Ghost
A Zellij plugin for spawning floating command terminal pane.
Install / Use
/learn @vdbulcke/GhostREADME
Ghost
A Zellij plugin for spawning floating command terminal pane.
Basically, it is an interactive version of zrf (function zrf () { zellij run --name "$*" --floating -- zsh -ic "$*";}).

Since v0.3.0, if you define a list of completions from global_completion plugin configuration, it will load each lines as a list of commands that you can fuzzy search (using fuzzy-matcher).
If the plugin finds a .ghost at the working dir of the plugin, it will add the working dir completions with the global_completions.

Requirements
Zellij version v0.40.0 or later.
| Zellij | ghost |
| --------- | -------- |
| v0.40.x | v0.4.0 |
| v0.41.1 | v0.5.0 |
Zellij Plugin Permission
| Permission | Why |
| -------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| ReadApplicationState | Subscribe to Pane and tab events |
| RunCommands | Creating Run Command floating pane |
| ChangeApplicationState | Setting plugin pane name |
| FullHdAccess | Read global config file |
Host Filesystem Access
NOTE: zellij
v0.39.0changed the/hostpath on plugin from the current zellij session working dir to the previous pane working dir (see Release Notes for more info)
Zellij maps the folder where Zellij was started to /host path on the plugin.
The plugin will look for a /host/.ghost file (i.e. the current working of the previous focussed pane) to load a list of predefined commands (like a bash_history).
Example of a .ghost file:
cargo build
## this is a comment starting with '#'
# this is also a comment
terraform apply
## empty lines are also ignored
go test -v ./...
Install
Upgrade
Breaking Change
v0.4.0
- renamed config
cwdwithexec_cwd
Download WASM Binary
- Download
ghost.wasmbinary from release page. - Verify binary signature with cosign (see instruction bellow)
- copy binary to zellij plugin dir:
mv target/wasm32-wasip1/release/ghost.wasm ~/.config/zellij/plugins/
Validate Signature With Cosign
Make sure you have cosign installed locally (see Cosign Install).
Then you can use the ./verify_signature.sh in this repo:
./verify_signature.sh PATH_TO_DOWNLOADED_ARCHIVE TAG_VERSION
for example
$ ./verify_signature.sh ~/Downloads/ghost.wasm v0.4.0
Checking Signature for version: v0.4.0
Verified OK
Build from source
WARNING: requires to have rust installed and wasm
rustup target add wasm32-wasip1
git clone git@github.com:vdbulcke/ghost.gitcd ghostcargo build --releasemv target/wasm32-wasip1/release/ghost.wasm ~/.config/zellij/plugins/
Configuration
Required Configuration
Zsh Shell
| Key | value |
|--------------|------ |
| shell | zsh |
| shell_flag | -ic |
fish Shell
| Key | value |
|--------------|--------|
| shell | fish |
| shell_flag | -c |
Bash Shell
| Key | value |
|--------------|--------|
| shell | bash |
| shell_flag | -ic |
Optional Configuration
| Key | value | desctiption |
|-----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| ~~cwd (deprecated use exec_cwd instead)~~ | directory path | set working dir for command |
| ~~exec_cwd (zellij 0.40.0)~~ (deprecated in v0.6.0) | directory path | set working dir for command |
| ~~ghost_launcher~~ (deprecated in v0.6.0) | GhostLauncher pane name | plugin will automatically close that pane |
| embedded | true | created command panes are embedded instead of floating |
| debug | true | display debug info |
| global_completion | multine list of completion | global list of completions to inlude to /host/.ghost file |
| plugin_config_dir | absolute path to ghost plugin dir | the dir must contain a .ghost_global with global completions |
NOTE: The "GhostLauncher" (
ghost_launcher,exec_cwd) is no longer need. Now thecwdis derived from theget_plugin_ids().initial_cwdplugin api.
Launch Plugin
zellij plugin --floating --configuration "shell=zsh,shell_flag=-ic,cwd=$(pwd)" -- "file:$HOME/.config/zellij/plugins/ghost.wasm"
Config Keybindings
shared_except "locked" {
// ghost native plugin (with default zellij cwd)
bind "Alt (" {
LaunchOrFocusPlugin "file:~/.config/zellij/plugins/ghost.wasm" {
floating true
// Ghost config
shell "zsh" // required ("bash", "fish", "zsh")
shell_flag "-ic" // required ("-ic", "-c", "-ic")
// optional config
// ghost_launcher "GhostLauncher" // name of the Ghost launcher pane (default GhostLauncher)
// debug false // display debug info, config, parse command etc
// embedded false // spawned command pane will be embedded instead of floating pane
// NOTE: using 'r#"' and '"#' rust like multi string delimeter
global_completion r#"
tf apply -auto-approve
cargo build
go test -v ./...
"#
}
}
}
Limitations
resizing
UI column size is not handled, so resizing to plugin window too small may crash the plugin. UI row size is partiallt handled, where it will minimize to a simple prompt if the plugin window becomes too small.
Note
This my first rust project, so the code might not be the most idiomatic rust. Inpiration was taken from other zellij plugins.
