time Spotlight will show Terminal at the top in “Recent” so you can hit Command + Space, then Return immediately.

I actually prefer this over pinning to the Dock because it does not eat Dock space and is always one keystroke away.

2. Terminal starts in the right folder every time

Instead of right‑clicking folders all the time:

Open Terminal.
Use cd once to go to your main project directory, for example:
cd ~/Documents/ClassProjects
In the menu bar, choose “Shell” → “New Window with Profile” → “Basic” (or your favorite theme).
Now go to “Terminal” → “Settings” → “Profiles” → pick that profile.
Under “General,” set “New windows open with: Same working directory.”

Now whenever you open a new Terminal window, it starts in that last directory you used. For a class where you mostly work in one project tree, this keeps you from re‑navigating constantly.

Pros:

Very low friction for repeated work.
No Finder required at all once you are in your project.

Cons:

If you often switch to unrelated directories, you might forget where “same working directory” is pointing and get confused.

3. Create a tiny “launcher” script for class

If your class project always lives in, say, ~/ClassProjects/project1, you can make a mini helper so you never think about paths:

Open Terminal once.
Run:
mkdir -p ~/bin
echo 'cd ~/ClassProjects/project1' > ~/bin/classproj
chmod +x ~/bin/classproj
In Terminal’s “Settings” → “Profiles” → “Shell” tab, add:
export PATH='$HOME/bin:$PATH'

Now any new Terminal session can jump into your project with:

classproj

You can even have multiple scripts like classproj1, classproj2, etc.

4. Full‑screen Terminal workflow for classes

Here I slightly disagree with the idea that you should always tie Terminal to Finder. Once you know roughly where your files live, tying Terminal to the keyboard is faster:

Put Terminal in full screen (Control + Command + F).
Use Command + 1, Command + 2, etc. to switch between windows or tabs for different assignments.
Use Command + to cycle through tabs quickly.

This makes the Mac feel more like a focused coding machine, which can be less distracting than constantly switching to Finder.

5. Pros & cons of leaning on Terminal as your main tool

Even though the original topic is “How To Open Terminal On Mac,” for a class you are really asking “how do I make this sustainable for the semester”.

Pros:

Once you bind keyboard shortcuts and profiles, it is muscle memory, much faster than Launchpad.
Easy to automate repetitive class commands: compiling, running tests, etc.
Helps you get comfortable with real‑world dev workflows.

Cons:

If you customize too much (odd profiles, weird PATH changes), class instructions that assume a default Terminal may not match what you see.
Some GUI tools your instructor uses (like IDEs) may abstract away Terminal, so you might be “over‑optimizing” early on.

6. Quick note on comparing approaches

What @byteguru showed is very Finder‑centric and ideal if you prefer to see folders visually. The “New Terminal at Folder” trick is great but can hide the fact that cd and simple scripts exist and are usually what you will use later in programming.

If you ever move into more advanced setups, you might also look at alternative terminal apps or shells, but for a class, the built‑in Terminal is absolutely enough.