psx

Named psmux layouts for Windows PowerShell, with a visual editor. Draw a workspace once, reopen it with one word.

psx new              draw a template
psx dev              build it in this folder and attach
psx ls               templates and running sessions
psx edit dev         change it
psx delete dev       remove it
psx kill dev         kill that session
psx -h               full usage

psmux has no templating of its own — there is no save-session, no layout file, no tmuxinator equivalent. It is fully scriptable though, which is all this needs.

The editor

psx new asks for a name, then opens the layout so you can see it:

┌───────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┐
│                                   │            git             │
│                                   │     typed: git status      │
│            Claude Code            ├────────────────────────────┤
│            run: claude            │         dev server         │
│                                   │     typed: npm run dev     │
└───────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────┘

key	does
arrows (or hjkl)	move between panes
\	split side by side
-	split top and bottom
enter	choose what runs in this pane
x	delete the pane
[ ]	resize
f	this pane is focused when the session opens
d	description
w / q	save / quit

\ and - are deliberate: neither needs Shift, and they match the split bindings in ~/.psmux.conf.

What can go in a pane

Claude Code, a plain shell, htop, ssh (asks for the host), git status, npm dev/build, pytest, Jupyter, or a custom command. Programs you do not have installed stay in the list, greyed out and labelled — hiding them would look like psx did not support them.

Every command is either run or typed:

• run — send-keys "<cmd>" Enter, starts immediately. Right for Claude Code, htop, ssh.
• typed — send-keys "<cmd>", waits on the prompt for you to press Enter. The safer default for anything that builds, watches, or assumes a particular project — npm run dev in a repo with no package.json should not just fire.

Install

Requires psmux (winget install marlocarlo.psmux) and PowerShell 7.

git clone https://github.com/Fre0Grella/psx.git $HOME\psx

Or unzip a build from Releases into $HOME\psx.

Then add to your PowerShell profile ($PROFILE):

function psx { & "$HOME\psx\bin\psx.ps1" @args }

Open a new terminal. First run copies the starter templates into ~/.psx/templates.

Where things live

~/.psx/templates/*.json	your templates — plain JSON, hand-editable
templates/ in this repo	starter templates, copied in only when missing

Updating psx never touches your templates. Editing dev and then pulling keeps your version.

Shorthand

Nothing needs Shift, and verb order does not matter:

psx ls      psx l      psx -l
psx edit dev    psx e dev    psx dev e
psx kill dev    psx k dev    psx dev k    psx dev -k

Short flags are explicit aliases rather than PowerShell's prefix matching, because -l would otherwise be ambiguous and refuse to bind.

Options: -p <dir> build elsewhere, -n <name> session name (default: the folder name), -d build without attaching.

Development

pwsh -File tests\run.ps1          # model, geometry, render, store, editor keys
pwsh -File tests\e2e.ps1          # builds a real session on an isolated socket
pwsh -File tools\preview.ps1 dev  # print a template as the editor draws it

The layout model, geometry and renderer are pure functions returning strings and hashtables, so almost everything is testable without a terminal; only the input loop touches the console. e2e.ps1 runs against psmux -L psxe2e, its own server, so it can never disturb a session you are using.

Notes on psmux 3.3.7

Things found by testing rather than by reading the docs:

• Pane indices are off by one. Index lookup ignores pane-base-index, so with pane-base-index 1 the target :1.1 resolves to the second pane and the first is unreachable by index. psx uses stable pane ids (%1, %2) everywhere.
• An invalid pane target is not an error. psmux falls back to the active pane, so a bad target shows up as commands landing in the wrong place rather than as a failure. Invoke-PsxBuildPlan validates every id it resolves.
• Keys sent to a shell that is still starting are silently lost. A fixed sleep is not enough — it only covers the first pane, so the last pane created reliably came up empty. psx polls each pane for a rendered prompt instead.
• --help claims base-index defaults to 1; the running server reports 0.
• The plugin docs advertise psmux-yank, which does not exist in the plugin repo.
• The logging plugin's README lists the wrong keys — the real ones are prefix + Alt-o (toggle), Alt-p (screenshot), Alt-i (history).