113 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
113 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
# How to create Tmux plugins
|
|
|
|
Creating a new plugin is easy.
|
|
|
|
For demonstration purposes we'll create a simple plugin that lists all
|
|
installed TPM plugins. Yes, a plugin that lists plugins :) We'll bind that to
|
|
`prefix + T`.
|
|
|
|
### 1. create a new git project
|
|
|
|
TPM depends on git for downloading and updating plugins.
|
|
|
|
To create a new git project:
|
|
|
|
$ mkdir tmux_my_plugin
|
|
$ cd tmux_my_plugin
|
|
$ git init
|
|
|
|
### 2. create a `*.tmux` plugin run file
|
|
|
|
When it sources a plugin, TPM executes all `*.tmux` files in your plugins'
|
|
directory. That's how plugins are run.
|
|
|
|
Create a plugin run file in plugin directory:
|
|
|
|
$ touch my_plugin.tmux
|
|
$ chmod +x my_plugin.tmux
|
|
|
|
You can have more than one `*.tmux` file, and all will get executed. Usually
|
|
however, you'll need just one.
|
|
|
|
### 3. create a plugin key binding
|
|
|
|
We want the behavior of the plugin to trigger when a user hits `prefix + T`.
|
|
|
|
Key `T` is chosen because:
|
|
- it's "kind of" a mnemonic for `TPM`
|
|
- the key is not used by Tmux natively. Tmux man page, KEY BINDINGS section
|
|
contains a list of all the bindings Tmux uses. We don't want to override any
|
|
Tmux default binding, and there's plenty of unused keys.
|
|
|
|
Open the plugin run file in your favorite text editor:
|
|
|
|
$ vim my_plugin.tmux
|
|
# or
|
|
$ subl my_plugin.tmux
|
|
|
|
Put the following content in the file:
|
|
|
|
#!/usr/bin/env bash
|
|
|
|
CURRENT_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
|
|
tmux bind-key T run-shell "$CURRENT_DIR/scripts/tmux_list_plugins.sh"
|
|
|
|
As you can see, plugin run file is a simple bash script that sets up binding.
|
|
|
|
When pressed, `prefix + T` will now execute another shell script:
|
|
`tmux_list_plugins.sh`. That script should be in `scripts/` directory -
|
|
relative to the plugin run file.
|
|
|
|
|
|
### 4. listing plugins
|
|
|
|
Now that we have the binding, let's create a script that's invoked on
|
|
`prefix + T`.
|
|
|
|
$ mkdir scripts
|
|
$ touch scripts/tmux_list_plugins.sh
|
|
$ chmod +x scripts/tmux_list_plugins.sh
|
|
|
|
And here's the script content:
|
|
|
|
#!/usr/bin/env bash
|
|
|
|
# fetching the value of "tpm_plugins" option
|
|
plugins_list=$(tmux show-option -gqv "@tpm_plugins")
|
|
|
|
# displaying variable content, line by line
|
|
for plugin in $plugins_list; do
|
|
echo $plugin
|
|
done
|
|
|
|
### 5. try it out
|
|
|
|
To try if this works, execute the plugin run file:
|
|
|
|
$ ./my_plugin.tmux
|
|
|
|
That should set up the key binding. Now hit `prefix + T` and see if it works.
|
|
|
|
If you get stuck you can download and check this tutorial
|
|
[plugin here](https://github.com/bruno-/tmux_example_plugin).
|
|
|
|
### 6. publish the plugin
|
|
|
|
When everything works, push the plugin to an online git repository, preferably
|
|
Github.
|
|
|
|
Other users can install your plugin by just adding plugin git URL to the
|
|
`@tpm_plugins` list in their `.tmux.conf`.
|
|
|
|
If the plugin is on Github, your users will be able to use the shorthand of
|
|
`github_username/repository`.
|
|
|
|
### Conclusion
|
|
|
|
Hopefully, that was easy. As you can see, it's mostly shell scripting.
|
|
|
|
You can also check source code of other plugins from the
|
|
[List of plugins](PLUGINS.md).
|
|
|
|
You can use other scripting languages (ruby, phyton etc), but plain old shell
|
|
is preferred because it will work almost anywhere.
|