Zellij Sessionizer

Trying to solve some stuff i don't like about zellij sessions.

Problem

I was struggling to create a nice workflow to switch/create zellij sessions, I always needed to go through the session-manager default plugin, which is nice, but it is a tool I need to open just for this.

Solution

I created this small (probably buggy) plugin that allows me to have a workflow similar to ThePrimeagen Tmux Sessionizer.

Basically it allows to start a new session from within a session.

Configuration

I haven't published a release yet, so for now, we need to do the following:

• Build the wasm and put it in you plugins path:

git clone https://github.com/cunialino/zellij-sessionizer.git
cd zellij-sessionizer
cargo build --release
cp target/wasm32-wasi/release/sessionizer.wasm <PATH_TO_YOUR_PLUGIN_FOLDER>

• Create a plugin alias for this plugin in the zellij kdl config:

plugins {
  sessionizer location="file:<PATH_TO_SESSIONIZER_WASM>" {
    cwd "~/"
    // here you can put any additional config
  }
}

While the above holds true, now you can also just configure it in the kdl:

plugins {
  sessionizer location="https://github.com/cunialino/zellij-sessionizer/releases/download/v0.1.0/sessionizer.wasm" {
    cwd "~/"
    // here you can put any additional config
  }
}

Available configurations are:

• scrolloff: how much lines to look forward from current selection (like vim)
• find_cmd: the command to list the directories you are interested in. By default it uses the fd command. Write it in the form "cmd_name;arg1;arg2;..."
• default_dirs: directories to look into, these are appended to the command, format "dir1;dir2;dir3"
• default_layout: layout to use to open sessions, if not specified the default layout your zellij config will be used.

Note: the default dirs, if relative paths, will be relatice the the cwd you set for your plugin.

Usage

As of now there are two options to use this:

1. call zellij pipe -p sessionizer -n sessionizer-new, you can call this with or without args:
   • without args: happens the same thing decsribe in point 2
   • with args: depends on the args described below
     • cwd: If you pass the cwd arg, it will start a session in that cwd with your default layout and named as the dir.
     • name: Name of the session (optional, defaults to cwd last part)
     • layout: name of the layout you want, defaults to default layout
2. call zellij action launch-or-focus-plugin sessionizer: this will run the fd in the ~/ and ~/.config dirs, if you type in stuff you fuzzy-filter the directories, and you can navigate them with ctrl+n and ctrl+p (yes i use neovim btw), hitting enter will create a new session in that folder

Roadmap

• CLEAN THE CODE from the following things:
  • UNWRAPS, UNWRAPS everywhere
  • probably better to create a mod for State struct, I don't like one massive file
• accept config for all the params
• create github release with wasm
• launch plugin without pipes (is it actually useful?)
• better docs
• cache layouts-dir map, or find a smart way to keep track of which layouts should be used in which directory
• better implementation for finding dirs: I would like to use ignore crate, but i think i need this commit to achieve it in a smart way.

Integration with Yazi

This can be used to start/switch sessions from yazi:

• Define a script:

#! /usr/bin/env bash

LAYOUT=<YOUR_FAV_LAYOUT>

if [ $# -eq 1 ]; then 
  CWD="$1"
  SESSION_NAME="$(basename $CWD)"
else
  CWD="$HOME"
  SESSION_NAME="conf"
fi

if [ ! -z $ZELLIJ ]; then
  zellij pipe -p sessionizer -n sessionizer-new --args cwd="$CWD",name="$SESSION_NAME",layout="$LAYOUT"
else
  zellij attach -c $SESSION_NAME options --default-cwd $CWD --default-layout $LAYOUT 
fi

• bind this to a keymap to create a sesison into the hovered directory with the following keymap:

[manager]
prepend_keymap = [
  { on = [
    "z",
    "s",
  ], run = "shell --block 'zellij_sessionizer.sh $0'", desc = "Start New session in selected dir" },
]

Final notes

When i started writing this I did not google enough, there are plugins like this one:

• zellij-sessionizer : Implements that lists and find directories (better than me), does not allow to create sessions with pipes
• zellij-switch : Implements the switching part with pipes