Replicate tmux-xpanes behavior

[Smithx10]

tmux-xpanes is a useful tool spawning tiled layouts ad-hoc via stdin or a list. You enter the new layout with mutifocus_all alread enabled and can operate on each.

https://github.com/greymd/tmux-xpanes

If we have this type of behavior already I'd love to learn more about how to use it.

If not I was curious if we should just port this bash script and ship it in it's own repo tuios-xpanes or does tuios want to keep everything for tuios in tree.

Demo of xpanes:
https://asciinema.org/a/ak4xwKQActU4TSj0

[Gaurav-Gosain]

Great idea. tuios has multifocus and the fan command for agents, but nothing like xpanes for plain commands yet. I would rather have it in tree than in a separate script, so I am building a tuios xpanes command:

• Give it arguments, or a list on stdin, and it opens one pane per item in a new tiled workspace, with multifocus on for all of them.
• -c 'ssh {}' runs a command per item with {} replaced, like xpanes. With no command, each pane is a shell.
• Options for the layout and for leaving multifocus off.

So echo host1 host2 host3 | tuios xpanes -c 'ssh {}' gives you three tiled ssh panes that you type into at once. I will post here when it is on main.

[Gaurav-Gosain]

tuios xpanes is on main now (#289), and it will be in the next release.

echo host1 host2 host3 | tuios xpanes --ssh
tuios xpanes -c 'ssh {}' host1 host2 host3
tuios xpanes -l even-vertical -c 'tail -f {}' a.log b.log

• Each item gets its own pane in a new tiled workspace, with multifocus on, so what you type goes to all of them.
• -c runs a command per item with {} replaced, and -I changes the placeholder. With no command, each pane is a shell with TUIOS_XPANES_ITEM set.
• -l picks tiled, even-horizontal or even-vertical, and --no-sync leaves multifocus off.
• It works from inside a tuios pane or from outside it with -s <session>.

Multifocus now also sends keys only to panes you can see, so typing on another workspace never reaches the xpanes panes. Thanks for the idea!

[Smithx10]

I pulled main and was able to run some terminals.

It revealed a few things:

I depend on a few behaviors in tmux-xpanes:
-s Speedy mode: Run command without opening an interactive shell.
-ss Speedy mode AND close a pane automatically at the same time as process exiting.
--interval= Set interval between each pane creation and each command execution.
sleep(1) is used for the interval.

The default behavior in tmux-xpanes is to open a new window (workspace in tuios). This is useful because typically you are using your current terminal / session to launch the xpanes to interact with and then context switch back to that list to continue on....

tmux-xpanes without -s will exit the command and drop to a terminal and let the user decide.

--interval is useful, sometimes you can DoS an endpoint and get only some of your desired panes to execute successfully.

Here is an example: https://asciinema.org/a/oJPJ3ZpFs8rkdH4W

How do you accomplish tmux's kill-window? I'm trying to close all panes/terminals in my current workspace (where xpanes opened them) with SpeedyMode I'd just hit "enter", and -ss SuperSpeedy it will automatically close.

Thanks Again, this is great!

[Gaurav-Gosain]

Thanks for trying it so quickly, and for the recording! All of that makes sense, so I am adding it now:

• -s: speedy mode. The command runs without an interactive shell first.
• -ss: speedy mode, and each pane closes when its command exits.
• --interval=<seconds>: a wait between creating each pane and running its command, so you do not hammer an endpoint.
• A way to close every pane in the current workspace in one go, like tmux's kill-window: an action and palette entry, plus a CLI command so you can script it.

xpanes already opens its panes in a new workspace, like tmux-xpanes opens a new window, so you can switch back to your list workspace and return. I will post here when it is on main.

[Gaurav-Gosain]

All of it is on main now (#308), and it will be in 0.8.3.

echo host1 host2 host3 | tuios xpanes --ssh                # speedy, like tmux-xpanes
tuios xpanes -s -c 'curl -s {}/health' a b c               # pane holds until you press Enter
tuios xpanes -ss --interval=0.5 -c './probe {}' a b c      # panes close as each command exits
tuios close-workspace                                      # close every pane in this workspace

• With no -s, each pane starts a shell and runs the command in it, so the shell stays when the command exits, as in tmux-xpanes.
• -s runs the command without a shell. When it stops, the pane says "Press Enter to close the pane."
• -ss closes each pane when its command exits.
• --interval takes seconds, and fractions work.
• --ssh turns on -s, as tmux-xpanes does.
• -s now means speedy mode, so the session flag is --session.
• close_workspace is also in the command palette, and it asks before it closes anything.

Thanks for the detailed feedback, keep it coming!

[Gaurav-Gosain]

Heads-up: the default mode of tuios xpanes (without -s) is broken in 0.8.3. With no tuios client attached, it types every command into the first pane and none of them runs. The other panes only show a prompt. I am fixing it now, and the fix will be in 0.8.4.

Until then, use speedy mode, which works:

tuios xpanes -s -c 'echo "hello world from {}"' alpha beta gamma

-ss, --interval and close-workspace are not affected. Sorry about that, and thanks for testing so early!

[Gaurav-Gosain]

Follow-up: the tuios xpanes fix is out in v0.8.4. Each command now runs in its own pane, after that pane's prompt shows. -ss panes also close when their command ends with no client attached.

Run tuios kill-server after the upgrade so the daemon is v0.8.4 too. That closes every pane, so save your work first.

[Smithx10]

While attempting to do my normal workflow I hit a snag.

I fired up tuios and created a new session. I then ran tuios xpanes -s and after hitting enter and all the windows closed I was left at the splash screen. It would be nice to have a tunable where instead of going to the splash screen we can go back to the workspace that called xpanes, or perhaps the previous workspace the user was on. Not sure what the unintended side effects would be if workspaces close when their pane count goes to 0

Terminal Playback Example:
https://asciinema.org/a/42PoBqPrVFMRTCNp

[Gaurav-Gosain]

Thanks for the recording, that is a clear one. Landing on the splash screen while your list workspace still has a shell is not helpful.

I am changing it so that when the workspace you are looking at empties, tuios takes you back to the workspace you came from. For xpanes that is the workspace that ran tuios xpanes, even when you started it from outside with --session. If that one is empty too, it goes to the next workspace that still has panes, and the splash screen only shows when the whole session is empty. A setting, return_when_empty, turns it off if you prefer the old behaviour.

I will post here when it is on main.

[Gaurav-Gosain]

This is on main now (#427), and it will be in the next release. When the last pane on the workspace you are looking at closes, tuios goes back to the workspace that ran tuios xpanes. That also works when you started it from outside with --session. If that workspace is empty too, it goes to the last workspace you were on that still has panes, and the splash screen only shows when the whole session is empty.

It covers a pane that exits, one you close, -ss, and close-workspace. To keep the old behaviour, set:

[workspaces]
return_when_empty = false

One thing to know: with -ss and a command that ends almost at once, the first pane can close before the next one opens, so tuios can go back early while the rest of the xpanes panes still run. --interval avoids it. Thanks again for the report and the recording!

[Smithx10]

Much better!