Name

       kitten-@-kitten - Run a kitten

Usage

       kitten @ kitten  kitten_name

Description

       Run  a  kitten  over  the specified windows (active window by default). The kitten_name can be either the
       name of a builtin kitten or the path to a Python file containing a custom kitten. If a relative  path  is
       used  it  is  searched  for in the kitty config directory. If the kitten is a no_ui kitten and its handle
       response method returns a string or boolean, this is printed out to stdout.

Options

       --match, -m
              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, session 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.

              The  field  session matches windows that were created in the specified session. Use the expression
              ^$ to match windows that were not created in a session and . to match the currently active session
              and ~ to match either the currently active sesison or the last active session when no  session  is
              active.

              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, focused_os_window, 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 focused_os_window matches all windows in the currently focused OS
              window. 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.

       --help, -h [=no]
              Show help for this command

Global options

       --to   An address for the kitty instance to control. Corresponds  to  the  address  given  to  the  kitty
              instance  via the --listen-on option or the listen_on setting in kitty.conf. If not specified, the
              environment variable KITTY_LISTEN_ON is checked. If that is also not found, messages are  sent  to
              the  controlling terminal for this process, i.e. they will only work if this process is run within
              a kitty window.

       --password
              A password to use when contacting kitty. This will cause kitty to ask the user for  permission  to
              perform the specified action, unless the password has been accepted before or is pre-configured in
              kitty.conf. To use a blank password specify --use-password as always.

       --password-file [=rc-pass]
              A  file  from  which  to  read  the  password.  Trailing whitespace is ignored. Relative paths are
              resolved from the kitty configuration directory. Use - to read from STDIN. Use fd:num to read from
              the file descriptor num. Used if no --password is supplied. Defaults to checking for  the  rc-pass
              file in the kitty configuration directory.

       --password-env [=KITTY_RC_PASSWORD]
              The  name  of  an  environment  variable  to read the password from. Used if no --password-file is
              supplied. Defaults to checking the environment variable KITTY_RC_PASSWORD.

       --use-password [=if-available]
              If no password is available, kitty will usually just send the remote  control  command  without  a
              password. This option can be used to force it to always or never use the supplied password. If set
              to always and no password is provided, the blank password is used.

              Choices: if-available, always, never

0.44.0                                            Nov 26, 2025                                kitten-@-kitten(1)