Open the Terminal

The Terminal is a text-based way to interact with your Mac. You will use it to install tools and run the project.

What is the Terminal?

The Terminal is an app that comes pre-installed on every Mac. It lets you type commands to do things that you would normally do by clicking around in Finder — like creating folders, moving files, or installing software.

You do not need to memorize commands. This workshop gives you every command to type, and you can copy-paste them directly.

How to open Terminal

There are two easy ways to open Terminal on your Mac:

Option 1: Spotlight Search

1. Press Cmd + Space on your keyboard
2. Type Terminal
3. Press Enter when you see the Terminal app in the results

Option 2: Finder

1. Open Finder
2. Go to Applications → Utilities
3. Double-click Terminal

What you will see

When Terminal opens, you will see a window with a text prompt that looks something like this:

yourname@MacBook ~ %

This is called the command prompt. It is where you type commands. The ~ symbol means you are in your home folder (the folder that contains your Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc.).

Try your first command

Let's make sure Terminal is working. Type the following command and press Enter:

echo 'Hello, workshop'

You should see Hello, workshop printed on the next line. If you do, your Terminal is working and you are ready to move on.

Tips for using the Terminal

• Copy and paste works — use Cmd + C to copy and Cmd + V to paste, just like anywhere else on your Mac
• One command at a time — type (or paste) a command, then press Enter to run it
• Ctrl + C cancels a command — if something is running and you want to stop it, press Ctrl + C. Think of it as the "emergency stop" button. You will use this throughout the workshop to stop servers and cancel stuck commands.
• Up/down arrows recall previous commands — press ↑ to bring back the last command you ran, and keep pressing to go further back. ↓ goes forward again. This saves you from retyping or re-pasting commands you've already used.
• Case matters — Install and install are different to the Terminal, so copy commands exactly as shown
• You can scroll up — if output scrolls past the visible area, just scroll up to read it
• cd and ls are your navigation commands — cd (change directory) opens a folder, like double-clicking it in Finder. ls (list) shows you what's inside the current folder. You will use these two commands constantly throughout the workshop.