broadcast

Type text in all kitty windows simultaneously

The broadcast kitten can be used to type text simultaneously in all kitty windows (or a subset as desired).

To use it, simply create a mapping in kitty.conf such as:

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

Then press the F1 key and whatever you type in the newly created window will be sent to all kitty windows.

You can use the options described below to control which windows are selected.

For example, only broadcast to other windows in the current tab:

map f1 launch --allow-remote-control kitty +kitten broadcast --match-tab state:focused

Source code for broadcast

The source code for this kitten is available on GitHub.

Command Line Interface

kitty +kitten broadcast [options] [initial text to send ...]

Broadcast typed text to kitty windows. By default text is sent to all windows, unless one of the matching options is specified

Options

--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, 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 windows.

For numeric fields: id, pid, num and recent, the expression is interpreted as a number, not a regular expression.

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 kitty @ 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.

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.

The field state matches on the state of the window. Supported states are: active, focused, needs_attention, parent_active and parent_focused. 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.

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

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

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, 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.

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.

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 kitty @ ls command to get a list of tabs.