How do I run open a process in a new tab?

[ayan2k26]

I am using ranger as my file manager and ranger can open files directly and if the app to open it is a terminal based one, like say nvim, then it opens it in the same window and upon closing the window it goes back to the ranger screen. What I want to do is open a file from ranger in a new tab. From what I have gathered, it is a terminal based options which sends the command to a new window.

The default options to open a text file in ranger is defined in the config file as follows -

mime ^text, label editor = ${VISUAL:-$EDITOR} -- "$@"

which can be changed to the following for termite (from https://superuser.com/questions/1388604/ranger-open-with-vim-in-new-windo)

mime ^text,  label editor = nohup termite -e "${VISUAL:-$EDITOR} $@" >/dev/null &

How can I achieve the same in wezterm?

[wez]

Take a look at: https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/cli/cli/spawn.html

[ayan2k26]

Thanks @wez, I seem to have gotten it to work.
Worked - mime ^text, label editor = wezterm cli spawn -- nvim -- "$@"
Didn't work - mime ^text, label editor = wezterm cli spawn -- ${VISUAL:-$EDITOR} -- "$@"

[wez]

maybe try running a shell to evaluate the environment:

mime ^text, label editor = wezterm cli spawn -- sh -c 'exec ${VISUAL:-$EDITOR} -- "$@"'

[ayan2k26]

This opened nvim in a new tab but not the file, and returned the id of the spawned tab in the terminal from which ranger was called.