Opening Ghostty from a non sanboxed macOS app doesn't honor arguments

[gpakosz]

Issue Description

I wrote a sample Launcher app that uses NSWorkspace.openApplicationAtURL:configuration:completionHandler:) to open Ghostty.

The app is sandboxed. I verified that the arguments are being sent to Ghostty.
Yet, it doesn't honor --title or --initial-command.

let appURL = NSWorkspace.shared.urlForApplication(withBundleIdentifier:"com.mitchellh.ghostty")
let configuration = NSWorkspace.OpenConfiguration()
configuration.createsNewApplicationInstance = true
configuration.arguments = ["--title=TEST", "--initial-command=/bin/sh", "--command=/bin/sh"]
configuration.environment = ["PATH": "/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin"]
NSWorkspace.shared.openApplication(at:appURL!, configuration:configuration) { _, _ in
}

Launcher.zip

Expected Behavior

I expected Ghostty to parse and honor arguments given when being invoked.

Actual Behavior

Ghostty ignores the arguments. The title isn't set to TEST and the current shell is not sh (confirmed by using echo $0).

Reproduction Steps

1. Open Launcher.xcodeproj in Xcode
2. Hit the ▶️ button
3. Click on the Launch button

Launcher.zip

Ghostty Logs

Filtering the log data using "subsystem == "com.mitchellh.ghostty""
Timestamp                       Thread     Type        Activity             PID    TTL
2025-11-02 00:24:04.948164+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:default] ghostty version=1.2.3
2025-11-02 00:24:04.948509+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:default] ghostty build optimize=ReleaseFast
2025-11-02 00:24:04.948532+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:default] runtime=apprt.Runtime.none
2025-11-02 00:24:04.948540+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:default] font_backend=font.main.Backend.coretext
2025-11-02 00:24:04.948546+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:default] renderer=renderer.generic.Renderer(renderer.Metal)
2025-11-02 00:24:04.948549+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:default] libxev default backend=kqueue
2025-11-02 00:24:04.952148+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:os_locale] detected system locale=en_FR.UTF-8
2025-11-02 00:24:04.952229+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:os_locale] setlocale after unset lang result=C
2025-11-02 00:24:04.952236+0100 0x179f826  Error       0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:os_locale] setlocale failed with LANG and system default. Falling back to en_US.UTF-8
2025-11-02 00:24:04.952299+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:os_locale] setlocale default result=en_US.UTF-8
2025-11-02 00:24:04.954864+0100 0x179f828  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:sentry] sentry envelope does not contain crash, discarding
2025-11-02 00:24:05.037218+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:default] reading configuration file path=/Users/gpakosz/.config/ghostty/config
2025-11-02 00:24:05.037901+0100 0x179f826  Error       0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:default] error reading optional config file, not loading err=error.FileIsEmpty path=/Users/gpakosz/Library/Application Support/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config
2025-11-02 00:24:05.038288+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:config] default shell src=passwd value=/opt/homebrew/bin/zsh
2025-11-02 00:24:05.038291+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:config] default working directory src=passwd value=/Users/gpakosz
2025-11-02 00:24:05.175419+0100 0x179f826  Debug       0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:AppDelegate] application will restore window state
2025-11-02 00:24:05.177801+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:ghostty] known but unimplemented action action=37
2025-11-02 00:24:05.181644+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:font_shared_grid_set] font regular: JetBrains Mono Regular Regular
2025-11-02 00:24:05.182391+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:font_shared_grid_set] font bold: JetBrains Mono Regular Bold
2025-11-02 00:24:05.183099+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:font_shared_grid_set] font italic: JetBrains Mono Italic Italic
2025-11-02 00:24:05.183827+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:font_shared_grid_set] font bold_italic: JetBrains Mono Italic Bold Italic
2025-11-02 00:24:05.198217+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:io_exec] found Ghostty resources dir: /Applications/Ghostty.app/Contents/Resources/ghostty
2025-11-02 00:24:05.198269+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:io_exec] shell integration automatically injected shell=termio.shell_integration.Shell.zsh
2025-11-02 00:24:05.198696+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:ghostty] known but unimplemented action action=20
2025-11-02 00:24:05.200716+0100 0x179f848  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:io_exec] started subcommand path=/usr/bin/login pid=46147
2025-11-02 00:24:05.201120+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:ghostty] config reload notification
2025-11-02 00:24:05.201628+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:ghostty] config change notification
2025-11-02 00:24:05.301235+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:ghostty] config reload notification
2025-11-02 00:24:05.301451+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:ghostty] config change notification
2025-11-02 00:24:05.301721+0100 0x179f826  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:ghostty] config change notification
2025-11-02 00:24:05.596751+0100 0x179f84b  Info        0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:stream] OSC 1 (change icon) received and ignored icon=~
2025-11-02 00:24:05.596769+0100 0x179f84b  Error       0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:stream] unimplemented OSC command: change_window_icon
2025-11-02 00:24:10.352599+0100 0x179f826  Debug       0x0                  46146  0    ghostty.real: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:AppDelegate] application will save window state

### Ghostty Version

```text
Ghostty 1.2.3

Version
  - version: 1.2.3
  - channel: stable
Build Config
  - Zig version   : 0.14.1
  - build mode    : builtin.OptimizeMode.ReleaseFast
  - app runtime   : apprt.Runtime.none
  - font engine   : font.main.Backend.coretext
  - renderer      : renderer.generic.Renderer(renderer.Metal)
  - libxev        : kqueue

OS Version Information

macOS 26.1

(Linux only) Display Server

None

(Linux only) Desktop Environment/Window Manager

No response

Minimal Ghostty Configuration

theme = Monokai Remastered
font-family = JetBrains Mono
font-size = 14
mouse-hide-while-typing = true
window-decoration = true

Additional Relevant Configuration

No response

I acknowledge that:

• I have reviewed the FAQ and confirm that my issue is NOT among them.
• I have searched the Ghostty repository (both open and closed Discussions and Issues) and confirm this is not a duplicate of an existing issue or discussion.
• I have checked the "Preview" tab on all text fields to ensure that everything looks right, and have wrapped all configuration and code in code blocks with a group of three backticks (```) on separate lines.

[rhodes-b]

ghostty does handle arguments passed how are they being passed note that it needs to use = with the arg just like the config
open -na Ghostty.app --args --title=test --initial-command=/path/to/cmd/here will work

[gpakosz]

Indeed open -na Ghostty.app --args --title=test --initial-command=/path/to/cmd/here works.
But I would like to open Ghostty from another app.
I believe it doesn't work because Ghostty makes assumptions on how it's being launched.

[gpakosz]

Hello @mitchellh 👋

This is caused by

/// True if we appear to be running in Xcode.
func isRunningInXcode() -> Bool {
    if let _ = environment["__XCODE_BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR_PATHS"] {
        return true
    }

    return false
}

I believe this function is brittle because Xcode injects __XCODE_BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR_PATHS into the environment when I'm debugging / running my Launcher program.

It's possible to change the value of environment variables or add new environment variables to NSWorkspace.OpenConfiguration.environment when using NSWorkspace.shared.openApplication(at:configuration:completionHandler:) but AFAIK it's not possible to remove __XCODE_BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR_PATHS from the inherited environment.

Could you please make isRunningInXcode() more robust?
At the very least check if the value is not the empty string?

Thank you!

[mitchellh]

I'd happily make it more robust, do you have suggestions here?

[gpakosz]

I would say return true when the value is not the empty string

[gpakosz]

But you know more about why isRunningInXcode() is even necessary