CholTERM
Native macOS Terminal with Integrated File Browser
Introduction
CholTERM is a native macOS application developed using Swift, that combines a live file-tree browser with a full PTY terminal in a single resizable split-pane window. The two panes are tightly integrated: clicking a directory in the tree sends a cd command directly to the active shell, and Tab moves keyboard focus between the two panes.
CholTERM is intentionally a minimal application, although it does have a few additional features detailed in the additional sections of this document.
Overview
Many of us now use a terminal every day as part of our jobs. Changing directory by typing a cd command followed by a possibly long path name gets old quickly. Of course you can always have the finder window open next to the terminal and drag and drop the folder directly into the terminal. That is not always convenient and involves you keeping a terminal window and a finder window open at the same time.
CholTERM solves this problem by integrating a terminal window and a finder view together in the same window. Clicking a folder in the finder view changes the terminal immediately to the same directory.
Pressing Tab alternates between the finder view and the terminal pane. When the terminal is active the cursor blinks, when the finder view is active, it does not. The terminal is in focus automatically whenever a new tab is selected.
Cmd + Shift + N opens a new tab with a fresh terminal that runs totally independently of the other tab sessions.
You can use the shortcut keys Cmd + and Cmd - to increase or decrease the text size in the currently selected view, either the finder view or the terminal. You can adjust between 10 and 28 point sizes. You can also select these functions from the View menu.
You can copy and paste information within the terminal, as well as drag text into the terminal from another application.
The tab name contains the current working directory, or if you are running a program in that terminal, then the program name is shown instead.
In the expanded finder view the information refreshes if it is altered elsewhere, making you sure that you are looking at a real-time view. Only the currently shown folder items are refreshed.
The finder view opens at the root of your boot drive and automatically expands to your home folder, so you can start browsing from anywhere on the disk without losing sight of your own files. Nothing is hidden from the tree apart from hidden files, which you can reveal with the Show Hidden Files checkbox.
Finder aliases that resolve to directories are shown with a * badge in their label. Clicking them navigates into the alias target. Their tooltip shows both the alias path and the resolved target.
CholTERM is less than 4Mb on disk and will run on any Apple (Silicon) Mac running macOS Ventura and upwards.
The last size and position of the CholTERM window is restored when re-opened.
The terminal runs your system shell as a login shell, which causes ~/.zshrc (or equivalent) to be sourced on launch. This ensures the terminal is launched with your current PATH and other environment variables.
The terminal respects all standard VT100 / ANSI escape sequences for colour, cursor movement, bold, underline, etc.
You can save the sizes, positions, divider position, font sizes and current directory of all open tabs using the Save Tab Arrangement Cmd + S option from the File Menu. There arrangements can be restored using the Restore Tab Arrangement option, or the shortcut Cmd + R. In addition if a program was running in that terminal when the tab arrangement was saved, that program is restarted when the terminal is restored.
Usage and Features
The finder view starts from the root of the boot drive (/) and pre-expands the $HOME directory.
Selecting a directory in the file tree changes the terminal's working directory.
Automatic New Tab when a Foreground Process is Running: if clicking a directory in the file tree is detected as having a foreground process running in the terminal (for example, Nano, Vim etc.), CholTERM opens a new tab rooted at the selected path instead of sending cd to the active shell. This prevents interrupting a running session.
Click a directory row to expand / collapse it and send cd <path> to the shell, or open a new window at that path if a foreground process is running.
Press Enter on a selected directory row to do the same from the keyboard.
Click the file tree header to reverse the sorting of the files and folders.
Tab in the file tree moves focus to the terminal. Tab in the terminal moves focus back to the file tree.
Typing cd into the terminal to change directory also updates the finder view.
Paths with special characters are automatically shell-quoted before being sent to the shell, wrapped in single quotes with any embedded single quotes escaped, so the shell sees exactly one literal path argument.
Clicking the same directory twice in a row sends the cd command only once, suppressing the duplicate.
Cmd + Shift + N opens another tab rooted at the boot drive, with your home folder expanded.
File → Close Tab Cmd + W is disabled when only one window is open, preventing the user from accidentally closing the last tab without quitting.
Using the Cmd Key and the Arrow keys allows you to quickly flip from one terminal to another, forwards or backwards.
Background Colour and Text Colour can be changed and saved on a per terminal basis, by right clicking on the appropriate terminal.
Right clicking on the terminal also gives an option to Choose Font. This displays a submenu from which you can select a monospaced font to be used for the currently selected terminal.
Under the Settings menu is the option to Automatically Open Tab Arrangement. When this option is selected it will have a ✔️next to it and the next time the app is launched your saved tab arrangement will automatically be loaded.
Under the Help menu you have the option to open this manual within your web browser.
CholTERM terminates automatically when its last tab is closed.
Search
At any time you can click the Search control above the finder view, which searches as you type. If a document or application is shown you can click it and the document will be opened by the associated software and if it's an executable application then the application will be opened.
Search results are capped at 1,000 matches.
If exactly one match is found, it is automatically selected and focus moves to the tree so you can act on it immediately without an extra click.
Clearing the search field restores the tree to its state before the search, including which directories were expanded.
Output
The only output is a menu option Cmd + E which exports the contents of the terminal, and the scroll-back buffer to an HTML file.
General
The window preferences are stored here:
~/Library/Application Support/CholTERM/WindowArrangement.json
The application settings are stored here:
~/Library/Application Support/CholTERM/AppSettings.json
Updates
05/08/2026
New tabs open with the correct finder view to terminal percentage.
Restore Tab Arrangement restores tabs in the same order that they were when saved.
Fix attempted for the Cmd+V pasting issue. Intermittent so needs monitoring.
Fixed pasting of complex multi-line command into the terminal.
Background Colour and Text Colour can be changed and saved on a per terminal basis.
Font choice (monospaced only) can be selected by right clicking on the terminal.
06/08/2026
Settings menu gives the option of automatically opening the saved tab arrangement.
Help Menu allows this manual to opened in your web browser.
Credits
This software was designed, developed and written by Steven Cholerton, July / August 2026.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevechol/
Document Revision: 1.33
