Automating a WSL Ruby Dev Environment with AutoHotKey

I’ve started working on a Ruby project that runs in WSL. Every time I want to spin up the dev environment I need to open three separate Ubuntu terminal sessions, navigate to the project directory in each, run a different command in each one, then open a browser. It’s not complicated but it’s tedious to do multiple times a day.

What Needs to Happen

Three Ubuntu tabs in Windows Terminal, all in the same project directory, each running a different process:

1. bin/sidekiq — background job processor
2. bin/rails server — the web app server
3. foreman start -f Procfile.dev — runs additional processes like CSS/JS bundling

Then open http://localhost:3000 in a browser.

Opening Ubuntu Tabs from the Command Line

Windows Terminal supports a -p flag to specify a profile, and you can chain multiple tabs with new-tab. In AutoHotKey v2, semicolons need escaping with a backtick since AHK treats them as comments:

Run "wt.exe -p Ubuntu `; new-tab -p Ubuntu `; new-tab -p Ubuntu"

This opens a single Windows Terminal window with three Ubuntu tabs.

The Full Script

#Requires AutoHotkey v2.0

^!w:: {
    ; Open 3 Ubuntu tabs in one Windows Terminal window
    Run "wt.exe -p Ubuntu `; new-tab -p Ubuntu `; new-tab -p Ubuntu"
    Sleep 2000

    ; Tab 1 (already focused) — sidekiq
    SendText "cd ~/projects/myapp && bin/sidekiq"
    Send "{Enter}"

    ; Switch to tab 2
    Sleep 500
    Send "^{Tab}"
    Sleep 300
    SendText "cd ~/projects/myapp && bin/rails server"
    Send "{Enter}"

    ; Switch to tab 3
    Sleep 500
    Send "^{Tab}"
    Sleep 300
    SendText "cd ~/projects/myapp && foreman start -f Procfile.dev"
    Send "{Enter}"

    ; Open the app in the browser
    Sleep 2000
    Run "http://localhost:3000"
}

The hotkey is Ctrl+Alt+W. A few things worth noting:

• SendText is used instead of Send for the commands so that special characters like / and - aren’t interpreted as AHK hotkeys.
• Ctrl+Tab switches between tabs in Windows Terminal.
• The && chains the cd and the run command together into a single line per tab.
• The Sleep 2000 at the start gives WSL a moment to initialise. If your machine is slower you might need to increase this.
• The final Sleep 2000 before opening the browser gives the Rails server time to start. Increase it if you see a connection refused error in the browser.

Mapping to a Key

I’ve got this mapped to a macro on my Keychron V6 Max so I can start the whole environment with a single key press. See my earlier post on setting up Keychron macros with AutoHotKey if you want to do the same.

Result

One key press and I’m ready to code. The three terminals spin up, the processes start, and the browser opens to the app. It’s saved me a surprising amount of friction throughout the day.