Vouch request - CLI tab creation on Linux from a long time Ghostty user

[gitzone83]

What do you want to change?

I would like to propose a +new-tab CLI action on the GTK platform, accepting --working-directory and -e <command>, matching the workflow of the existing +new-window. The use case is scripting tab layout on machine startup - one tab per active project, each in the right working directory. Effectively, what I would love down the road is being able to both save and restore tabs on startup. I usually operate 20-30 tabs when working on different systems and would love to be able to restore them on startup to have the snapshot of where I was before, without having to resort to manual intervention. Getting the +new-tab action exposed would get me a long way to that goal.

Issue #12136 was raised the same need but was auto-closed. I would like to reopen that issue and also contribute to its resolution. Structurally the wiring looks parallel to the existing +new-window: same D-Bus single-instance channel, same argument plumbing, with the in-process target being the new_tab action that already exists. I'm not assuming the implementation is that simple, just making an observation that the gap between the macOS path and the GTK path could be closed with relatively low effort.

Why do you want to make this change?

On macOS this is already possible via open -na Ghostty.app in 1.3.0+. On Linux there seems to be no equivalent currently, and the only working approaches are (a) spawning a separate window per "tab", which forgoes the unified-window experience, or (b) driving xdotool to simulate Ctrl+Shift+T keystrokes, which adds a platform-specific timing dependency. I personally have more affinity to working on Ubuntu than on MacOS. A personal preference, nothing more.

I acknowledge that:

• I have read the Contributing Guide and understand the contribution process.
• I have read and agree to follow the AI Usage Policy.
• I wrote this vouch request myself, in my own voice, without AI generating it.

[00-kat]

xref #11762.

[gitzone83]

Interesting, now I am going to wonder how I missed it when searching to +new-tab function.