Control kitty from scripts¶

kitty can be controlled from scripts or the shell prompt. You can open new windows, send arbitrary text input to any window, change the title of windows and tabs, etc.

Let’s walk through a few examples of controlling kitty.

Tutorial¶

Start by running kitty as:

kitty -o allow_remote_control=yes -o enabled_layouts=tall

In order for control to work, allow_remote_control or remote_control_password must be enabled in kitty.conf. Here we turn it on explicitly at the command line.

Now, in the new kitty window, enter the command:

kitten @ launch --title Output --keep-focus cat

This will open a new window, running the cat program that will appear next to the current window.

Let’s send some text to this new window:

kitten @ send-text --match cmdline:cat Hello, World

This will make Hello, World show up in the window running the cat program. The kitten @ send-text --match option is very powerful, it allows selecting windows by their titles, the command line of the program running in the window, the working directory of the program running in the window, etc. See kitten @ send-text --help for details.

More usefully, you can pipe the output of a command running in one window to another window, for example:

ls | kitten @ send-text --match 'title:^Output' --stdin

This will show the output of ls in the output window instead of the current window. You can use this technique to, for example, show the output of running make in your editor in a different window. The possibilities are endless.

You can even have things you type show up in a different window. Run:

kitten @ send-text --match 'title:^Output' --stdin

And type some text, it will show up in the output window, instead of the current window. Type Ctrl+D when you are ready to stop.

Now, let’s open a new tab:

kitten @ launch --type=tab --tab-title "My Tab" --keep-focus bash

This will open a new tab running the bash shell with the title “My Tab”. We can change the title of the tab to “New Title” with:

kitten @ set-tab-title --match 'title:^My' New Title

Let’s change the title of the current tab:

kitten @ set-tab-title Master Tab

Now lets switch to the newly opened tab:

kitten @ focus-tab --match 'title:^New'

Similarly, to focus the previously opened output window (which will also switch back to the old tab, automatically):

kitten @ focus-window --match 'title:^Output'

You can get a listing of available tabs and windows, by running:

kitten @ ls

This outputs a tree of data in JSON format. The top level of the tree is all OS windows. Each OS window has an id and a list of tabs. Each tab has its own id, a title and a list of kitty windows. Each window has an id, title, current working directory, process id (PID) and command-line of the process running in the window. You can use this information with kitten @ focus-window --match to control individual windows.

As you can see, it is very easy to control kitty using the kitten @ messaging system. This tutorial touches only the surface of what is possible. See kitten @ --help for more details.

In the example’s above, kitten @ messaging works only when run inside a kitty window, not anywhere. But, within a kitty window it even works over SSH. If you want to control kitty from programs/scripts not running inside a kitty window, see the section on using a socket for remote control below.

Note that if all you want to do is run a single kitty “daemon” and have subsequent kitty invocations appear as new top-level windows, you can use the simpler kitty --single-instance option, see kitty --help for that.

Remote control via a socket¶

First, start kitty as:

kitty -o allow_remote_control=yes --listen-on unix:/tmp/mykitty

The kitty --listen-on option tells kitty to listen for control messages at the specified UNIX-domain socket. See kitty --help for details. Now you can control this instance of kitty using the kitten @ --to command line argument to kitten @. For example:

kitten @ --to unix:/tmp/mykitty ls

The builtin kitty shell¶

You can explore the kitty command language more easily using the builtin kitty shell. Run kitten @ with no arguments and you will be dropped into the kitty shell with completion for kitty command names and options.

You can even open the kitty shell inside a running kitty using a simple keyboard shortcut (ctrl+shift+escape by default).

Note

Using the keyboard shortcut has the added advantage that you don’t need to use allow_remote_control to make it work.

Allowing only some windows to control kitty¶

If you do not want to allow all programs running in kitty to control it, you can selectively enable remote control for only some kitty windows. Simply create a shortcut such as:

map ctrl+k launch --allow-remote-control some_program

Then programs running in windows created with that shortcut can use kitten @ to control kitty. Note that any program with the right level of permissions can still write to the pipes of any other program on the same computer and therefore can control kitty. It can, however, be useful to block programs running on other computers (for example, over SSH) or as other users.

Note

You don’t need allow_remote_control to make this work as it is limited to only programs running in that specific window. Be careful with what programs you run in such windows, since they can effectively control kitty, as if you were running with allow_remote_control turned on.

You can further restrict what is allowed in these windows by using kitten @ launch --remote-control-password.

Fine grained permissions for remote control¶

Added in version 0.26.0.

The allow_remote_control option discussed so far is a blunt instrument, granting the ability to any program running on your computer or even on remote computers via SSH the ability to use remote control.

You can instead define remote control passwords that can be used to grant different levels of control to different places. You can even write your own script to decide which remote control requests are allowed. This is done using the remote_control_password option in kitty.conf. Set allow_remote_control to password to use this feature. Let’s see some examples:

remote_control_password "control colors" get-colors set-colors

Now, using this password, you can, in scripts run the command:

kitten @ --password="control colors" set-colors background=red

Any script with access to the password can now change colors in kitty using remote control, but only that and nothing else. You can even supply the password via the KITTY_RC_PASSWORD environment variable, or the file ~/.config/kitty/rc-password to avoid having to type it repeatedly. See kitten @ --password-file and kitten @ --password-env.

The remote_control_password can be specified multiple times to create different passwords with different capabilities. Run the following to get a list of all action names:

kitten @ --help

You can even use glob patterns to match action names, for example:

remote_control_password "control colors" *-colors

If no action names are specified, all actions are allowed.

If kitten @ is run with a password that is not present in kitty.conf, then kitty will interactively prompt the user to allow or disallow the remote control request. The user can choose to allow or disallow either just that request or all requests using that password. The user’s decision is remembered for the duration of that kitty instance.

Note

For password based authentication to work over SSH, you must pass the KITTY_PUBLIC_KEY environment variable to the remote host. The ssh kitten does this for you automatically. When using a password, Encrypted communication is used to ensure the password is kept secure. This does mean that using password based authentication is slower as the entire command is encrypted before transmission. This can be noticeable when using a command like kitten @ set-background-image which transmits large amounts of image data. Also, the clock on the remote system must match (within a few minutes) the clock on the local system. kitty uses a time based nonce to minimise the potential for replay attacks.

Customizing authorization with your own program¶

If the ability to control access by action names is not fine grained enough, you can define your own Python script to examine every remote control command and allow/disallow it. To do so create a file in the kitty configuration directory, ~/.config/kitty/my_rc_auth.py and add the following to kitty.conf:

remote_control_password "testing custom auth" my_rc_auth.py

my_rc_auth.py should define a is_cmd_allowed function as shown below:

def is_cmd_allowed(pcmd, window, from_socket, extra_data):
    cmd_name = pcmd['cmd']  # the name of the command
    cmd_payload = pcmd['payload']  # the arguments to the command
    # examine the cmd_name and cmd_payload and return True to allow
    # the command or False to disallow it. Return None to have no
    # effect on the command.

    # The command payload will vary from command to command, see
    # the rc protocol docs for details. Below is an example of
    # restricting the launch command to allow only running the
    # default shell.

    if cmd_name != 'launch':
        return None
    if cmd_payload.get('args') or cmd_payload.get('env') or cmd_payload.get('copy_cmdline') or cmd_payload.get('copy_env'):
        return False
    # prints in this function go to the parent kitty process STDOUT
    print('Allowing launch command:', cmd_payload)
    return True

Mapping key presses to remote control commands¶

If you wish to trigger a remote control command easily with just a keypress, you can map it in kitty.conf. For example:

map f1 remote_control set-spacing margin=30

Then pressing the F1 key will set the active window margins to 30. The syntax for what follows remote_control is exactly the same as the syntax for what follows kitten @ above.

If you wish to ignore errors from the command, prefix the command with an !. For example, the following will not return an error when no windows are matched:

map f1 remote_control !focus-window --match XXXXXX

If you wish to run a more complex script, you can use:

map f1 remote_control_script /path/to/myscript

In this script you can use kitten @ to run as many remote control commands as you like and process their output. remote_control_script is similar to the launch command with --type=background --allow-remote-control. For more advanced usage, including fine grained permissions, setting env vars, command line interpolation, passing data to STDIN, etc. the launch command should be used.

Note

You do not need allow_remote_control to use these mappings, as they are not actual remote programs, but are simply a way to reuse the remote control infrastructure via keybings.

Broadcasting what you type to all kitty windows¶

As a simple illustration of the power of remote control, lets have what we type sent to all open kitty windows. To do that define the following mapping in kitty.conf:

map f1 launch --allow-remote-control kitty +kitten broadcast

Now press F1 and start typing, what you type will be sent to all windows, live, as you type it.

The remote control protocol¶

If you wish to develop your own client to talk to kitty, you can use the remote control protocol specification. Note that there is a statically compiled, standalone executable, kitten available that can be used as a remote control client on any UNIX like computer. This can be downloaded and used directly from the kitty releases page:

kitten @ --help

Matching windows and tabs¶

Many remote control operations operate on windows or tabs. To select these, the --match option is often used. This allows matching using various sophisticated criteria such as title, ids, command lines, etc. These criteria are expressions of the form field:query. Where field is the field against which to match and query is the expression to match. They can be further combined using Boolean operators, best illustrated with some examples:

title:"My special window" or id:43
title:bash and env:USER=kovid
not id:1
(id:2 or id:3) and title:something

Matching windows¶

When matching windows, match specifications are of the form: field:query. Where field can be one of: id, title, pid, cwd, cmdline, num, env, var, state, neighbor, and recent. query is the expression to match. Expressions can be either a number or a regular expression, and can be combined using Boolean operators.

The special value all matches all windows.

For numeric fields: id, pid, num and recent, the expression is interpreted as a number, not a regular expression. Negative values for id match from the highest id number down, in particular, -1 is the most recently created window.

The field num refers to the window position in the current tab, starting from zero and counting clockwise (this is the same as the order in which the windows are reported by the kitten @ ls command).

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

The field state matches on the state of the window. Supported states are: active, focused, needs_attention, parent_active, parent_focused, self, overlay_parent. Active windows are the windows that are active in their parent tab. There is only one focused window and it is the window to which keyboard events are delivered. If no window is focused, the last focused window is matched. The value self matches the window in which the remote control command is run. The value overlay_parent matches the window that is under the self window, when the self window is an overlay.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

Matching tabs¶

When matching tabs, match specifications are of the form: field:query. Where field can be one of: id, index, title, window_id, window_title, pid, cwd, cmdline env, var, state and recent. query is the expression to match. Expressions can be either a number or a regular expression, and can be combined using Boolean operators.

The special value all matches all tabs.

For numeric fields: id, index, window_id, pid and recent, the expression is interpreted as a number, not a regular expression. Negative values for id/window_id match from the highest id number down, in particular, -1 is the most recently created tab/window.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

The index number is used to match the nth tab in the currently active OS window. The recent number matches recently active tabs in the currently active OS window, with zero being the currently active tab, one the previously active tab and so on.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2. Tabs containing any window with the specified environment variables are matched. Similarly, var matches tabs containing any window with the specified user variable.

The field state matches on the state of the tab. Supported states are: active, focused, needs_attention, parent_active and parent_focused. Active tabs are the tabs that are active in their parent OS window. There is only one focused tab and it is the tab to which keyboard events are delivered. If no tab is focused, the last focused tab is matched.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

kitten @¶

kitten @ [options] command ...

Control kitty by sending it commands. Set the allow_remote_control option in kitty.conf or use a password, for this to work.

Options¶

--to <TO>¶: An address for the kitty instance to control. Corresponds to the address given to the kitty instance via the kitty --listen-on option or the listen_on setting in kitty.conf. If not specified, the environment variable KITTY_LISTEN_ON is checked. If that is also not found, messages are sent to the controlling terminal for this process, i.e. they will only work if this process is run within a kitty window.

--password <PASSWORD>¶: A password to use when contacting kitty. This will cause kitty to ask the user for permission to perform the specified action, unless the password has been accepted before or is pre-configured in kitty.conf. To use a blank password specify kitten @ --use-password as always.

--password-file <PASSWORD_FILE>¶: A file from which to read the password. Trailing whitespace is ignored. Relative paths are resolved from the kitty configuration directory. Use - to read from STDIN. Use fd:num to read from the file descriptor num. Used if no kitten @ --password is supplied. Defaults to checking for the rc-pass file in the kitty configuration directory. Default: rc-pass

--password-env <PASSWORD_ENV>¶: The name of an environment variable to read the password from. Used if no kitten @ --password-file is supplied. Defaults to checking the environment variable KITTY_RC_PASSWORD. Default: KITTY_RC_PASSWORD

--use-password <USE_PASSWORD>¶: If no password is available, kitty will usually just send the remote control command without a password. This option can be used to force it to always or never use the supplied password. If set to always and no password is provided, the blank password is used. Default: if-available Choices: always, if-available, never

kitten @ action¶

kitten @ action [options] ACTION [ARGS FOR ACTION...]

Run the specified mappable action. For a list of all available mappable actions, see Mappable actions. Any arguments for ACTION should follow the action. Note that parsing of arguments is action dependent so for best results specify all arguments as single string on the command line in the same format as you would use for that action in kitty.conf.

Options¶

--self¶: Run the action on the window this command is run in instead of the active window.

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response indicating the success of the action. Note that using this option means that you will not be notified of failures. Default: false

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The window to match. Match specifications are of the form: field:query. Where field can be one of: id, title, pid, cwd, cmdline, num, env, var, state, neighbor, and recent. query is the expression to match. Expressions can be either a number or a regular expression, and can be combined using Boolean operators.

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

kitten @ close-tab¶

kitten @ close-tab [options]

Close an arbitrary set of tabs. The --match option can be used to specify complex sets of tabs to close. For example, to close all non-focused tabs in the currently focused OS window, use:

kitten @ close-tab --match "not state:focused and state:parent_focused"

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The tab to match. Match specifications are of the form: field:query. Where field can be one of: id, index, title, window_id, window_title, pid, cwd, cmdline env, var, state and recent. query is the expression to match. Expressions can be either a number or a regular expression, and can be combined using Boolean operators.

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response indicating the success of the action. Note that using this option means that you will not be notified of failures. Default: false

--self¶: Close the tab of the window this command is run in, rather than the active tab.

--ignore-no-match¶: Do not return an error if no tabs are matched to be closed.

kitten @ close-window¶

kitten @ close-window [options]

Close the specified windows

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response indicating the success of the action. Note that using this option means that you will not be notified of failures. Default: false

--self¶: Close the window this command is run in, rather than the active window.

--ignore-no-match¶: Do not return an error if no windows are matched to be closed.

kitten @ create-marker¶

kitten @ create-marker [options] MARKER SPECIFICATION

Create a marker which can highlight text in the specified window. For example: create_marker text 1 ERROR. For full details see: Mark text on screen

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--self¶: Apply marker to the window this command is run in, rather than the active window.

kitten @ detach-tab¶

kitten @ detach-tab [options]

Detach the specified tabs and either move them into a new OS window or add them to the OS window containing the tab specified by kitten @ detach-tab --target-tab

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

--target-tab <TARGET_TAB>, -t <TARGET_TAB>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

--self¶: Detach the tab this command is run in, rather than the active tab.

kitten @ detach-window¶

kitten @ detach-window [options]

Detach the specified windows and either move them into a new tab, a new OS window or add them to the specified tab. Use the special value new for kitten @ detach-window --target-tab to move to a new tab. If no target tab is specified the windows are moved to a new OS window.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--target-tab <TARGET_TAB>, -t <TARGET_TAB>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs. Use the special value new to move to a new tab.

--self¶: Detach the window this command is run in, rather than the active window.

--stay-in-tab¶: Keep the focus on a window in the currently focused tab after moving the specified windows.

kitten @ disable-ligatures¶

kitten @ disable-ligatures [options] STRATEGY

Control ligature rendering for the specified windows/tabs (defaults to active window). The STRATEGY can be one of: never, always, cursor.

Options¶

--all, -a¶: By default, ligatures are only affected in the active window. This option will cause ligatures to be changed in all windows.

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--match-tab <MATCH_TAB>, -t <MATCH_TAB>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

kitten @ env¶

kitten @ env env_var1=val env_var2=val ...

Change the environment variables that will be seen in newly launched windows. Similar to the env option in kitty.conf, but affects running kitty instances. If no = is present, the variable is removed from the environment.

kitten @ focus-tab¶

kitten @ focus-tab [options]

The active window in the specified tab will be focused.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response indicating the success of the action. Note that using this option means that you will not be notified of failures. Default: false

kitten @ focus-window¶

kitten @ focus-window [options]

Focus the specified window, if no window is specified, focus the window this command is run inside.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response from kitty. This means that even if no matching window is found, the command will exit with a success code. Default: false

kitten @ get-colors¶

kitten @ get-colors [options]

Get the terminal colors for the specified window (defaults to active window). Colors will be output to STDOUT in the same syntax as used for kitty.conf.

To get a single color use:: get-colors | grep “^background “ | tr -s | cut -d” “ -f2

Change background above to whatever color you are interested in.

Options¶

--configured, -c¶: Instead of outputting the colors for the specified window, output the currently configured colors.

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

kitten @ get-text¶

kitten @ get-text [options]

Get text from the specified window

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--extent <EXTENT>¶: What text to get. The default of screen means all text currently on the screen. all means all the screen+scrollback and selection means the currently selected text. first_cmd_output_on_screen means the output of the first command that was run in the window on screen. last_cmd_output means the output of the last command that was run in the window. last_visited_cmd_output means the first command output below the last scrolled position via scroll_to_prompt. last_non_empty_output is the output from the last command run in the window that had some non empty output. The last four require Shell integration to be enabled. Default: screen Choices: all, first_cmd_output_on_screen, last_cmd_output, last_non_empty_output, last_visited_cmd_output, screen, selection

--ansi¶: By default, only plain text is returned. With this flag, the text will include the ANSI formatting escape codes for colors, bold, italic, etc.

--add-cursor¶: Add ANSI escape codes specifying the cursor position and style to the end of the text.

--add-wrap-markers¶: Add carriage returns at every line wrap location (where long lines are wrapped at screen edges).

--clear-selection¶: Clear the selection in the matched window, if any.

--self¶: Get text from the window this command is run in, rather than the active window.

kitten @ goto-layout¶

kitten @ goto-layout [options] LAYOUT_NAME

Set the window layout in the specified tabs (or the active tab if not specified). You can use special match value all to set the layout in all tabs. In case there are multiple layouts with the same name but different options, specify the full layout definition or a unique prefix of the full definition.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

kitten @ kitten¶

kitten @ kitten [options] kitten_name

Run a kitten over the specified windows (active window by default). The kitten_name can be either the name of a builtin kitten or the path to a Python file containing a custom kitten. If a relative path is used it is searched for in the kitty config directory. If the kitten is a no_ui kitten and its handle response method returns a string or boolean, this is printed out to stdout.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

kitten @ last-used-layout¶

kitten @ last-used-layout [options]

Switch to the last used window layout in the specified tabs (or the active tab if not specified).

Options¶

--all, -a¶: Change the layout in all tabs.

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response from kitty. This means that even if no matching tab is found, the command will exit with a success code. Default: false

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

kitten @ launch¶

kitten @ launch [options] [CMD ...]

Prints out the id of the newly opened window. Any command line arguments are assumed to be the command line used to run in the new window, if none are provided, the default shell is run. For example:

kitten @ launch --title=Email mutt

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

--no-response¶: Do not print out the id of the newly created window.

--self¶: If specified the tab containing the window this command is run in is used instead of the active tab

--title <WINDOW_TITLE>, --window-title <WINDOW_TITLE>¶: The title to set for the new window. By default, title is controlled by the child process. The special value current will copy the title from the currently active window.

--tab-title <TAB_TITLE>¶: The title for the new tab if launching in a new tab. By default, the title of the active window in the tab is used as the tab title. The special value current will copy the title from the title of the currently active tab.

--type <TYPE>¶

Where to launch the child process:

window: A new kitty window in the current tab
tab: A new tab in the current OS window
os-window: A new operating system window
overlay: An overlay window covering the current active kitty window
overlay-main: An overlay window covering the current active kitty window. Unlike a plain overlay window, this window is considered as a main window which means it is used as the active window for getting the current working directory, the input text for kittens, launch commands, etc. Useful if this overlay is intended to run for a long time as a primary window.
background: The process will be run in the background, without a kitty window. Note that if kitten @ launch --allow-remote-control is specified the KITTY_LISTEN_ON environment variable will be set to a dedicated socket pair file descriptor that the process can use for remote control.
clipboard, primary: These two are meant to work with --stdin-source to copy data to the system clipboard or primary selection.

Default: window Choices: background, clipboard, os-window, overlay, overlay-main, primary, tab, window

--dont-take-focus, --keep-focus¶: Keep the focus on the currently active window instead of switching to the newly opened window.

--cwd <CWD>¶: The working directory for the newly launched child. Use the special value current to use the working directory of the currently active window. The special value last_reported uses the last working directory reported by the shell (needs Shell integration to work). The special value oldest works like current but uses the working directory of the oldest foreground process associated with the currently active window rather than the newest foreground process. Finally, the special value root refers to the process that was originally started when the window was created.

--env <ENV>¶: Environment variables to set in the child process. Can be specified multiple times to set different environment variables. Syntax: name=value. Using name= will set to empty string and just name will remove the environment variable.

--var <VAR>¶: User variables to set in the created window. Can be specified multiple times to set different user variables. Syntax: name=value. Using name= will set to empty string.

--hold¶: Keep the window open even after the command being executed exits, at a shell prompt.

--copy-colors¶: Set the colors of the newly created window to be the same as the colors in the currently active window.

--copy-cmdline¶: Ignore any specified command line and instead use the command line from the currently active window.

--copy-env¶: Copy the environment variables from the currently active window into the newly launched child process. Note that this only copies the environment when the window was first created, as it is not possible to get updated environment variables from arbitrary processes. To copy that environment, use either the clone-in-kitty feature or the kitty remote control feature with kitten @ launch --copy-env.

--location <LOCATION>¶: Where to place the newly created window when it is added to a tab which already has existing windows in it. after and before place the new window before or after the active window. neighbor is a synonym for after. Also applies to creating a new tab, where the value of after will cause the new tab to be placed next to the current tab instead of at the end. The values of vsplit, hsplit and split are only used by the splits layout and control if the new window is placed in a vertical, horizontal or automatic split with the currently active window. The default is to place the window in a layout dependent manner, typically, after the currently active window. Default: default Choices: after, before, default, first, hsplit, last, neighbor, split, vsplit

--bias <BIAS>¶

The bias used to alter the size of the window. It controls what fraction of available space the window takes. The exact meaning of bias depends on the current layout.

Splits layout: The bias is interpreted as a percentage between 0 and 100. When splitting a window into two, the new window will take up the specified fraction of the space alloted to the original window and the original window will take up the remainder of the space.
Vertical/horizontal layout: The bias is interpreted as adding/subtracting from the normal size of the window. It should be a number between -90 and 90. This number is the percentage of the OS Window size that should be added to the window size. So for example, if a window would normally have been size 50 in the layout inside an OS Window that is size 80 high and --bias -10 is used it will become approximately size 42 high. Note that sizes are approximations, you cannot use this method to create windows of fixed sizes.
Tall layout: If the window being created is the first window in a column, then the bias is interpreted as a percentage, as for the splits layout, splitting the OS Window width between columns. If the window is a second or subsequent window in a column the bias is interpreted as adding/subtracting from the window size as for the vertical layout above.
Fat layout: Same as tall layout except it goes by rows instead of columns.
Grid layout: The bias is interpreted the same way as for the Vertical and Horizontal layouts, as something to be added/subtracted to the normal size. However, the since in a grid layout there are rows and columns, the bias on the first window in a column operates on the columns. Any later windows in that column operate on the row. So, for example, if you bias the first window in a grid layout it will change the width of the first column, the second window, the width of the second column, the third window, the height of the second row and so on.

The bias option was introduced in kitty version 0.36.0. Default: 0

--allow-remote-control¶: Programs running in this window can control kitty (even if remote control is not enabled in kitty.conf). Note that any program with the right level of permissions can still write to the pipes of any other program on the same computer and therefore can control kitty. It can, however, be useful to block programs running on other computers (for example, over SSH) or as other users. See --remote-control-password for ways to restrict actions allowed by remote control.

--remote-control-password <REMOTE_CONTROL_PASSWORD>¶

Restrict the actions remote control is allowed to take. This works like remote_control_password. You can specify a password and list of actions just as for remote_control_password. For example:

--remote-control-password '"my passphrase" get-* set-colors'

This password will be in effect for this window only. Note that any passwords you have defined for remote_control_password in kitty.conf are also in effect. You can override them by using the same password here. You can also disable all remote_control_password global passwords for this window, by using:

--remote-control-password '!'

This option only takes effect if --allow-remote-control is also specified. Can be specified multiple times to create multiple passwords. This option was added to kitty in version 0.26.0

--stdin-source <STDIN_SOURCE>¶

Pass the screen contents as STDIN to the child process.

@selection: is the currently selected text.
@screen: is the contents of the currently active window.
@screen_scrollback: is the same as @screen, but includes the scrollback buffer as well.
@alternate: is the secondary screen of the current active window. For example if you run a full screen terminal application, the secondary screen will be the screen you return to when quitting the application.
@first_cmd_output_on_screen: is the output from the first command run in the shell on screen.
@last_cmd_output: is the output from the last command run in the shell.
@last_visited_cmd_output: is the first output below the last scrolled position via scroll_to_prompt, this needs shell integration to work.

Default: none Choices: @alternate, @alternate_scrollback, @first_cmd_output_on_screen, @last_cmd_output, @last_visited_cmd_output, @screen, @screen_scrollback, @selection, none

--stdin-add-formatting¶: When using --stdin-source add formatting escape codes, without this only plain text will be sent.

--stdin-add-line-wrap-markers¶: When using --stdin-source add a carriage return at every line wrap location (where long lines are wrapped at screen edges). This is useful if you want to pipe to program that wants to duplicate the screen layout of the screen.

--marker <MARKER>¶: Create a marker that highlights text in the newly created window. The syntax is the same as for the toggle_marker action (see Mark text on screen).

--os-window-class <OS_WINDOW_CLASS>¶: Set the WM_CLASS property on X11 and the application id property on Wayland for the newly created OS window when using --type=os-window. Defaults to whatever is used by the parent kitty process, which in turn defaults to kitty.

--os-window-name <OS_WINDOW_NAME>¶: Set the WM_NAME property on X11 for the newly created OS Window when using --type=os-window. Defaults to --os-window-class.

--os-window-title <OS_WINDOW_TITLE>¶: Set the title for the newly created OS window. This title will override any titles set by programs running in kitty. The special value current will use the title of the current OS window, if any.

--os-window-state <OS_WINDOW_STATE>¶: The initial state for the newly created OS Window. Default: normal Choices: fullscreen, maximized, minimized, normal

--logo <LOGO>¶: Path to a PNG image to use as the logo for the newly created window. See window_logo_path. Relative paths are resolved from the kitty configuration directory.

--logo-position <LOGO_POSITION>¶: The position for the window logo. Only takes effect if --logo is specified. See window_logo_position.

--logo-alpha <LOGO_ALPHA>¶: The amount the window logo should be faded into the background. Only takes effect if --logo is specified. See window_logo_alpha. Default: -1

--color <COLOR>¶

Change colors in the newly launched window. You can either specify a path to a .conf file with the same syntax as kitty.conf to read the colors from, or specify them individually, for example:

--color background=white --color foreground=red

--spacing <SPACING>¶: Set the margin and padding for the newly created window. For example: margin=20 or padding-left=10 or margin-h=30. The shorthand form sets all values, the *-h and *-v variants set horizontal and vertical values. Can be specified multiple times. Note that this is ignored for overlay windows as these use the settings from the base window.

--watcher <WATCHER>, -w <WATCHER>¶: Path to a Python file. Appropriately named functions in this file will be called for various events, such as when the window is resized, focused or closed. See the section on watchers in the launch command documentation: Watching launched windows. Relative paths are resolved relative to the kitty config directory. Global watchers for all windows can be specified with watcher in kitty.conf.

kitten @ load-config¶

kitten @ load-config [options] CONF_FILE ...

(Re)load the specified kitty.conf config files(s). If no files are specified the previously specified config file is reloaded. Note that the specified paths must exist and be readable by the kitty process on the computer that process is running on. Relative paths are resolved with respect to the kitty config directory on the computer running kitty.

Options¶

--ignore-overrides¶: By default, any config overrides previously specified at the kitty invocation command line or a previous load-config-file command are respected. Use this option to have them ignored instead.

--override <OVERRIDE>, -o <OVERRIDE>¶: Override individual configuration options, can be specified multiple times. Syntax: name=value. For example: kitty -o font_size=20

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response indicating the success of the action. Note that using this option means that you will not be notified of failures. Default: false

kitten @ ls¶

kitten @ ls [options]

List windows. The list is returned as JSON tree. The top-level is a list of operating system kitty windows. Each OS window has an id and a list of tabs. Each tab has its own id, a title and a list of windows. Each window has an id, title, current working directory, process id (PID), command-line and environment of the process running in the window. Additionally, when running the command inside a kitty window, that window can be identified by the is_self parameter.

You can use these criteria to select windows/tabs for the other commands.

You can limit the windows/tabs in the output by using the --match and --match-tab options.

Options¶

--all-env-vars¶: Show all environment variables in output, not just differing ones.

--self¶: Only list the window this command is run in.

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--match-tab <MATCH_TAB>, -t <MATCH_TAB>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

kitten @ new-window¶

kitten @ new-window [options] [CMD ...]

DEPRECATED: Use the launch command instead.

Open a new window in the specified tab. If you use the kitten @ new-window --match option the first matching tab is used. Otherwise the currently active tab is used. Prints out the id of the newly opened window (unless --no-response is used). Any command line arguments are assumed to be the command line used to run in the new window, if none are provided, the default shell is run. For example:

kitten @ new-window --title Email mutt

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

--title <TITLE>¶: The title for the new window. By default it will use the title set by the program running in it.

--cwd <CWD>¶: The initial working directory for the new window. Defaults to whatever the working directory for the kitty process you are talking to is.

--dont-take-focus, --keep-focus¶: Keep the current window focused instead of switching to the newly opened window.

--window-type <WINDOW_TYPE>¶: What kind of window to open. A kitty window or a top-level OS window. Default: kitty Choices: kitty, os

--new-tab¶: Open a new tab.

--tab-title <TAB_TITLE>¶: Set the title of the tab, when open a new tab.

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response giving the id of the newly opened window. Note that using this option means that you will not be notified of failures and that the id of the new window will not be printed out. Default: false

kitten @ remove-marker¶

kitten @ remove-marker [options]

Remove the currently set marker, if any.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--self¶: Apply marker to the window this command is run in, rather than the active window.

kitten @ resize-os-window¶

kitten @ resize-os-window [options]

Resize the specified OS Windows. Note that some window managers/environments do not allow applications to resize their windows, for example, tiling window managers.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--action <ACTION>¶: The action to perform. Default: resize Choices: resize, toggle-fullscreen, toggle-maximized

--unit <UNIT>¶: The unit in which to interpret specified sizes. Default: cells Choices: cells, pixels

--width <WIDTH>¶: Change the width of the window. Zero leaves the width unchanged. Default: 0

--height <HEIGHT>¶: Change the height of the window. Zero leaves the height unchanged. Default: 0

--incremental¶: Treat the specified sizes as increments on the existing window size instead of absolute sizes.

--self¶: Resize the window this command is run in, rather than the active window.

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response indicating the success of the action. Note that using this option means that you will not be notified of failures. Default: false

kitten @ resize-window¶

kitten @ resize-window [options]

Resize the specified windows in the current layout. Note that not all layouts can resize all windows in all directions.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--increment <INCREMENT>, -i <INCREMENT>¶: The number of cells to change the size by, can be negative to decrease the size. Default: 2

--axis <AXIS>, -a <AXIS>¶: The axis along which to resize. If horizontal, it will make the window wider or narrower by the specified increment. If vertical, it will make the window taller or shorter by the specified increment. The special value reset will reset the layout to its default configuration. Default: horizontal Choices: horizontal, reset, vertical

--self¶: Resize the window this command is run in, rather than the active window.

kitten @ run¶

kitten @ run [options] CMD ...

Run the specified program on the computer in which kitty is running. When STDIN is not a TTY it is forwarded to the program as its STDIN. STDOUT and STDERR from the the program are forwarded here. The exit status of this invocation will be the exit status of the executed program. If you wish to just run a program without waiting for a response, use @ launch --type=background instead.

Options¶

--env <ENV>¶: Environment variables to set in the child process. Can be specified multiple times to set different environment variables. Syntax: name=value. Using name= will set to empty string and just name will remove the environment variable.

--allow-remote-control¶: The executed program will have privileges to run remote control commands in kitty.

--remote-control-password <REMOTE_CONTROL_PASSWORD>¶

Restrict the actions remote control is allowed to take. This works like remote_control_password. You can specify a password and list of actions just as for remote_control_password. For example:

--remote-control-password '"my passphrase" get-* set-colors'

--remote-control-password '!'

This option only takes effect if --allow-remote-control is also specified. Can be specified multiple times to create multiple passwords. This option was added to kitty in version 0.26.0

kitten @ scroll-window¶

kitten @ scroll-window [options] SCROLL_AMOUNT

Scroll the specified windows, if no window is specified, scroll the window this command is run inside. SCROLL_AMOUNT can be either the keywords start or end or an argument of the form <number>[unit][+-]. For example, 30 will scroll down 30 lines, 2p- will scroll up 2 pages and 0.5p`will scroll down half page. :code:`3u will unscroll by 3 lines, which means that 3 lines will move from the scrollback buffer onto the top of the screen.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response indicating the success of the action. Note that using this option means that you will not be notified of failures. Default: false

kitten @ select-window¶

kitten @ select-window [options]

Prints out the id of the selected window. Other commands can then be chained to make use of it.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

--response-timeout <RESPONSE_TIMEOUT>¶: The time in seconds to wait for the user to select a window. Default: 60

--self¶: Select window from the tab containing the window this command is run in, instead of the active tab.

--title <TITLE>¶: A title that will be displayed to the user to describe what this selection is for.

--exclude-active¶: Exclude the currently active window from the list of windows to pick.

--reactivate-prev-tab¶: When the selection is finished, the tab in the same OS window that was activated before the selection will be reactivated. The last activated OS window will also be refocused.

kitten @ send-key¶

kitten @ send-key [options] [KEYS TO SEND ...]

Send arbitrary key presses to specified windows. All specified keys are sent first as press events then as release events in reverse order. Keys are sent to the programs running in the windows. They are sent only if the current keyboard mode for the program supports the particular key. For example: send-key ctrl+a ctrl+b. Note that errors are not reported, for technical reasons, so send-key always succeeds, even if no key was sent to any window.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--match-tab <MATCH_TAB>, -t <MATCH_TAB>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

--all¶: Match all windows.

--exclude-active¶: Do not send text to the active window, even if it is one of the matched windows.

kitten @ send-text¶

kitten @ send-text [options] [TEXT TO SEND]

Send arbitrary text to specified windows. The text follows Python escaping rules. So you can use escapes like '\e' to send control codes and '\u21fa' to send Unicode characters. Remember to use single-quotes otherwise the backslash is interpreted as a shell escape character. If you use the kitten @ send-text --match option the text will be sent to all matched windows. By default, text is sent to only the currently active window. Note that errors are not reported, for technical reasons, so send-text always succeeds, even if no text was sent to any window.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--match-tab <MATCH_TAB>, -t <MATCH_TAB>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

--all¶: Match all windows.

--exclude-active¶: Do not send text to the active window, even if it is one of the matched windows.

--stdin¶: Read the text to be sent from stdin. Note that in this case the text is sent as is, not interpreted for escapes. If stdin is a terminal, you can press Ctrl+D to end reading.

--from-file <FROM_FILE>¶: Path to a file whose contents you wish to send. Note that in this case the file contents are sent as is, not interpreted for escapes.

--bracketed-paste <BRACKETED_PASTE>¶: When sending text to a window, wrap the text in bracketed paste escape codes. The default is to not do this. A value of auto means, bracketed paste will be used only if the program running in the window has turned on bracketed paste mode. Default: disable Choices: auto, disable, enable

kitten @ set-background-image¶

kitten @ set-background-image [options] PATH_TO_PNG_IMAGE

Set the background image for the specified OS windows. You must specify the path to an image that will be used as the background. If you specify the special value none then any existing image will be removed. Supported image formats are: PNG, JPEG, WEBP, GIF, BMP, TIFF

Options¶

--all, -a¶: By default, background image is only changed for the currently active OS window. This option will cause the image to be changed in all windows.

--configured, -c¶: Change the configured background image which is used for new OS windows.

--layout <LAYOUT>¶: How the image should be displayed. A value of configured will use the configured value. Default: configured Choices: clamped, configured, mirror-tiled, scaled, tiled

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response from kitty. This means that even if setting the background image failed, the command will exit with a success code. Default: false

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

kitten @ set-background-opacity¶

kitten @ set-background-opacity [options] OPACITY

Set the background opacity for the specified windows. This will only work if you have turned on dynamic_background_opacity in kitty.conf. The background opacity affects all kitty windows in a single OS window. For example:

kitten @ set-background-opacity 0.5

Options¶

--all, -a¶: By default, background opacity are only changed for the currently active OS window. This option will cause background opacity to be changed in all windows.

--toggle¶: When specified, the background opacity for the matching OS windows will be reset to default if it is currently equal to the specified value, otherwise it will be set to the specified value.

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--match-tab <MATCH_TAB>, -t <MATCH_TAB>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

kitten @ set-colors¶

kitten @ set-colors [options] COLOR_OR_FILE ...

Set the terminal colors for the specified windows/tabs (defaults to active window). You can either specify the path to a conf file (in the same format as kitty.conf) to read the colors from or you can specify individual colors, for example:

kitten @ set-colors foreground=red background=white

Options¶

--all, -a¶: By default, colors are only changed for the currently active window. This option will cause colors to be changed in all windows.

--configured, -c¶: Also change the configured colors (i.e. the colors kitty will use for new windows or after a reset).

--reset¶: Restore all colors to the values they had at kitty startup. Note that if you specify this option, any color arguments are ignored and kitten @ set-colors --configured and kitten @ set-colors --all are implied.

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--match-tab <MATCH_TAB>, -t <MATCH_TAB>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

kitten @ set-enabled-layouts¶

kitten @ set-enabled-layouts [options] LAYOUT ...

Set the enabled layouts in the specified tabs (or the active tab if not specified). You can use special match value all to set the enabled layouts in all tabs. If the current layout of the tab is not included in the enabled layouts, its layout is changed to the first enabled layout.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

--configured¶: Change the default enabled layout value so that the new value takes effect for all newly created tabs as well.

kitten @ set-font-size¶

kitten @ set-font-size [options] FONT_SIZE

Sets the font size to the specified size, in pts. Note that in kitty all sub-windows in the same OS window must have the same font size. A value of zero resets the font size to default. Prefixing the value with a + or - increments the font size by the specified amount. Use -- before using - to have it not mistaken for a option. For example: kitten @ set-font-size -- -2

Options¶

--all, -a¶: By default, the font size is only changed in the active OS window, this option will cause it to be changed in all OS windows. It also changes the font size for any newly created OS Windows in the future.

kitten @ set-spacing¶

kitten @ set-spacing [options] MARGIN_OR_PADDING ...

Set the paddings and margins for the specified windows (defaults to active window). For example: margin=20 or padding-left=10 or margin-h=30. The shorthand form sets all values, the *-h and *-v variants set horizontal and vertical values. The special value default resets to using the default value. If you specify a tab rather than a window, all windows in that tab are affected.

Options¶

--all, -a¶: By default, settings are only changed for the currently active window. This option will cause paddings and margins to be changed in all windows.

--configured, -c¶: Also change the configured paddings and margins (i.e. the settings kitty will use for new windows).

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--match-tab <MATCH_TAB>, -t <MATCH_TAB>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

kitten @ set-tab-color¶

kitten @ set-tab-color [options] COLORS

Change the color of the specified tabs in the tab bar

The foreground and background colors when active and inactive can be overridden using this command. The syntax for specifying colors is: active_fg=color active_bg=color inactive_fg=color inactive_bg=color. Where color can be either a color name or a value of the form #rrggbb or the keyword NONE to revert to using the default colors.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

--self¶: Close the tab this command is run in, rather than the active tab.

kitten @ set-tab-title¶

kitten @ set-tab-title [options] TITLE ...

Set the title for the specified tabs. If you use the kitten @ set-tab-title --match option the title will be set for all matched tabs. By default, only the tab in which the command is run is affected. If you do not specify a title, the title of the currently active window in the tab is used.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all tabs.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the specified id or title.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

kitten @ set-user-vars¶

kitten @ set-user-vars [options] [NAME=VALUE ...]

Set user variables for the specified windows. If you use the kitten @ set-user-vars --match option the variables will be set for all matched windows. By default, only the window in which the command is run is affected. If you do not specify any variables, the current variables are printed out, one per line. To unset a variable specify just its name.

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

kitten @ set-window-logo¶

kitten @ set-window-logo [options] PATH_TO_PNG_IMAGE

Set the logo image for the specified windows. You must specify the path to an image that will be used as the logo. If you specify the special value none then any existing logo will be removed. Supported image formats are: PNG, JPEG, WEBP, GIF, BMP, TIFF

Options¶

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

--self¶: Act on the window this command is run in, rather than the active window.

--position <POSITION>¶: The position for the window logo. See window_logo_position.

--alpha <ALPHA>¶: The amount the window logo should be faded into the background. See window_logo_position. Default: -1

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response from kitty. This means that even if setting the image failed, the command will exit with a success code. Default: false

kitten @ set-window-title¶

kitten @ set-window-title [options] [TITLE ...]

Set the title for the specified windows. If you use the kitten @ set-window-title --match option the title will be set for all matched windows. By default, only the window in which the command is run is affected. If you do not specify a title, the last title set by the child process running in the window will be used.

Options¶

--temporary¶: By default, the title will be permanently changed and programs running in the window will not be able to change it again. If you want to allow other programs to change it afterwards, use this option.

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

kitten @ signal-child¶

kitten @ signal-child [options] [SIGNAL_NAME ...]

Send one or more signals to the foreground process in the specified windows. If you use the kitten @ signal-child --match option the signal will be sent for all matched windows. By default, only the active window is affected. If you do not specify any signals, SIGINT is sent by default. You can also map signal_child to a shortcut in kitty.conf, for example:

map f1 signal_child SIGTERM

Options¶

--no-response¶: Don’t wait for a response indicating the success of the action. Note that using this option means that you will not be notified of failures. Default: false

--match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>¶

The special value all matches all windows.

The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can be: left, right, top or bottom.

When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only the environment variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name and value as with the env field.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.