Sublime Text URL handler

A URL handler for Sublime Text 4 on macOS.

Implements a Sublime Text variant of the TextMate URL scheme.

Made using JavaScript for Automation. Originally written for Mac OS Sierra 10.12.6, and still works with Tahoe (26.5) as of July 2026.

Installation

• Download the latest release.
• Extract SublimeUrl.app and place in your user Applications directory.

Uninstallation

Just delete the app.

How to use

Handling Ruby on Rails errors

This utility was developed specifically for use with the Better Errors gem although it should work with anything that follows the specified URL format. See the Better Errors Wiki for more information. To configure it explicitly, I suggest:

# config/environments/development.rb
Rails.application.configure do
  # ...
  if defined?(BetterErrors)
    BetterErrors.editor = :sublime
  end
end

Everything else

Have your debugging tool/exception handling produce URLs in the following format:
subl://open?url={{encoded_file_url}}&line={{line}}&column={{column}}

url is required and the file must exist or an error is given. line and column are optional, with graceful fallback when omitted. Encode url with application/x-www-form-urlencoded serialization.

Examples:

• file:///path/to/model.rb, line 19:
  subl://open?url=file%3A%2F%2F%2Fpath%2Fto%2Fmodel.rb&line=19
• file:///path/to/C++ examples/main.cc, line 127, column 4:
  subl://open?url=file%3A%2F%2F%2Fpath%2Fto%2FC%2B%2B+examples%2Fmain.cc&line=127&column=4

Troubleshooting

subl:// links stop working after moving or replacing the app. macOS LaunchServices may still point at the old copy — re-register it:

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -f /Applications/SublimeUrl.app

"Sublime Text not found" alert. Install Sublime Text, then open it once so macOS registers the app with LaunchServices.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/inopinatus/sublime_url.

Useful make targets:

make            # default, assemble build/SublimeUrl.app
make build      # as above
make package    # produce a notarised release zip (but see below)
make clean      # remove build/
make hooks      # install the pre-commit check

The default build is ad-hoc signed. Building a release package requires an Apple codesigning ID that can notarise it in SIGN_IDENTITY e.g.

SIGN_IDENTITY="Developer ID Application: You (TEAMID)" make package

Ad-hoc and self-signed identities can't be notarized, so without this, make targets verify, notarize and package will fail.

Release-time handy commands

Command	Description
security find-identity -v -p codesigning	list current codesigning identities
xcrun notarytool store-credentials SublimeUrl --apple-id you@example.com --team-id TEAMID	save a one-time app password for notarising SublimeUrl
xcrun notarytool history --keychain-profile SublimeUrl	review submission history

History

Version 1.2

Decode urlencoded serialization correctly, locate Sublime Text via LaunchServices, add behavioural guards, switch to reproducible build from source, and notarize the release.

Version 1.1

Update to resolve misbehaviour when the column parameter is not defined. Fix from Matthias Portzel.

Version 1.0

This project was written from scratch as a drop-in replacement for the Subl handler by Dave Houlbrooke which has since been retired.

License

This code is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.