tier

Tile multiple commands into iTerm2 split panes. Opens a new tab and runs each command in its own pane, arranged top to bottom.

Install

npm

npm install -g iterm2-tier

From source

git clone https://github.com/koyeo/iterm2-tier.git
cd iterm2-tier
npm install
npm install -g .

Usage

Basic (string format)

tier -c "npm run dev" -c "npm run test"

JSON format

tier -c '{"exec":"npm run dev"}' -c '{"exec":"npm test","waitPort":3000}'

JSON fields:

• exec (required): command to execute
• sleep (optional): delay N seconds before executing
• waitPort (optional): wait for a port to become available
• waitFile (optional): wait for a file to appear before executing

Multiple wait conditions can be combined. Execution order: sleep → waitPort → waitFile → exec

Wait conditions

# Server starts first, tests wait for port 3000
tier -c '{"exec":"npm run dev"}' -c '{"exec":"npm test","waitPort":3000}'

# Delay 5 seconds
tier -c '{"exec":"npm run dev"}' -c '{"exec":"npm test","sleep":5}'

# Wait for build output
tier -c '{"exec":"npm run build"}' -c '{"exec":"npm start","waitFile":"dist/index.js"}'

Config file (-f)

Load commands from a JSON file:

{
  "dir": ".",
  "commands": [
    "htop",
    {"exec": "npm run dev"},
    {"exec": "npm test", "waitPort": 3000}
  ]
}

• dir (optional): working directory, relative paths resolve from the config file's location
• commands: array of commands (string or JSON object)

# Load from file
tier -f tier.json

# File + extra commands (file commands first, -c appended)
tier -f tier.json -c "htop"

Working directory (-d)

tier -d /path/to/project -c "npm run dev" -c "npm test"

Priority: CLI -d > config file dir > current directory.

Requirements

• macOS
• iTerm2
• Node.js >= 18

License

MIT