SendTmux

A powerful VS Code extension that allows you to send selected code or text directly from the editor to a Tmux terminal pane.

Perfect for REPL-driven development, interactive programming, and quickly testing code snippets.

✨ Key Features

• 🚀 Quick Send - Select code and send it to a Tmux pane with one click
• 🎯 Smart Target Selection - Support for selecting session, window, and pane
• 📝 History - Automatically remembers recently used targets for quick switching
• 🔄 Multiple Send Modes - Support for sending text all-at-once or line-by-line
• ⚙️ Flexible Configuration - Support for global and workspace settings
• ✅ Auto Validation - Automatically verifies if the target exists before sending
• 🔔 Friendly Feedback - Detailed error messages and success notifications

📦 Requirements

Tmux Installation

This extension requires Tmux to be installed on your system:

# macOS
brew install tmux

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install tmux

# CentOS/RHEL
sudo yum install tmux

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S tmux

Verify installation:

tmux -V

🚀 Quick Start

1. Basic Workflow

1. Select the code or command you want to execute in the VS Code editor.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+T (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+T (macOS).
3. Select the target Tmux session/window/pane from the quick pick menu.
4. The selected content will be automatically sent to the target terminal and executed.

2. Usage Examples

Python REPL Development:

# Select this code in VS Code
def hello(name):
    return f"Hello, {name}!"

hello("World")  # Select and send to Python REPL

Shell Script Execution:

# Select and send to terminal
ls -la
cd ~/projects
git status

Node.js Interactive Development:

// Send to Node REPL
const data = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
data.map(x => x * 2);

📋 Command List

The extension provides the following commands (accessible via Command Palette Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P):

1. SendTmux: Send Selection to Tmux

• Command ID: sendtmux.sendSelection
• Default Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+T (Windows/Linux) / Cmd+Shift+T (macOS)
• Function: Sends selected text to the Tmux target
• Behavior:
  • Sends directly if a default target is configured
  • Uses the last target if history exists
  • Otherwise, opens the selection menu

2. SendTmux: Send Selection with Confirmation

• Command ID: sendtmux.sendWithConfirmation
• Function: Always confirms the target before sending
• Behavior: Opens the target selection menu even if a default is configured

3. SendTmux: Select Tmux Target

• Command ID: sendtmux.selectTarget
• Function: Selects or configures a Tmux target (without sending)
• Behavior: Opens the interactive target selection interface and saves the selection to history

⚙️ Configuration Options

Configure the following options in VS Code settings (settings.json):

Basic Configuration

sendtmux.session

• Type: string
• Default: ""
• Description: Default Tmux session name

sendtmux.window

• Type: string
• Default: ""
• Description: Default Tmux window index or name

sendtmux.pane

• Type: string
• Default: ""
• Description: Default Tmux pane index

Send Behavior Configuration

sendtmux.sendMode

• Type: "all-at-once" | "line-by-line"
• Default: "all-at-once"
• Description: How multi-line text is sent
  • all-at-once: Sends the entire selection at once
  • line-by-line: Sends line-by-line, executing each separately

sendtmux.appendNewline

• Type: boolean
• Default: true
• Description: Whether to automatically append a newline (Enter) after sending content to execute the command

sendtmux.confirmBeforeSend

• Type: boolean
• Default: false
• Description: Whether to confirm the target before every send

sendtmux.rememberTarget

• Type: boolean
• Default: true
• Description: Whether to remember recently used targets (up to 10)

🎯 Target Format

Tmux targets can use the following formats:

Format	Example	Description
session	dev	Sends to the current pane of the entire session
session:window	dev:0	Sends to a specific window of a specific session
session:window.pane	dev:0.1	Sends to a specific pane of a specific window and session

📝 Configuration Examples

Example 1: Set Default Target

Suitable for fixed workflows where you always send to the same pane:

{
  "sendtmux.session": "dev",
  "sendtmux.window": "0",
  "sendtmux.pane": "1",
  "sendtmux.appendNewline": true
}

Example 2: Python REPL Configuration

Line-by-line sending, perfect for interactive programming:

{
  "sendtmux.session": "python-repl",
  "sendtmux.sendMode": "line-by-line",
  "sendtmux.appendNewline": true,
  "sendtmux.rememberTarget": true
}

Example 3: Safe Mode Configuration

Always confirm before sending to prevent accidental operations:

{
  "sendtmux.confirmBeforeSend": true,
  "sendtmux.rememberTarget": true
}

Example 4: Workspace Specific Configuration

Configure for a specific project in .vscode/settings.json:

{
  "sendtmux.session": "my-project",
  "sendtmux.window": "backend",
  "sendtmux.pane": "0",
  "sendtmux.sendMode": "all-at-once"
}

⌨️ Custom Keybindings

Customize keybindings in keybindings.json:

Example Keybindings

[
  {
    "key": "ctrl+enter",
    "mac": "cmd+enter",
    "command": "sendtmux.sendSelection",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && editorHasSelection"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+enter",
    "mac": "cmd+shift+enter",
    "command": "sendtmux.sendWithConfirmation",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && editorHasSelection"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+alt+t",
    "mac": "cmd+alt+t",
    "command": "sendtmux.selectTarget"
  }
]

🎬 Use Cases

Case 1: Python Data Analysis

# 1. Start Tmux and IPython
tmux new -s data-analysis
ipython

# 2. Write and test code in VS Code
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np

df = pd.DataFrame({'a': [1, 2, 3], 'b': [4, 5, 6]})
df.describe()  # Select and send

Case 2: Shell Script Debugging

# Execute script parts step-by-step
cd /var/log
tail -f syslog  # Select and send
grep "error" syslog | head -10  # Select and send

Case 3: Node.js Development

// Send to Node REPL for quick testing
const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello World!');
});

Case 4: Multi-service Development

Run different services in different Tmux panes:

• Pane 0: Database
• Pane 1: Backend API
• Pane 2: Frontend dev server
• Pane 3: Log monitoring

Send commands to different panes via the extension.

🔧 Advanced Features

Interactive Target Selection

When you execute the send command, the extension shows a smart selection menu:

1. Recent Targets - Shows history for quick selection
2. Available Sessions - Lists all running Tmux sessions
3. Custom Target - Manually input a target string
4. Step-by-step Selection - Select session first, then window, then pane

Target Validation

Automatically validates before sending:

• ✅ Is Tmux installed
• ✅ Does the target session exist
• ✅ Are the target window and pane valid
• ❌ Shows error message if target is not found

Error Handling

• Tmux not installed: Shows installation guide
• No text selected: Friendly reminder
• Target not found: Shows target string and suggestions
• Command execution failure: Shows detailed error information

🐛 Known Issues

None at the moment. Please submit an Issue on GitHub if you encounter any.

📜 Changelog

0.0.1 (Initial Release)

Initial version released with:

• ✅ Send selected text to Tmux pane
• ✅ Smart target selection system
• ✅ History (up to 10 entries)
• ✅ Two send modes (all-at-once/line-by-line)
• ✅ Complete error handling and validation
• ✅ Rich configuration options
• ✅ Custom keybindings support
• ✅ Workspace configuration support

🤝 Contributing

Contributions, bug reports, and feature requests are welcome!

📄 License

MIT License

🙏 Acknowledgements

Thanks to all developers for using and supporting this project!

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Enjoy a highly efficient Tmux integrated development experience! 🚀