open same file in already running instance of Helix

posts/2023/08/02/open-same-file-in-already-running-helix.md

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+---
+title: "Open same file in already running instance of Helix"
+date: 2023-08-02
+description:
+categories:
+- Development Environment
+tags:
+- helix
+- wezterm
+---
+Recently, I came across [this issue](https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/issues/2177#issuecomment-1278123316):
+
+> I find that I have occasionally (frequently!) made the mistake of two instances of helix in different terminals editing the same file. 
+> This causes me a problem, because I will then have changes in one of the instances overwrite changes that are made in another. 
+> The worst case is when I accidentally switch back to an instance that has an older version of the file open.
+
+after some consideration, I believe this issue can be solved by using [WezTerm](https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/index.html)
+
+The proposed solution involves the following steps:
+
+- Use the command [wezterm cli list](https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/cli/cli/list.html) to list the panes.
+- Check if there is any running instance of `hx` that shares the same current working directory as the file you want to open
+- If there is a matching instance, send the command `:open $file_path\r` to that pane to open the file
+- If no matching instance is found, call `hx` as usual
+
+Here's the script I've come up with:
+
+```sh
+#!/usr/bin/env sh
+
+tty=$(tty)
+hostname=$(hostname | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
+pwd=$(pwd)
+file_path=$1
+
+pane_id=$(wezterm cli list --format json | jq --arg tty "$tty" --arg opening_cwd "file://$hostname$pwd" --arg file_path "file://$hostname$file_path" -r '.[] | .cwd as $running_cwd | select((.tty_name != $tty) and (.title | startswith("hx")) and (($opening_cwd | contains($running_cwd)) or ($file_path | contains($running_cwd)))) | .pane_id')
+if [ -z "$pane_id" ]; then
+    ~/.cargo/bin/hx $1
+else
+    if [ -n "$file_path" ]; then
+        echo ":open ${file_path}\r" | wezterm cli send-text --pane-id $pane_id --no-paste
+    else
+        echo ":open ${pwd}\r" | wezterm cli send-text --pane-id $pane_id --no-paste
+    fi
+    wezterm cli activate-pane --pane-id $pane_id
+fi
+```