External Terminal (desktop mode)

In terminal mode, XeFM lends its own terminal to anything that needs one: the subshell (subshell, Shift-X) and PROGRAMS entries marked 'options': {'terminal': True} — vim, less, a REPL. The desktop app has no terminal of its own, so it opens one instead: a new terminal window, in the current directory, running your shell or the program.

The same config.py therefore works in both modes. The differences are:

• XeFM does not wait. The terminal window is its own application. XeFM keeps running, and the panes pick up changes you make there through file monitoring rather than a refresh when you return.
• The environment is a snapshot. The XEFM_* variables (pane directories, selection, XEFM_ACTIVE) and the [XeFM] prompt marker are set when the window opens, exactly as in a terminal-mode subshell. They do not follow later changes in XeFM.
• Local directories only, as in terminal mode.

A terminal: True program that exits with an error holds its window open until you press Enter, so its last output stays readable. A subshell closes its window the way your terminal normally does when the shell exits.

Choosing the terminal

TERMINAL in ~/.xefm/config.py picks the application; SUBSHELL still picks the shell inside it. Leave TERMINAL as None for the platform default:

To use another terminal, give its command line. What XeFM needs to run is appended to it as trailing arguments, so name a terminal the way you would to have it run a command:

TERMINAL = ['open', '-a', 'iTerm']        # macOS: an app that runs a script it opens
TERMINAL = ['wezterm', 'start', '--']     # takes the command as trailing arguments
TERMINAL = ['alacritty', '-e']
TERMINAL = ['wt.exe', '-w', '0', 'nt']    # Windows Terminal: a tab in the current window

A string works too ('wezterm start --'), split like a shell would; use a list for a Windows path with spaces in it.

If nothing opens

The log pane says why:

• No terminal configured: set TERMINAL — the platform has no default; set one.
• Terminal not found: … — the command in TERMINAL is not installed or not on PATH.

See also

• External Programs — PROGRAMS and terminal: True
• User Guide — Subshell — the prompt marker and SUBSHELL