I have looked around for a short time trying to see if there is any way that iTerm2 has the options to hide/show like Guake does on Ubuntu? I have fallen in love with this option using Guake and would love to see an option like this for Mac.
Thank you for any references you can give to me.
Rob
On
As Ron mentioned in his answer, the "hotkey window" feature has got you covered.
After installing iTerm2, check that you have two profiles in the Profiles > Open Profiles panel: one called "Default" and one called "hotkey window".
If you don't have the "Hotkey Window" profile listed in the profile settings:
iTerm2 > Preferences and go to the Keys tab.Hotkey Window as the profile to show and hide in the dropdown list.Enjoy!
This answer in the Ask Different community illustrates the above steps.
Additionally Nishchal Gautam asks, as a comment to Ron's answer, if you can hide apps from the command + tab listing of apps running. Too bad I don't have enough reputation to place this response as a direct comment to the current answer, but here is the answer: iTerm2 supports this as part of it's "Advanced" options:
There's also an answer to that question in the Ask different community, to do it manually. Both options achieve the same, the former being the easy way.
Note: I'm just adding this new answer with the link for a more complete reference because, in comparison with Rob's answer, it states very clear that you need to tick both check boxes and select the "hotkey window" profile in the dropdown list at the bottom for the feature to fully enable the functionality - the link is a bit clearer than Ron, if you ask me: he does indeed mention everything you need to get going, but I had issues understanding the wording and had to further search why my settings weren't properly configured. That link made me realize that I overlooked the second checkbox. Silly me and my lame reading comprehension skills.
Note2: I just figured out that Ron's answer doesn't cover the most common case for when you don't have the profile already created. I've sent an edit request.
On
there is a worked solution:
https://www.sharmaprakash.com.np/guake-like-dropdown-terminal-in-mac/
Go to iterm2 preference
Assuming you are now running iterm2; on the top left you will see iterm2 written just beside apple logo, click there and go to preference.
Click on keys tab
Create a dedicated hotkey window
On the bottom of this window you will see a botton that says create a dedicated hotkey window. Click on that and you will see a new window where you can configure hotkey(shortcut) for dropdown terminal.
Assign hotkey
(On a newly opened window) Click on input box on the side of HotKey and then click the combination you want to assign to open iterm2.
On
As of iTerm 3.1.x and up, achieving the Guake effect is much easier since a lot of these items have been moved to their dedicated submenus. There are two methods that you can use (separately or simultaneously) that you can choose that will best suit your needs. Both of these methods can be accessed at Preferences > Keys > Hotkey:
Dedicated HotKey Window: Automatically creates the Hotkey Window and displays the preferences for the profile. This is the same as Profiles > {Profile Name} > Keys > Hotkey Window and selecting A hotkey opens a dedicated window with this profile. This option will display an isolated instance of iTerm instead of everything that was previously open.
Show/hide all windows with a system-wide hotkey: As the name suggests, this shows / hides everything iTerm, including the Preferences window. The advantage of setting this hotkey is to quickly access all of your iTerm windows when you have the Exclude from Dock option selected.
Note: Not sure if this is a bug or a preference, but if your Preferences window is open and iTerm loses focus, the first time you input the hotkey combo only brings the latest active Profile. Pressing two more times brings back the Preferences window.
Folks at iTerm have also made it simpler to access Exclude from Dock setting. Simply head over to Appearance > General and find the option Exclude from Dock at the bottom.
This will provide you with a pretty nifty Menu Bar Icon from which you can also access your Settings or Bring All Windows to Front.
The latest version of Iterm2 does this almost out of the box.
After installing it, check that you have 2 profiles, one called Default and one called hotkey window. If you have to go to the Keys tab, select the hotkey you want to use (I have it set to CTRL+~) and select the hotkey window as the profile to show and hide.