cd to is a free, open-source Finder toolbar button that opens a Terminal window rooted at whatever folder you are currently browsing — eliminating the need to type or paste long paths by hand.
What is cd to?
cd to is a tiny macOS utility that lives as a button in your Finder toolbar and, when clicked, launches your preferred terminal emulator already cd'd into the visible folder. It solves one of the most persistent friction points in a developer's day: bridging the gap between a visual file browser and a command-line workflow without resorting to copy-paste gymnastics or hunting through a deep cd chain.
The project is open-source, hosted on GitHub, and has been quietly maintained across macOS versions for years. Installation is as simple as dragging the app bundle into your Finder toolbar — a thirty-second operation that pays back dividends every single session.
What does cd to do best?
Its singular trick is executed with near-zero overhead: one click, and your terminal is already where you need it. That sounds modest until you realise how often you reach for it in a typical coding day — navigating into a deeply nested node_modules suspect, jumping into a build artefact folder to inspect output, or dropping into a client's project directory straight from Finder's sidebar.
- Multi-terminal support: cd to works with Terminal.app, iTerm2, Hyper, and a handful of other emulators — you pick which one launches on click.
- No daemon, no background process: the app only runs during the brief moment it needs to open a window. Nothing lingers in your menubar or process list.
- Drag-once setup: drop the bundle into the Finder toolbar once and it stays there across reboots. No Login Items, no Launch Agents, no plist fiddling.
- Handles spaces and special characters: paths with spaces, brackets, or Unicode don't trip it up, which is more than can be said for a hastily typed manual cd.
Is cd to free?
Yes — cd to is completely free to download and use. It is distributed under an open-source licence on GitHub, meaning you can inspect every line of code, fork it, or contribute improvements. There is no paid tier, no nag screen, and no analytics phoning home.
Who should use cd to?
Any developer who bounces between Finder and the terminal is the natural audience. If you spend most of your day inside an IDE with an integrated terminal, cd to might not move the needle much. But if you use macOS Finder to navigate repos, client handoffs, or large asset folders, and then need shell access, this button becomes muscle memory within a day.
It is especially useful for designers who occasionally touch the command line, system administrators who navigate server-synced folders in Finder, and anyone who prefers a visual file browser for orientation before switching into CLI mode. I have used it daily while working across a monorepo with a dozen nested apps/ directories — the alternative of cd ~/dev/project/apps/macbuddy/src/components typed from scratch does not bear thinking about.
How does cd to compare to alternatives?
The closest built-in option on macOS is the "Open Terminal Here" service available via right-click → Services, but it requires two clicks and menu navigation rather than one Finder-toolbar tap. Finder's own "Open in Terminal" (introduced in later macOS versions) covers the basic case but is locked to Terminal.app. If you use iTerm2 as your daily driver, cd to's iTerm2 integration makes it the cleaner pick.
Raycast offers an "Open in Terminal" extension with similar functionality but requires Raycast to be running and demands a keyboard shortcut rather than a Finder-native click. For pure Finder-toolbar muscle memory, cd to remains unmatched in simplicity.
There is also the older Go2Shell app, which served the same purpose, though it has seen less active maintenance in recent years. cd to's GitHub activity suggests it tracks macOS releases more reliably.
What are the best cd to alternatives?
If cd to does not fit your workflow, consider these options:
- Raycast "Open in Terminal" extension — keyboard-first, supports multiple terminals, but requires Raycast.
- iTerm2's built-in "Open iTerm2 Here" service — seamless if you are an iTerm2-only shop.
- Finder Services → Open Terminal Here — zero install, but right-click only, and Terminal.app only.
- Go2Shell — the spiritual predecessor; still functional but less actively updated.
