Ghostty + rz

Install rz

brew tap marianposaceanu/tap
brew install rz

The dotfiles Brewfile includes the same native Rust formula. Source and tagged versions live in the standalone rz repository.

Daily shortcuts

One-shot split navigation

Press ⌘ ⇧ Space, then one key. Use h, j, k, or l to move; n for a tab; v to split right; or s to split down. Ghostty exits the mode after the action.

Save before quitting

rz --save work                 # full snapshot with scrollback
rz --save work --no-scrollback # faster snapshot
rz --save work --current-window # only the front Ghostty window
rz --save personal             # a separate named workspace

Restore after reopening Ghostty

rz                         # replace current windows with newest snapshot
rz --session work          # replace them with newest snapshot named work
rz --keep-existing         # restore without closing current windows
rz --list                  # inspect available snapshots
rz --list 3                # inspect snapshot number 3 from the list
rz --session work --dry-run

rz restores window position and size, tabs, terminal counts, focus, working directories, exact Codex conversation IDs, exact Amp thread IDs, exact Claude Code session IDs, and any captured scrollback. The save confirmation lists each captured tab title with its window and tab position, such as TAB 1.3.

Remove old snapshots

rz --clean         # purge snapshots older than 7 days
rz --clean 30d     # keep the last 30 days
rz --clean 2.weeks # friendly long-form duration

Cleanup uses the recorded saved_at time and permanently removes the complete snapshot directory, including captured scrollback. Ages accept seconds, minutes, hours, days, or weeks in forms such as 12h, 7d, 7.days, and 2.weeks. The result lists every purged snapshot. Malformed or unsafe entries are kept and reported as warnings.

Automatic, without a global service

Start a watcher from the shell that should own it. It saves immediately, then repeats at the requested interval. The watcher uses fast snapshots without scrollback and stops when its owning shell or Ghostty tab exits.

rz --watch backup --every 15m
rz --watch-status
rz --watch-stop

rz --watch backup --every 30m --all-windows

Intervals accept seconds, minutes, or hours, such as 30s, 15m, or 1h, with a ten-second minimum. Watcher state and logs live in ~/.local/state/ghostty-rz/watchers. Snapshots accumulate until you remove them; the watcher does not prune previous backups automatically.

Inspect or repair the live workspace

The launcher claims existing tabs by working directory and creates only missing ones. It does not inject commands into an existing terminal.

Guaranteed read-only preview

osascript ~/dot-files/ghostty/scripts/workspace-open.applescript --dry-run

Ensure declared tabs and print the inventory

osascript ~/dot-files/ghostty/scripts/workspace-open.applescript
osascript ~/dot-files/ghostty/scripts/workspace-inventory.applescript

macOS choices

• Native titlebar tabs and restored window state.
• AppleScript support for inspection and snapshots.
• Exact pixel resizing instead of cell-step resizing.
• Secure-input indication during password entry.
• macOS shortcuts denied so configured Ghostty bindings win.
• An instant scratch terminal at 35% of screen height.

Honest restoration limits

• Ghostty exposes terminal surfaces, not split trees or pane proportions.
• Additional surfaces therefore restore as right-hand splits.
• Scrollback replays as plain text, not as a running process.
• Codex, Amp, and Claude Code resume from their exact IDs; arbitrary programs cannot be reconstructed.
• Window geometry and automatic close confirmation need macOS Accessibility permission for the shell that runs rz.
• A window-scoped snapshot restores that saved window into one new Ghostty window.