Ubuntu Manpage: kitten-@-send-key - Send arbitrary key presses to the specified windows

Name

       kitten-@-send-key - Send arbitrary key presses to the specified windows

Usage

       kitten @ send-key  [KEYS TO SEND ...]

Description

       Send  arbitrary  key presses to specified windows. All specified keys are sent first as press events then
       as release events in reverse order. Keys are sent to the programs running in the windows. They  are  sent
       only  if  the  current  keyboard  mode for the program supports the particular key. For example: send-key
       ctrl+a ctrl+b. Note that errors are not reported, for technical reasons,  so  send-key  always  succeeds,
       even if no key was sent to any window.

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, 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 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.

--match-tab, -t
The tab to match. Match specifications are of the form: field:query. Where field can be one of:
id, index, title, window_id, window_title, pid, cwd, cmdline env, var, state, 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 tabs.

For numeric fields: id, index, window_id, pid and recent, the expression is interpreted as a
number, not a regular expression. Negative values for id/window_id match from the highest id
number down, in particular, -1 is the most recently created tab/window.

When using title or id, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is
looked for, and the tab for that window is used.

You can also use window_id and window_title to match the tab that contains the window with the
specified id or title.

The index number is used to match the nth tab in the currently active OS window. The recent number
matches recently active tabs in the currently active OS window, with zero being the currently
active tab, one the previously active tab and so on.

The field session matches tabs 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. Tabs containing any window with
the specified environment variables are matched. Similarly, var matches tabs containing any window
with the specified user variable.

The field state matches on the state of the tab. Supported states are: active, focused,
needs_attention, parent_active and parent_focused. Active tabs are the tabs that are active in
their parent OS window. There is only one focused tab and it is the tab to which keyboard events
are delivered. If no tab is focused, the last focused tab is matched.

Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of tabs.

--all [=no]
Match all windows.

--exclude-active [=no]
Do not send text to the active window, even if it is one of the matched 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

0.43.1 Oct 18, 2025 kitten-@-send-key(1)