Better Window Names for tmux

A plugin to name your tmux windows smartly, like IDE's.

Index

• Use case
• Usage
• How it works
• Installation
• Configuration Options

Dependencies

• tmux (Tested on 3.0a)
• Python 3.6.8+ (Maybe can be lower, tested on 3.6.8)
• pip
• libtmux

Use case

If you are using tmux as your main multiplexer you probably found yourself with 5+ windows per session with indexed names but no information about whats going on in the windows.

You tried to configure automatic-rename and automatic-rename-format but you found yourself pretty limited.

This plugin comes to solve those issues to name your windows inspired by IDE tablines.
It makes sure to show you the shortest path possible!

Examples

This session:

1. ~/workspace/my_project
2. ~/workspace/my_project/tests/
3. ~/workspace/my_other_project
4. ~/workspace/my_other_project/tests

Will display:

1. my_project
2. my_project/tests
3. my_other_project
4. my_other_project/tests

It knows which programs runs

1. ~/workspace/my_project (with nvim)
2. ~/workspace/my_project
3. ~/workspace/my_other_project (with git diff)
4. ~/workspace/my_other_project

Will display:

1. nvim:my_project
2. my_project
3. git diff:my_other_project
4. my_other_project

For more scenarios you check out the tests.

Usage

Install the plugin and let it name your windows :)

Note: if you are using tmux-resurrect tmux-window-name must be loaded before tmux-resurrect

You can tmux rename-window manually to set your own window names, to re-enable automatic renames set run tmux rename-window ""

Make sure your configuration/other plugins doesn't turn on automatic-rename and doesn't rename your windows.

Automatic rename after changing dir

By default tmux-window-name hooks after-select-window which trigged when switching windows, you can add hook in your .shellrc to execute tmux-window-name

.zshrc

tmux-window-name() {
	($TMUX_PLUGIN_MANAGER_PATH/tmux-window-name/scripts/rename_session_windows.py &)
}

add-zsh-hook chpwd tmux-window-name

Hooks Used

Make sure the hooks that used aren't overridden.

• @resurrect-hook-pre-restore-all
• @resurrect-hook-post-restore-all

How it works

Each time you unfocus from a pane, the plugin looks for every active pane in your session windows.

Note: if you have a better hook in mind make sure to notify me!

1. If shell is running, it shows the current dir as short as possible, long_dir/a -> a, it avoids intersections too!
2. If "regular" program is running it shows the program with the args, less ~/my_file -> less ~/my_file.
3. If "special" program is running it shows the program with the dir attached, git diff (in long_dir/a) -> git diff:a, it avoids intersections too!

Intersections

To make the shortest path as possible the plugin finds the shortest not common path if your windows.

Installation

Install libtmux (must)

Note: Make sure you are using the user python and not sudo python or virutalenv python!

python3 -m pip install libtmux --user

Install dataclasses (for Python 3.6.X only)

python3 -m pip install dataclasses --user

Installation with Tmux Plugin Manager (recommended)

Add plugin to the list of TPM plugins:

set -g @plugin 'ofirgall/tmux-window-name'

Note: set tmux-window-name before tmux-resurrect (if you are using tmux-resurrect)

set -g @plugin 'ofirgall/tmux-window-name'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect'

Press prefix + I to install it.

Manual Installation

Clone the repo:

$ git clone https://github.com/ofirgall/tmux-window-name.git ~/clone/path

Add this line to your .tmux.conf:

run-shell ~/clone/path/tmux-window-name.tmux

Reload TMUX environment with:

$ tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

Configuration Options

Note: All options are evaluated with eval be careful!

@tmux_window_name_shells

Shell programs, will show dir instead of the program

set -g @tmux_window_name_shells "['zsh', 'bash', 'sh']"

@tmux_window_name_dir_programs

Programs that will show the dir name too.

E.g: git diff running in long_dir/my_repo will show git diff:my_repo

set -g @tmux_window_dir_programs "['nvim', 'vim', 'vi', 'git']"

@tmux_window_name_ignored_programs

Programs that will be skipped/ignored when looking for active program.

set -g @tmux_window_name_ignored_programs "['sqlite3']" # Default is []

@tmux_window_name_max_name_len

Maximum name length of a window

set -g @tmux_window_max_name_len "20"

@tmux_window_name_use_tilde

Replace $HOME with ~ in window names

set -g @tmux_window_name_use_tilde "False"

@tmux_window_name_substitute_sets

Replace program command lines with re.sub.
The options expect list of tuples with 2 elements, pattern and repl.
E.g: The example below will replace /usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/ipython3 with ipython3, and the same for ipython2

Note: use ~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-window-name/scripts/rename_session_windows.py --print_programs to see the full program command line and the results of the substitute.

set -g @tmux_window_name_substitute_sets "[('.+ipython2', 'ipython2'), ('.+ipython3', 'ipython3')]"

# Same example but with regex groups
set -g @tmux_window_name_substitute_sets "[('.+ipython([32])', 'ipython\g<1>')]"

# Default Value:
set -g @tmux_window_name_substitute_sets "[('.+ipython([32])', 'ipython\g<1>'), ('^(/usr)?/bin/(.+)', '\g<2>'), ('(bash) (.+)/(.+[ $])(.+)', '\g<3>\g<4>')]"
	# 0: from example
	# 1: removing `/usr/bin` and `/bin` prefixes of files
	# 2: removing `bash /long/path/for/bashscript`

Testing

Run pytest at the root dir

License

MIT