Simple Terminal Multiplexing for Node Environments
npm install stmux
stmux
=====
Simple Terminal Multiplexing for Node Environments


Abstract
--------
This is a simple terminal multiplexing utility for Node.js
environments. It is inspired by the awesome and unreachable
tmux native Unix utility. The stmux utility
is intended to provide just a very tiny subset of the original
tmux functionality, but in a portable way for
bare Node.js environments and with some special features for application
build environments. Most notably, stmux has a built-time error
detection and notification feature, can automatically restart terminated commands,
and can automatically close or wait after all spawned commands have
successfully or unsuccessfully terminated.
Internally, stmux is based on the awesome
Blessed screen rendering environment
and emulates full XTerm-compatible pseudo-terminals
to the spawned programs with the help of Blessed XTerm
and the underlying XTerm.js terminal rendering
and node-pty pseudo-terminal
integration modules.
Example
-------
The following command...
```
$ stmux -- [ [ -s 1/3 bash .. vim ] : mc ]
...leads to the following particular terminal multiplexing environment,
where GNU bash, Vim and Midnight Commander are running side-by-side
inside their own XTerm emulating terminal widget (and, just for fun,
CTRL+a ? was pressed to open up the stmux help window):
Intention
---------
This utility is primarily intended to be used from within a
package.json script to easily side-by-side run various NPM-basedpackage.json
commands in a Node.js build-time environment. Sample npm run
entries from a top-level NPM-based project follows, which on
dev allows one to conveniently run the commands of two sub-projects.
First, the build-time of the frontend user interface (UI) project.
Second, the build-time of the backend server (SV) project. Third, the
run-time of the backend server project.
`js
{
...
"dependencies": {
"stmux": "*"
},
"scripts": {
"install": "npm run install:ui && npm run install:sv",
"install:ui": "cd ui && npm install",
"install:sv": "cd sv && npm install",
"build": "npm run build:ui && npm run build:sv",
"build:ui": "cd ui && npm run build",
"build:sv": "cd sv && npm run build",
"start": "cd sv && npm start",
"clean": "npm run clean:ui && npm run clean:sv",
"clean:ui": "cd ui && npm run clean",
"clean:sv": "cd sv && npm run clean",
"dev": "stmux -w always -e ERROR -m beep,system -- [ [ \"npm run dev:ui\" .. \"npm run dev:sv\" ] : -s 1/3 -f \"npm start\" ]",
"dev:ui": "cd ui && npm run build:watch",
"dev:sv": "cd sv && npm run build:watch"
}
}
`
In case of a build-time error in the frontend user interface (SV), the
result might be similar to the following one:
Installation
------------
``
$ npm install -g stmux
The dependencies of stmux transitively include
node-pty which must be
built with node-gyp
during npm install. Please check out the documentation of
node-gyp on how to provide the
necessary C/C++ compiler environment on your operating system.
* macOS: install the "Command Line Tools" under
"Preferences > Downloads" in Xcode.
* Windows: open an elevated cmd.exe and run the commandsnpm install --global windows-build-tools
andnpm config set msvs_version 2015 --global
sudo apt-get update
* Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), Ubuntu distribution: run the commands
andsudo apt-get install -y python make build-essential
* Under Linux or FreeBSD you usually don't have to do anything.
Usage
-----
The following command line arguments are supported:
``
$ stmux [-h] [-V] [-w
[-c
[--
- -h, --help-V
Show usage help.
- , --version-w
Show program version information.
- , --wait error
Wait after last finished command (and do not shutdown automatically),
either if any command terminated with an or just always.-a
- , --activator CTRL+
Use as the prefix to special commands.a
The default activator character is . For instance, for theCTRL+a
default activator case, opening the help popup requires you to
press (and release it again) and then (separately) press ?.-t
- , --title stmux
Set title on terminal. The default title is .-c
- , --cursor block
Set type of cursor to (default), underline or line.-n
- , --number-e
Show terminal number in terminal title.
- , --error !
Observe terminal lines for errors (global option).
One or more regular expressions can be specified and have to match on a single line.
If a regular expression is preceeded with the prefix , it is-m
required that it does not match.
- , --method beep
In case of detected errors, use the comma-separated
list of methods to perform user notification. The default
is no extra notification (just the terminal annotation).
Possible methods are and system.-M
- , --mouse-f
Enable mouse event handling. This enables the focus switching
by left mouse click, the scrolling with mouse wheel and
sends down mouse events to the terminal as mouse key sequences.
- , --file
Read specification from a configuration file. Thestdin
default is to use the specification inside the command line arguments
or (alternatively) to read the specification from .
The following PEG-style grammar loosly describes the specification .
For exact details see the real PEG grammar of stmux.
`
spec ::= "[" directive (":" directive) "]" / vertical split */
| "[" directive (".." directive) "]" / horizontal split */
directive ::= option spec / RECURSION */
| option string / shell command */
option ::= ("-f" | "--focus") / focus terminal initially /
| ("-r" | "--restart") / restart command automatically /
| ("-d" | "--delay") number / delay
| ("-t" | "--title") string / set title of terminal /
| ("-s" | "--size") size / request a size on terminal /
| ("-e" | "--error") regexp / observe terminal for errors (local option) /
size ::= /^\d+$/ / fixed character size /
| /^\d+\.\d+$/ / total size factor /
| /^\d+\/\d+$/ / total size fraction /
| /^\d+%$/ / total size percentage /
`
The following keystrokes are supported under run-time:
- CTRL+activator activator:CTRL
Send the +activator key-sequence to the focused terminal.CTRL
- +activator BACKSPACE:CTRL
Switch the focus to the previous terminal in sequence.
- +activator SPACE:CTRL
Switch the focus to the next terminal in sequence.
- +activator LEFT/RIGHT/UP/DOWN:CTRL
Switch the focus to the best matching terminal in a direction.
- +activator 1/2/.../9:CTRL
Directly switch to a particular terminal.
- +activator n:CTRL
Toggle showing/hiding of terminal numbers.
- +activator z:CTRL
Toggle the zooming of focused terminal.
- +activator v:PAGEUP
Switch the focused terminal into visual/scrolling mode.
Use /PAGEDOWN during this mode to scroll up/down.CTRL
Any other key leaves this mode.
- +activator l:CTRL
Relayout the screen.
- +activator r:CTRL
Restart the program in the focused terminal.
- +activator k:CTRL
Kill the application and all shell commands in all terminals.
- +activator ?:
Show help window.
Specification Examples
----------------------
- stmux [ A ]:
``
+-----------+
| |
| A |
| |
+-----------+
- stmux [ A .. B ]:
``
+-----+-----+
| | |
| A | B |
| | |
+-----+-----+
- stmux [ A : B ]:
``
+-----------+
| A |
+-----------+
| B |
+-----------+
- stmux [ [ A .. B ] : C ]:
``
+-----+-----+
| A | B |
+-----+-----+
| C |
+-----------+
- stmux [ [ A : B ] .. C ]:
``
+-----+-----+
| A | |
+-----+ C |
| B | |
+-----+-----+
- stmux [ [ A : B ] .. [ C : D ] ]:
``
+-----+-----+
| A | C |
+-----+-----+
| B | D |
+-----+-----+
- stmux [ [ A .. B ] : [ C .. D ] ]:
``
+-----+-----+
| A | B |
+-----+-----+
| C | D |
+-----+-----+
- stmux -- [ [ -s 1/3 A .. B ] : [ C .. -s 1/3 D ] ]:
```
+---+-------+
| A | B |
+---+---+---+
| C | D |
+-------+---+
License
-------
Copyright (c) 2017-2024 Dr. Ralf S. Engelschall (http://engelschall.com/)
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.