Name

       kitten-broadcast - Broadcast typed text to kitty windows

Overview

       Type text in all kitty windows simultaneously

       The  broadcast  kitten  can  be  used  to  type  text simultaneously in all kitty windows (or a subset as
       desired).

       To use it, simply create a mapping in kitty.conf such as:

          map f1 launch --allow-remote-control kitty +kitten broadcast

       Then press the F1 key and whatever you type in the newly  created  window  will  be  sent  to  all  kitty
       windows.

       You can use the options described below to control which windows are selected.

       For example, only broadcast to other windows in the current tab:

          map f1 launch --allow-remote-control kitty +kitten broadcast --match-tab state:focused

Source code for broadcast

       The source code for this kitten is available on GitHub.

Command line interface

          kitty +kitten broadcast [options] [initial text to send ...]

       Broadcast typed text to kitty windows. By default text is sent to all windows, unless one of the matching
       options is specified

   Options
       --hide-input-toggle <HIDE_INPUT_TOGGLE>
              Key  to  press  that  will toggle hiding of the input in the broadcast window itself. Useful while
              typing a password, prevents the password from being visible on the screen.  Default: Ctrl+Alt+Esc

       --end-session <END_SESSION>
              Key to press to end the broadcast session.  Default: Ctrl+Esc

       --match <MATCH>, -m <MATCH>
              The window to match. Match specifications are of the form: field:query. Where field can be one of:
              id, title, pid, cwd, cmdline, num, env, var, state, neighbor, 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 windows.

              For numeric fields: id, pid, num and recent, the expression is interpreted  as  a  number,  not  a
              regular  expression.  Negative values for id match from the highest id number down, in particular,
              -1 is the most recently created window.

              The field num refers to the window position in the current tab, starting from  zero  and  counting
              clockwise  (this  is  the  same  as the order in which the windows are reported by the kitten @ ls
              command).

              The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

              The field recent refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab,  with  zero  being
              the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

              The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can
              be: left, right, top or bottom.

              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.

              Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name
              and value as with the env field.

              The field state matches on the state  of  the  window.  Supported  states  are:  active,  focused,
              needs_attention,  parent_active,  parent_focused,  self,  overlay_parent.   Active windows are the
              windows that are active in their parent tab. There is only one focused window and it is the window
              to which keyboard events are delivered. If no window  is  focused,  the  last  focused  window  is
              matched.  The  value self matches the window in which the remote control command is run. The value
              overlay_parent matches the window that is under the self  window,  when  the  self  window  is  an
              overlay.

              Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

       --match-tab <MATCH_TAB>, -t <MATCH_TAB>
              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.

Author

       Kovid Goyal

Copyright

       2025, Kovid Goyal

0.32.2                                            Jun 25, 2025                               kitten-broadcast(1)