vimux

Easily interact with tmux from vim. This project is still in development, so some features are still missing.

What inspired me to write vimux was tslime.vim, a plugin that lets you send input to tmux. While tslime.vim works well, I felt it wasn't optimized for my primary use case which was having a smaller tmux pane that I would use to run tests or play with a REPL.

My goal with vimux is to make interacting with tmux from vim effortless. By default when you call RunVimTmuxCommand vimux will create a 20% tall horizontal pane under your current tmux pane and execute a command in it without losing focus of vim. Once that pane exists whenever you call RunVimTmuxCommand again the command will be executed in that pane. As I was using vimux myself I wanted to rerun commands over and over. An example of this was running the current file through rspec. Rather than typing that over and over I wrote RunLastVimTmuxCommand that will execute the last command you called with RunVimTmuxCommand.

Other auxiliary functions and the ones I talked about above can be found bellow with a full description and example key binds for your vimrc.

Installation

With vim-bundle: vim-bundle install benmills/vimux

Otherwise download the latest tarball, extract it and move plugin/vimux.vim inside ~/.vim/plugin. If you're using pathogen, then move the entire folder extracted from the tarball into ~/.vim/bundle.

Platform-specific Plugins

• vimux-ruby-test a set of commands to easily run ruby tests
• vimux-cucumber run Cucumber Features through Vimux

Usage

RunVimTmuxCommand

Run a system command in a small horizontal split bellow the current pane vim is in.

" Run the current file with rspec
map <Leader>rb :call RunVimTmuxCommand("clear; rspec " . bufname("%"))<CR>

PromptVimTmuxCommand

Prompt for a command and run it in a small horizontal split bellow the current pane.

" Prompt for a command to run
map <Leader>rp :PromptVimTmuxCommand<CR>

RunLastVimTmuxCommand

Run the last command executed by RunVimTmuxCommand

" Run last command executed by RunVimTmuxCommand
map <Leader>rl :RunLastVimTmuxCommand<CR>

InspectVimTmuxRunner

Move into the tmux runner pane created by RunVimTmuxCommand and enter copy mode (scroll mode).

" Inspect runner pane
map <Leader>ri :InspectVimTmuxRunner<CR>

CloseVimTmuxPanes

Close all other tmux panes in the current window.

" Close all other tmux panes in current window
map <Leader>rx :CloseVimTmuxPanes<CR>

InterruptVimTmuxRunner

Interrupt any command that is running inside the runner pane.

" Interrupt any command running in the runner pane
map <Leader>rs :InterruptVimTmuxRunner<CR>

Full Keybind Example

" Run the current file with rspec
map <Leader>rb :call RunVimTmuxCommand("clear; rspec " . bufname("%"))<CR>

" Prompt for a command to run
map <Leader>rp :PromptVimTmuxCommand<CR>

" Run last command executed by RunVimTmuxCommand
map <Leader>rl :RunLastVimTmuxCommand<CR>

" Inspect runner pane
map <Leader>ri :InspectVimTmuxRunner<CR>

" Close all other tmux panes in current window
map <Leader>rx :CloseVimTmuxPanes<CR>

" Interrupt any command running in the runner pane
map <Leader>rs :InterruptVimTmuxRunner<CR>

tslime replacement

Here is how to use vimux to send code to a REPL. This is similar to tslime. First, add some helpful mappings.

" Prompt for a command to run
map <LocalLeader>vp :PromptVimTmuxCommand<CR>

" If text is selected, save it in the v buffer and send that buffer it to tmux
vmap <LocalLeader>vs "vy :call RunVimTmuxCommand(@v)<CR>

" Select current paragraph and send it to tmux
nmap <LocalLeader>vs vip<LocalLeader>vs<CR>

Now, open a clojure file. Let's say your leader is backslash (). Type \vp, and then type lein repl at the prompt. This opens a tmux split running a REPL. Then, select text or put the cursor on a function and type \vs. This will send it to the REPL and evaluate it.

Options

VimuxHeight

Set the percent height of the runner pane opened by RunVimTmuxCommand. Default: "20"

let VimuxHeight = "50"

VimuxOrientation

Set the default position of the runner pane.

Acceptable Values: "v" Vertical "h" Horizontal

Default: "v"

let VimuxOrientation = "h"

VimuxUseNearestPane

Use nearest pane (not used by vim) if found instead of running split-window. Useful if you always have two panes opened and you want Vimux to use the existing one.

let VimuxUseNearestPane = 1