Provided by: kitty_0.32.2-1ubuntu0.4_amd64 
Name
kitten-@-launch - Run an arbitrary process in a new window/tab
Usage
kitten @ launch [CMD ...]
Description
Prints out the id of the newly opened window. Any command line arguments are assumed to be the command
line used to run in the new window, if none are provided, the default shell is run. For example::
kitten @ launch --title=Email mutt
Options
--match, -m
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, var, 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. Negative values for id/window_id match from the highest id
number down, in particular, -1 is the most recently created tab/window.
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. Similarly, var matches tabs containing any window
with the specified user variable.
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 kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.
--no-response
Do not print out the id of the newly created window.
--self If specified the tab containing the window this command is run in is used instead of the active
tab
--title, --window-title
The title to set for the new window. By default, title is controlled by the child process. The
special value current will copy the title from the currently active window.
--tab-title
The title for the new tab if launching in a new tab. By default, the title of the active window in
the tab is used as the tab title. The special value current will copy the title from the title of
the currently active tab.
--type [=window]
Where to launch the child process:
window
A new kitty window in the current tab
tab
A new tab in the current OS window
os-window
A new operating system window
overlay
An overlay window covering the current active kitty window
overlay-main
An overlay window covering the current active kitty window. Unlike a plain overlay window,
this window is considered as a main window which means it is used as the active window for getting
the current working directory, the input text for kittens, launch commands, etc. Useful if this
overlay is intended to run for a long time as a primary window.
background
The process will be run in the background, without a kitty window. Note that if
--allow-remote-control is specified the KITTY_LISTEN_ON environment variable will be set to a
dedicated socket pair file descriptor that the process can use for remote control.
clipboard, primary
These two are meant to work with --stdin-source to copy data to the system clipboard or
primary selection.
Choices: window, background, clipboard, os-window, overlay, overlay-main, primary, tab
--dont-take-focus, --keep-focus
Keep the focus on the currently active window instead of switching to the newly opened window.
--cwd The working directory for the newly launched child. Use the special value current to use the
working directory of the currently active window. The special value last_reported uses the last
working directory reported by the shell (needs shell_integration to work). The special value
oldest works like current but uses the working directory of the oldest foreground process
associated with the currently active window rather than the newest foreground process. Finally,
the special value root refers to the process that was originally started when the window was
created.
--env Environment variables to set in the child process. Can be specified multiple times to set
different environment variables. Syntax: name=value. Using name= will set to empty string and just
name will remove the environment variable.
--var User variables to set in the created window. Can be specified multiple times to set different user
variables. Syntax: name=value. Using name= will set to empty string.
--hold Keep the window open even after the command being executed exits, at a shell prompt.
--copy-colors
Set the colors of the newly created window to be the same as the colors in the currently active
window.
--copy-cmdline
Ignore any specified command line and instead use the command line from the currently active
window.
--copy-env
Copy the environment variables from the currently active window into the newly launched child
process. Note that this only copies the environment when the window was first created, as it is
not possible to get updated environment variables from arbitrary processes. To copy that
environment, use either the clone-in-kitty feature or the kitty remote control feature with
--copy-env.
--location [=default]
Where to place the newly created window when it is added to a tab which already has existing
windows in it. after and before place the new window before or after the active window. neighbor
is a synonym for after. Also applies to creating a new tab, where the value of after will cause
the new tab to be placed next to the current tab instead of at the end. The values of vsplit,
hsplit and split are only used by the splits layout and control if the new window is placed in a
vertical, horizontal or automatic split with the currently active window. The default is to place
the window in a layout dependent manner, typically, after the currently active window.
Choices: default, after, before, first, hsplit, last, neighbor, split, vsplit
--allow-remote-control
Programs running in this window can control kitty (even if remote control is not enabled in
kitty.conf). Note that any program with the right level of permissions can still write to the
pipes of any other program on the same computer and therefore can control kitty. It can, however,
be useful to block programs running on other computers (for example, over SSH) or as other users.
See --remote-control-password for ways to restrict actions allowed by remote control.
--remote-control-password
Restrict the actions remote control is allowed to take. This works like remote_control_password.
You can specify a password and list of actions just as for remote_control_password. For example::
--remote-control-password '"my passphrase" get-* set-colors'
This password will be in effect for this window only. Note that any passwords you have defined for
remote_control_password in kitty.conf are also in effect. You can override them by using the same
password here. You can also disable all remote_control_password global passwords for this window,
by using::
--remote-control-password '!'
This option only takes effect if --allow-remote-control is also specified. Can be specified
multiple times to create multiple passwords. This option was added to kitty in version 0.26.0
--stdin-source [=none]
Pass the screen contents as STDIN to the child process.
@selection
is the currently selected text.
@screen
is the contents of the currently active window.
@screen_scrollback
is the same as @screen, but includes the scrollback buffer as well.
@alternate
is the secondary screen of the current active window. For example if you run a full screen
terminal application, the secondary screen will be the screen you return to when quitting the
application.
@first_cmd_output_on_screen
is the output from the first command run in the shell on screen.
@last_cmd_output
is the output from the last command run in the shell.
@last_visited_cmd_output
is the first output below the last scrolled position via scroll_to_prompt, this needs shell
integration to work.
Choices: none, @alternate, @alternate_scrollback, @first_cmd_output_on_screen, @last_cmd_output,
@last_visited_cmd_output, @screen, @screen_scrollback, @selection
--stdin-add-formatting
When using --stdin-source add formatting escape codes, without this only plain text will be sent.
--stdin-add-line-wrap-markers
When using --stdin-source add a carriage return at every line wrap location (where long lines are
wrapped at screen edges). This is useful if you want to pipe to program that wants to duplicate
the screen layout of the screen.
--marker
Create a marker that highlights text in the newly created window. The syntax is the same as for
the toggle_marker action (see /marks).
--os-window-class
Set the WM_CLASS property on X11 and the application id property on Wayland for the newly created
OS window when using --type. Defaults to whatever is used by the parent kitty process, which in
turn defaults to kitty.
--os-window-name
Set the WM_NAME property on X11 for the newly created OS Window when using --type. Defaults to
--os-window-class.
--os-window-title
Set the title for the newly created OS window. This title will override any titles set by programs
running in kitty. The special value current will use the title of the current OS window, if any.
--os-window-state [=normal]
The initial state for the newly created OS Window.
Choices: normal, fullscreen, maximized, minimized
--logo Path to a PNG image to use as the logo for the newly created window. See window_logo_path.
Relative paths are resolved from the kitty configuration directory.
--logo-position
The position for the window logo. Only takes effect if --logo is specified. See
window_logo_position.
--logo-alpha [=-1]
The amount the window logo should be faded into the background. Only takes effect if --logo is
specified. See window_logo_alpha.
--color
Change colors in the newly launched window. You can either specify a path to a .conf file with the
same syntax as kitty.conf to read the colors from, or specify them individually, for example::
--color background=white --color foreground=red
--spacing
Set the margin and padding for the newly created window. For example: margin=20 or padding-left=10
or margin-h=30. The shorthand form sets all values, the *-h and *-v variants set horizontal and
vertical values. Can be specified multiple times. Note that this is ignored for overlay windows as
these use the settings from the base window.
--watcher, -w
Path to a Python file. Appropriately named functions in this file will be called for various
events, such as when the window is resized, focused or closed. See the section on watchers in the
launch command documentation: watchers. Relative paths are resolved relative to the kitty config
directory. Global watchers for all windows can be specified with watcher in kitty.conf.
--help, -h
Show help for this command
Global options
--to An address for the kitty instance to control. Corresponds to the address given to the kitty
instance via the --listen-on option or the listen_on setting in kitty.conf. If not specified, the
environment variable KITTY_LISTEN_ON is checked. If that is also not found, messages are sent to
the controlling terminal for this process, i.e. they will only work if this process is run within
a kitty window.
--password
A password to use when contacting kitty. This will cause kitty to ask the user for permission to
perform the specified action, unless the password has been accepted before or is pre-configured in
kitty.conf.
--password-file [=rc-pass]
A file from which to read the password. Trailing whitespace is ignored. Relative paths are
resolved from the kitty configuration directory. Use - to read from STDIN. Used if no --password
is supplied. Defaults to checking for the rc-pass file in the kitty configuration directory.
--password-env [=KITTY_RC_PASSWORD]
The name of an environment variable to read the password from. Used if no --password-file is
supplied. Defaults to checking the environment variable KITTY_RC_PASSWORD.
--use-password [=if-available]
If no password is available, kitty will usually just send the remote control command without a
password. This option can be used to force it to always or never use the supplied password.
Choices: if-available, always, never
0.32.2 Jun 25, 2025 kitten-@-launch(1)