multishell.el

Facilitate use of multiple local and remote Emacs shell buffers.

Multishell is available via Emacs package manager, in ELPA. Install "multishell" from the M-x package-list-packages listing.

I use the emacs shell a lot, including separate shells for separate project, and more shells for access to remote systems (which I do a lot, as a systems administrator). On top of emacs' powerful shell and tramp facilities, use a multishell (customization-activated) key binding to:

• Get to the input point from wherever you are in a shell buffer, ... or to any of your shell buffers, from anywhere inside emacs.

• Use universal arguments to launch and choose among alternate shell buffers, ... and change which is the current default.

• Easily restart disconnected shells, or shells from prior sessions ... the latter from Emacs builtin savehist minibuf history persistence

• Append a path to a new shell name to launch a shell in that directory, ... and use a path with Emacs tramp syntax to launch a remote shell - for example:

  • #root/sudo:root@localhost:/etc for a buffer named "#root" with a root shell starting in /etc.

  • /ssh:example.net:/ for a shell buffer in / on example.net. The buffer will be named "example.net".

  • #ex/ssh:example.net|sudo:[email protected]:/etc for a root shell starting in /etc on example.net named "#ex".

  • interior/ssh:gateway.corp.com|ssh:interior.corp.com: to go via gateway.corp.com to your homedir on interior.corp.com. The buffer will be named "interior". You could append a sudo hop, and so on.

• Thanks to tramp, file visits from the shell will seamlessly be on the host where the shell is running, in the auspices of the target account.

See the multishell-pop-to-shell docstring (in multishell.el) for details, and getting-to-a-shell.md for the nitty-gritty decision tree that determines where the keybinding according to the various conditions.

Customize-group multishell' to select and activate a keybinding and set various behaviors. Customize-group savehist' to preserve buffer names/paths across emacs restarts.

Please use the multishell repository issue tracker to report problems, suggestions, etc.

See the multishell.el file commentary for a change log and Todo list.