Session does not work as expected (worked before)

[antoniorodr]

Describe the bug
I have a kitty-session.conf which is not working as intended (and as it used to work!)

To Reproduce
My kitty-session.conf:

new_tab dashboard
layout splits
launch --var window=spotify spotify_player
launch --location=vsplit --bias=65 --var window=gh zsh -c "gh dash; exec zsh -il"
launch --location=hsplit --bias=55 --var window=gh zsh -c "dooit; exec zsh -il"
focus_matching_window var:window=spotify
launch --location=hsplit --bias=70 zsh -c "clx; exec zsh -il"
new_tab discord
launch --var window=discord discordo

Screenshots

Environment details

kitty 0.43.0 (99a5f6bd5f) created by Kovid Goyal
Darwin Mac.home 25.0.0 Darwin Kernel Version 25.0.0: Mon Aug 25 21:17:54 PDT 2025; root:xnu-12377.1.9~3/RELEASE_ARM64_T6041 arm64
ProductName:		macOS ProductVersion:		26.0 BuildVersion:		25A354
OpenGL: '4.1 Metal - 90.5' Detected version: 4.1
Frozen: True
Fonts:
  medium: 0xProtoNFM-Regular: /Users/antonio/Library/Fonts/0xProtoNerdFontMono-Regular.ttf
          Features: ()
    bold: 0xProtoNFM-Bold: /Users/antonio/Library/Fonts/0xProtoNerdFontMono-Bold.ttf
          Features: ()
  italic: 0xProtoNFM-Italic: /Users/antonio/Library/Fonts/0xProtoNerdFontMono-Italic.ttf
          Features: ()
      bi: 0xProtoNFM-Bold: /Users/antonio/Library/Fonts/0xProtoNerdFontMono-Bold.ttf
          Features: ()
Paths:
  kitty: /Applications/kitty.app/Contents/MacOS/kitty
  base dir: /Applications/kitty.app/Contents/Resources/kitty
  extensions dir: /Applications/kitty.app/Contents/Resources/Python/lib/kitty-extensions
  system shell: /bin/zsh
System color scheme: dark. Applied color theme type: none
Loaded config files:
  /Users/antonio/.config/kitty/kitty.conf

Config options different from defaults:
allow_remote_control    yes
cursor_beam_thickness   10.0
cursor_shape            2
font_family             family="0xProto Nerd Font Mono"
font_size               16.0
hide_window_decorations 1
listen_on               unix:/tmp/mykitty
mouse_hide_wait         MouseHideWait(hide_wait=2.0, show_wait=0.0, show_threshold=40, scroll_show=True)
shell_integration       frozenset({'no-title'})
startup_session         /Users/antonio/.config/kitty/kitty-session.conf
tab_bar_min_tabs        1
tab_bar_style           powerline
tab_powerline_style     slanted
tab_title_template      ({index}) {title}
window_padding_width    FloatEdges(left=10.0, top=10.0, right=10.0, bottom=10.0)
Added shortcuts:
	cmd+j →  close_other_windows_in_tab
	cmd+o →  launch --location=hsplit
	cmd+p →  launch --location=vsplit
	cmd+x →  close_window
	ctrl+h →  [--when-focus-on=var:IS_NVIM]no-op, [--when-focus-on=title:^ktui$]no-op, neighboring_window left
	ctrl+j →  [--when-focus-on=var:IS_NVIM]no-op, [--when-focus-on=title:^ktui$]no-op, neighboring_window down
	ctrl+k →  [--when-focus-on=var:IS_NVIM]no-op, [--when-focus-on=title:^ktui$]no-op, neighboring_window up
	ctrl+l →  [--when-focus-on=var:IS_NVIM]no-op, [--when-focus-on=title:^ktui$]no-op, neighboring_window right
	opt+h →  [--when-focus-on=var:IS_NVIM]no-op, kitten relative_resize.py left  3
	opt+j →  [--when-focus-on=var:IS_NVIM]no-op, kitten relative_resize.py down  3
	opt+k →  [--when-focus-on=var:IS_NVIM]no-op, kitten relative_resize.py up    3
	opt+l →  [--when-focus-on=var:IS_NVIM]no-op, kitten relative_resize.py right 3
Changed shortcuts:
	cmd+1 →  goto_tab 1
	cmd+2 →  goto_tab 2
	cmd+3 →  goto_tab 3
	cmd+4 →  goto_tab 4
	cmd+5 →  goto_tab 5
	cmd+6 →  goto_tab 6
	cmd+7 →  goto_tab 7
	cmd+8 →  goto_tab 8
	cmd+9 →  goto_tab 9
	cmd+k →  clear_terminal_and_scrollback
	cmd+l →  clear_terminal to_cursor_scroll active
	ctrl+cmd+, →  reload_config
	ctrl+cmd+l →  clear_screen
	opt+cmd+k →  clear_scrollback
	opt+cmd+r →  reset_terminal
	shift+cmd+/ →  open_kitty_website
Colors:
	active_border_color     #b4befe   
	active_tab_background   #b6bef9   
	active_tab_foreground   #11111b   
	background              #1e1e2e   
	bell_border_color       #f9e2af   
	color0                  #45475a   
	color1                  #f38ba8   
	color10                 #a6e3a1   
	color11                 #f9e2af   
	color12                 #89b4fa   
	color13                 #f5c2e7   
	color14                 #94e2d5   
	color15                 #a6adc8   
	color2                  #a6e3a1   
	color3                  #f9e2af   
	color4                  #89b4fa   
	color5                  #f5c2e7   
	color6                  #94e2d5   
	color7                  #bac2de   
	color8                  #585b70   
	color9                  #f38ba8   
	cursor                  #f5e0dc   
	cursor_text_color       #1e1e2e   
	foreground              #cdd6f4   
	inactive_border_color   #6c7086   
	inactive_tab_background #181825   
	inactive_tab_foreground #cdd6f4   
	mark1_background        #b4befe   
	mark1_foreground        #1e1e2e   
	mark2_background        #cba6f7   
	mark2_foreground        #1e1e2e   
	mark3_background        #74c7ec   
	mark3_foreground        #1e1e2e   
	selection_background    #f5e0dc   
	selection_foreground    #1e1e2e   
	tab_bar_background      #11111b   
	url_color               #f5e0dc   

Important environment variables seen by the kitty process:
	PATH                                /Applications/kitty.app/Contents/MacOS:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
	LANG                                nb_NO.UTF-8
	SHELL                               /bin/zsh
	USER                                antonio

Additional context
Ive not changed the session file for a while, so I don't know why this is not working as before.

[kovidgoyal]

What about it is not working?

[antoniorodr]

What about it is not working?

The clx should be under the Spotify_player, and not under dooit

[kovidgoyal]

Please reduce it to a minimal reproducer, thenI will take a look. I think you are saying the splitting is not working as you expect. So just create a session file with the basic splits that reproduces the issue.

[antoniorodr]

@kovidgoyal

In the original post I wrote my session file. I deleted the discordio tab now, to test it better. So ive:

new_tab dashboard
layout splits
launch --var window=spotify spotify_player
launch --location=vsplit --bias=65 --var window=gh zsh -c "gh dash; exec zsh -il"
launch --location=hsplit --bias=55 --var window=gh zsh -c "dooit; exec zsh -il"
focus_matching_window var:window=spotify
launch --location=hsplit --bias=70 zsh -c "clx; exec zsh -il"

I suppose that the minimal reproducer here will be:

new_tab dashboard
layout splits
launch --var window=spotify 
launch --location=vsplit 
launch --location=hsplit 
focus_matching_window var:window=spotify
launch --location=hsplit 

So instead of to columns with to rows, I am getting this: