leader key

[danielb2]

playing around with zellij my biggest concern is how many key-bindings it's consuming given the lack of a leader key (such as ctrl+a for screen and ctrl+b for tmux).

For example, in vim, my ctrl+p and ctrl+t are mapped already. so how can I use them in vim now? is there a way to configure zellij to have a leader key? if not, maybe that's a feature worth considering.

This is stopping me from migrating. That those bindings are already assigned are an example. The basic idea is I don't want conflicting keybindings with other terminal apps I may be using. What's not conflicting in Vim may have a conflicting somewhere else, so please don't just respond with changing my keybindings in vim.

FYi, I tried removing

shared_except "pane" "locked" {
    bind "Ctrl p" { SwitchToMode "Pane"; }
}                          

in config.kdl and for ctrl t as well, but this doesn't seem to have worked

[danielb2]

seems that adding

  keybinds {
     normal {
        unbind "Ctrl p"
        unbind "Ctrl t"
     }
  }

did what I wanted

[Lockszmith-GH]

Not a leader key, but the situation is addressed in a couple of ways:

• From the FAQ: Zellij overrides certain key combinations that I use for other apps, what can I do?
• And mentioned in the top line of the default.kdl: using keybinds clear-defaults=true

There were attempts at leader keys as well, I think you can still acheive this by programing keys to perform an action and drop to command mode.

[danielb2]

somehow I missed the top comment there. that does it. thanks

[merikan]

@danielb2
When I switched from Tmux to Zellij a year ago I had the same problem. I therefore removed all Ctrl-bindings from Normal-mode and put them under Tmux-mode instead. In Tmux-mode I have some direct bindings for what I use most, split pane, create tab etc., just like I had in Tmux. If I want to go to another mode e.g. Session-mode, I go via Tmux mode.

Have a look at my Readme and you can find my config here https://github.com/merikan/.dotfiles/blob/main/config/zellij/config.kdl

[imsnif]

Friends, I'm sorry - whatever goes into this repository I will have to maintain, and I'm not keeping up as is. I'm working on doing just the opposite (offloading functionality into plugins, allowing people to develop cool plugins that they can easily share with others, working on various integrations eg. through layouts to allow people to express their creativity, etc.)

I will warmly encourage you to host these configs and whatever other user content you'd like on your own. The more this happens, the healthier the ecosystem becomes.

[Lockszmith-GH]

Fair enough. Would a community resource page in the documentation work?
Placing a link to other repos/doc sites?

[imsnif]

...which I would have to curate, I guess? :)

How about you create an awesome-zellij list?

[Lockszmith-GH]

That's what I was thinking about - something of that sort. I've never done one of those, but I'll definitly try :)

[merikan]

@imsnif @Lockszmith-GH
I agree, whatever goes into this repository someone has to maintain. An awesome-zellij list is definitely a good thing that can promote cool plugins, themes, configs etc. Another option could be to use the wiki in the repo where sections could be community maintained. This is done in many other repos such as fzf and spaceship-prompt.

If I understand it correctly @imsnif , you are the sole maintainer and we should absolutely not put more burden on you, so let us start with an awesome-zellij repo 👍 Go for it @Lockszmith-GH