This is a Neovim plugin that integrates window navigation with zellij.

It creates four new commands that will move between windows inside Neovim (like ^w h et al.), but once it reaches the edge of your editor, it will attempt to switch to the next zellij pane.

Commands:

• ZellijNavigateLeft
• ZellijNavigateDown
• ZellijNavigateUp
• ZellijNavigateRight
• ZellijNavigateLeftTab
• ZellijNavigateDownTab
• ZellijNavigateUpTab
• ZellijNavigateRightTab

It also exports the lua versions, which you can call like this:

• require("zellij-nav").left()
• require("zellij-nav").down()
• require("zellij-nav").up()
• require("zellij-nav").right()
• require("zellij-nav").left_tab()
• require("zellij-nav").down_tab()
• require("zellij-nav").up_tab()
• require("zellij-nav").right_tab()

This is written in the spirit of vim-tmux-navigator, but for zellij instead, while also aiming to be as simple and lightweight as possible.

{
  "https://git.sr.ht/~swaits/zellij-nav.nvim",
  lazy = true,
  event = "VeryLazy",
  keys = {
    { "<c-h>", "<cmd>ZellijNavigateLeftTab<cr>",  { silent = true, desc = "navigate left or tab"  } },
    { "<c-j>", "<cmd>ZellijNavigateDown<cr>",  { silent = true, desc = "navigate down"  } },
    { "<c-k>", "<cmd>ZellijNavigateUp<cr>",    { silent = true, desc = "navigate up"    } },
    { "<c-l>", "<cmd>ZellijNavigateRightTab<cr>", { silent = true, desc = "navigate right or tab" } },
  },
  opts = {},
}

{
  "https://git.sr.ht/~swaits/zellij-nav.nvim",
  config = function()
    require("zellij-nav").setup()

    local map = vim.keymap.set
    map("n", "<c-h>", "<cmd>ZellijNavigateLeftTab<cr>",  { desc = "navigate left or tab"  })
    map("n", "<c-j>", "<cmd>ZellijNavigateDown<cr>",  { desc = "navigate down"  })
    map("n", "<c-k>", "<cmd>ZellijNavigateUp<cr>",    { desc = "navigate up"    })
    map("n", "<c-l>", "<cmd>ZellijNavigateRightTab<cr>", { desc = "navigate right or tab" })

  end
}

Plug 'https://git.sr.ht/~swaits/zellij-nav.nvim'
lua require("zellij-nav").setup()

nnoremap <c-h> <cmd>ZellijNavigateLeft<cr>
nnoremap <c-j> <cmd>ZellijNavigateDown<cr>
nnoremap <c-k> <cmd>ZellijNavigateUp<cr>
nnoremap <c-l> <cmd>ZellijNavigateRight<cr>

This plugin only covers the Neovim side of things. To achieve a fully seamless workflow, we also need zellij to perform a few tasks.

In an ideal scenario, we would be able to map C-hjkl to function identically in both zellij and Neovim, but unfortunately, that is not possible. Currently, zellij has a few issues that prevent us from reaching that point.

Firstly, zellij does not allow us to bind C-j to any function. This is a known bug.

Secondly, and more importantly, when any of the C-hjkl keystrokes are used in zellij, we need to be able to:

1. Determine if the focused pane is running nvim.
2. If it is, forward the keystrokes to the application, for example, by using the zellij Write action.
3. If it is not, directly perform the keystroke action in zellij by using the MoveFocus <direction> action.

Currently, I have not found a way to accomplish this, even through the zellij plugin system.

Therefore, my configuration uses A-hjkl in zellij. As a result, I use C-hjkl to navigate within Neovim and to switch from Neovim to another zellij pane. However, if I'm in a non-nvim pane, I use A-hjkl to change focus.

Copyright © 2023 Stephen Waits steve@waits.net

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.

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