Feature request: change individual tab colors, with hotkey toggles

[csdvrx]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

A typical problem when working with multiple remote sessions is figuring out which is which: using the hostname in the title helps, but color cues can be processed faster.

Describe the solution you'd like

Windows Terminal support colors per tab: one color can be used for ssh to one host, another color for local terminals etc.

I would suggest the exact same functionality in wezterm, topped with hotkeys toggle so that for example Alt-R could make the background of the current tab red, Alt-B could make it blue etc.

Default colors could also be assigned per domain in the configuration, to be used at startup: either each domain could have its colors defined (witth a different domain per remote host), or SpawnCommandInNewTab could accept arguments to assign a given color to the new tab.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Having hostnames in the tab title creates more cognitive load, and is not robust: it can be changed by applications using escape codes.

Having separate wezterm windows for each remote host is unpractical

Additional context

This image illustrates how this concept works in Windows Terminal:

• the powershell tab is green
• the ubuntu tab is blue
• the cmd prompt tab is yellow

If more ubuntu tabs were created, each tab would have a blue background.

The current active tab can still be determined by using a different foreground color, a thin line of a different color around it, or a different font (ex: bold)

[gusutabopb]

Coming from iTerm2, I was also missing this functionality.

I'm new to Wezterm and Lua so not sure if this is the optimal solution, but I managed to get it working with the configuration below.

Usage:

• Alt + 1~6 = Set tab color to blue, red, green, orange, yellow, purple
• Alt + 0 = Reset tab color

Result:

WEZTERM_CONFIG_FILE=color.lua wezterm start

local wezterm = require 'wezterm'
local config = wezterm.config_builder()
local act = wezterm.action

tab_color = {}

-- https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/config/lua/window-events/format-tab-title.html
wezterm.on(
  'format-tab-title',
  function(tab, tabs, panes, config, hover, max_width)
    local title = tab.tab_title
    -- if the tab title is explicitly set, take that
    if not (title and #title > 0) then
      title = tab.active_pane.title
    end

    local tab_id = tab.tab_id
    if tab_color[tab_id] ~= nil then
       return {
          { Background = { Color = tab_color[tab_id] } },
          { Text = title },
       }
    end
    return title
  end
)

config.keys = {
    { key = '1', mods = 'ALT', action = act.EmitEvent('toggle-tab-blue') },
    { key = '2', mods = 'ALT', action = act.EmitEvent('toggle-tab-red') },
    { key = '3', mods = 'ALT', action = act.EmitEvent('toggle-tab-green') },
    { key = '4', mods = 'ALT', action = act.EmitEvent('toggle-tab-orange') },
    { key = '5', mods = 'ALT', action = act.EmitEvent('toggle-tab-yellow') },
    { key = '6', mods = 'ALT', action = act.EmitEvent('toggle-tab-purple') },
    { key = '0', mods = 'ALT', action = act.EmitEvent('toggle-tab-nil') },
 }

function set_tab_color(color)
   function func(window, pane)
      local tab_id = pane:tab():tab_id()
      tab_color[tab_id] = color
   end
   return func
end

wezterm.on('toggle-tab-blue', set_tab_color("blue")) 
wezterm.on('toggle-tab-red', set_tab_color("red")) 
wezterm.on('toggle-tab-green', set_tab_color("green")) 
wezterm.on('toggle-tab-orange', set_tab_color("orange")) 
wezterm.on('toggle-tab-yellow', set_tab_color("yellow")) 
wezterm.on('toggle-tab-purple', set_tab_color("purple")) 
wezterm.on('toggle-tab-nil', set_tab_color(nil)) 

return config