feat(post): wezterm session management

mkdocs/blog/posts/2024-10-20-wezterm-session-management.md

@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+---
+date: 2024-10-20
+draft: false
+authors:
+  - fredrikaverpil
+comments: true
+tags:
+  - neovim
+  - terminal
+  - lua
+---
+
+# Session management in Wezterm (without tmux)
+
+I've been using [Neovim](https://github.com/neovim/neovim) as my daily
+IDE/editor for a couple of years now. I've also been using
+[tmux](https://github.com/tmux/tmux) to manage sessions, first using
+[t-smart-tmux-session-manager](https://github.com/joshmedeski/t-smart-tmux-session-manager)
+and later [sesh](https://github.com/joshmedeski/sesh), which supersedes the
+former project. What's great about this is that it doesn't matter which terminal
+emulator you use, you can still fall back to this kind of session management.
+
+But the latency (and complexity) of tmux is annoying and I finally took some
+time to evaluate the session management capabilities of
+[Wezterm](https://github.com/wez/wezterm) (my currently favorite terminal
+emulator, which you configure with Lua!) called
+"[workspaces](https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/recipes/workspaces.html)", to see
+if this could replace tmux altogether for me.
+
+<!-- more -->
+
+## Replacing tmux with Wezterm's session management
+
+Well, spoiler alert; it works _really_ well and with the help of
+[smart_workspace_switcher.wezterm](https://github.com/MLFlexer/smart_workspace_switcher.wezterm),
+I can get pretty much the same behavior as I am used to with sesh. They both
+leverage [zoxide](https://github.com/ajeetdsouza/zoxide) for fuzzy-searching
+recently visited folders.
+
+!!! example "wezterm.lua"
+
+    ```lua
+    -- print the workspace name at the upper right
+    wezterm.on("update-right-status", function(window, pane)
+      window:set_right_status(window:active_workspace())
+    end)
+    -- load plugin
+    local workspace_switcher = wezterm.plugin.require("https://github.com/MLFlexer/smart_workspace_switcher.wezterm")
+    -- set path to zoxide
+    workspace_switcher.zoxide_path = "/opt/homebrew/bin/zoxide"
+    -- keymaps
+    table.insert(keys, { key = "s", mods = "CTRL|SHIFT", action = workspace_switcher.switch_workspace() })
+    table.insert(keys, { key = "t", mods = "CTRL|SHIFT", action = act.ShowLauncherArgs({ flags = "FUZZY|WORKSPACES" }) })
+    table.insert(keys, { key = "[", mods = "CTRL|SHIFT", action = act.SwitchWorkspaceRelative(1) })
+    table.insert(keys, { key = "]", mods = "CTRL|SHIFT", action = act.SwitchWorkspaceRelative(-1) })
+    ```
+
+    Full `wezterm.lua` source [here](https://github.com/fredrikaverpil/dotfiles/blob/main/wezterm.lua).
+
+This is such a breath of fresh air, to not have to use tmux which adds
+percievable latency, especially when drawing the screen. Wezterm also comes out
+of the box with ability to split the terminal horizontally or vertically and
+most of the features you would miss from leaving tmux. Hit `Ctrl+Shift+P` to
+bring up the command palette and explore.
+
+The only thing I'm a little wary about is how wezterm plugins are just read on
+the fly from the Internet like this. I might vendor the
+`smart_workspace_switcher.wezterm` project into my own dotfiles in the long
+term.
+
+## Bonus: tabs
+
+I primarily use workspaces with Wezterm now, but it's also convenient to have
+tabs around. I've created my own workflow here which entails adding the
+following config to `wezterm.lua`, which is heavily inspired by
+[aaronlifton's wezterm.lua config](https://github.com/aaronlifton/.config/blob/main/.config/wezterm/wezterm.lua).
+
+So, when hitting `Cmd+Tab`, a new tab shows and is prefixed by a number. Tabs
+can then be selected by hitting `Cmd+[number]`.
+
+!!! tip "wezterm.lua"
+
+    ```lua
+    config.hide_tab_bar_if_only_one_tab = false
+    config.use_fancy_tab_bar = false
+
+    local function get_current_working_dir(tab)
+      local current_dir = tab.active_pane and tab.active_pane.current_working_dir or { file_path = "" }
+      local HOME_DIR = string.format("file://%s", os.getenv("HOME"))
+
+      return current_dir == HOME_DIR and "." or string.gsub(current_dir.file_path, "(.*[/\\])(.*)", "%2")
+    end
+
+    wezterm.on("format-tab-title", function(tab, tabs, panes, config, hover, max_width)
+      local has_unseen_output = false
+      if not tab.is_active then
+        for _, pane in ipairs(tab.panes) do
+          if pane.has_unseen_output then
+            has_unseen_output = true
+            break
+          end
+        end
+      end
+
+      local cwd = wezterm.format({
+        { Attribute = { Intensity = "Bold" } },
+        { Text = get_current_working_dir(tab) },
+      })
+
+      local title = string.format(" [%s] %s", tab.tab_index + 1, cwd)
+
+      if has_unseen_output then
+        return {
+          { Foreground = { Color = "#8866bb" } },
+          { Text = title },
+        }
+      end
+
+      return {
+        { Text = title },
+      }
+    end)
+    ```
+
+    Full `wezterm.lua` source [here](https://github.com/fredrikaverpil/dotfiles/blob/main/wezterm.lua).