Overview

ttyx_ can be driven from the command line via the --action (or -a) switch, which tells a running ttyx_ instance to execute an action you’d normally trigger from the UI. Useful for scripting: a shell alias or a desktop-file launcher can open a split, a new window, or a new session without you touching the keyboard.

Example — open a split-right terminal and run yay -Syua in it:

ttyx -a session-add-right -x "yay -Syua"

Actions are always executed relative to the terminal where the command was invoked. Command-line parameters that aren’t consumed by ttyx_ flags are passed to the new terminal, so you can combine -a with -p (profile), -w (working directory), -x (execute command), etc.

Supported actions

The action names mirror keybinding names under /io/github/gwelr/ttyx/keybindings in dconf. Not every keybinding is meaningful as a command-line action (some require in-UI context like the currently selected synchronized-input group). The four officially supported actions:

Action	Effect
session-add-right	Split the current terminal right
session-add-down	Split the current terminal down
app-new-window	Create a new ttyx_ window
app-new-session	Create a new session in the current window

Gotchas

• You must have a running ttyx_ instance for -a to have anywhere to act. If no instance is running, ttyx_ starts one and the action silently no-ops.
• The action runs against the focused terminal of the running instance, which may not be the terminal you invoked the command from if you have multiple windows open.
• -x with quoting: if your command contains shell metacharacters, quote it aggressively (-x "echo hello; echo world") — ttyx_ passes the string to the shell so quoting follows shell rules.