Motivation

Over the course of development on a project, there are many common jobs that one may run on a daily basis, such as:

• Starting a Rails app and watching a log tail
• Running a Zeus server and monitoring its status
• Monitoring RSpec output
• Keeping an IRB session open for quick experiments

I like to have a consistent workspace and layout that I can assume is readily available, as opposed to hunting down multiple terminal windows on my desktop. iTerm2 happens to provide a built-in mechanism for preserving workspaces and layouts.

Solution

Once you have all of your iTerm2 panes, windows, and tabs arranged to your liking, you can hit ⌘⇧s (Command-Shift-S) to Save and name your arrangement.

The next time you start iTerm2, you can Restore your saved layout by pressing ⌘⇧r (Command-Shift-R).