navigating between tmux panes works fine but doesn't work in vim split panes

[lazylance3]

I'm running Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS via WSL2 on Windows 11

NVIM v0.9.5
tmux 3.2a

Output for :verbose nmap <C-h>

n  <C-H>       * :<C-U>TmuxNavigateLeft<CR>
        Last set from ~/.local/share/nvim/lazy/vim-tmux-navigator/plugin/tmux_navigator.vim line 19

Output for :TmuxNavigatorProcessList

S bash
S nvim-0.9.5

tmux.conf

   1   │# change prefix from Ctrl-B to Ctrl-A
   2   │ unbind C-b
   3   │ set-option -g  prefix C-a
   4   │ bind-key C-a send-prefix
   5   │
   6   │ # Enable mouse mode
   7   │ set -g mouse on
   8   │
   9   │ # Start counting pane and window number at 1
  10   │ set -g base-index 1
  11   │ setw -g pane-base-index 1
  12   │
  13   │ # Use xclip to copy and paste with the system clipboard
  14   │ bind C-c run "tmux save-buffer - | xclip -i -sel clip"
  15   │ bind C-v run "tmux set-buffer $(xclip -o -sel clip); tmux paste-buffer"
  16   │
  17   │ # remap split pane keybindings
  18   │ bind '|' split-window -h
  19   │ bind '-' split-window -v
  20   │
  21   │ # use different cursors for insert vs normal mode
  22   │ set -ga terminal-overrides ',*:Ss=\E[%p1%d q:Se=\E[2 q'
  23   │
  24   │ # Smart pane switching with awareness of Vim splits.
  25   │ # See: https://github.com/christoomey/vim-tmux-navigator
  26   │ is_vim="ps -o state= -o comm= -t '#{pane_tty}' \
  27   │     | grep -iqE '^[^TXZ ]+ +(\\S+\\/)?g?(view|l?n?vim?x?|fzf)(diff)?$'"
  28   │ bind-key -n 'C-h' if-shell "$is_vim" 'send-keys C-h'  'select-pane -L'
  29   │ bind-key -n 'C-j' if-shell "$is_vim" 'send-keys C-j'  'select-pane -D'
  30   │ bind-key -n 'C-k' if-shell "$is_vim" 'send-keys C-k'  'select-pane -U'
  31   │ bind-key -n 'C-l' if-shell "$is_vim" 'send-keys C-l'  'select-pane -R'
  32   │ tmux_version='$(tmux -V | sed -En "s/^tmux ([0-9]+(.[0-9]+)?).*/\1/p")'
  33   │ if-shell -b '[ "$(echo "$tmux_version < 3.0" | bc)" = 1 ]' \
  34   │     "bind-key -n 'C-\\' if-shell \"$is_vim\" 'send-keys C-\\'  'select-pane -l'"
  35   │ if-shell -b '[ "$(echo "$tmux_version >= 3.0" | bc)" = 1 ]' \
  36   │     "bind-key -n 'C-\\' if-shell \"$is_vim\" 'send-keys C-\\\\'  'select-pane -l'"
  37   │
  38   │ bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'C-h' select-pane -L
  39   │ bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'C-j' select-pane -D
  40   │ bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'C-k' select-pane -U
  41   │ bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'C-l' select-pane -R
  42   │ bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'C-\' select-pane -l

I'm using lazy.nvim as my nvim plugin manager and this is the only thing I have in plugins/init.lua

   1  │ return {
   2  │   "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim",
   3  │   "christoomey/vim-tmux-navigator",
   4  │   cmd = {
   5  │     "TmuxNavigateLeft",
   6  │     "TmuxNavigateDown",
   7  │     "TmuxNavigateUp",
   8  │     "TmuxNavigateRight",
   9  │     "TmuxNavigatePrevious",
  10  │   },
  11  │   keys = {
  12  │     { "<c-h>", "<cmd><C-U>TmuxNavigateLeft<cr>" },
  13  │     { "<c-j>", "<cmd><C-U>TmuxNavigateDown<cr>" },
  14  │     { "<c-k>", "<cmd><C-U>TmuxNavigateUp<cr>" },
  15  │     { "<c-l>", "<cmd><C-U>TmuxNavigateRight<cr>" },
  16  │     { "<c-\\>", "<cmd><C-U>TmuxNavigatePrevious<cr>" },
  17  │   },
  18  │ }

[lazylance3]

I opened vim outside a tmux session and the keybindings <C-h>.. (etc) now work in vim split panes. I'm assuming this is an issue in my .tmux.conf?

[spenrose]

I am seeing same issue.

[rgeddes]

Linux Mint 21
nvim 0.10.0

I had a similar issue and found this change to .tmux.conf to be helpful:

--- is_vim="ps -o state= -o comm= -t '#{pane_tty}'
--- | grep -iqE '^[^TXZ ]+ +(\S+\/)?g?(view|l?n?vim?x?|fzf)(diff)?$'"

+++ is_vim="ps -o args -g $$ | grep -iqE 'n?vim?x?'"

I don't know all the ins and outs of ps, but it seems to work for me.

On the other hand, is taken over by tmux and interferes with digraphs in nvim.

[htlin222]

I am experiencing the same issue. Pane switching in Neovim works fine when I'm not in a tmux session. However, if I map <Ctrl+hjkl> to another command, such as echom 'Hello', nothing happens. It seems that tmux is intercepting the <Ctrl+hjkl> keybindings. @rgeddes's approach seems to be on the right track, but it still doesn't work for me.

[HzTTT]

I encountered the same issue. After installing the Fig plugin, the ttys sequence in my terminal got messed up, causing the #{pane_tty} parameter to be passed incorrectly.

Here is the output of the ps command:

15775 ttys004    0:00.37 zsh (figterm)
15786 ttys005    0:00.33 /bin/zsh --login
15821 ttys005    0:00.01 /bin/zsh --login
15861 ttys005    0:00.00 /bin/zsh --login
15862 ttys005    0:00.00 /bin/zsh --login
15864 ttys005    0:00.01 /Users/chh/.cache/gitstatus/gitstatusd-darwin-arm64 -G v1.5.4 -s -1
15866 ttys005    0:00.09 nvim

The value of #{pane_tty} is ttys004, but nvim is running on ttys005, causing vim's detection to fail.

Solution: Check if the output of #{pane_tty} matches the ttys where nvim is running. If not, it could be due to the influence of terminal plugins. My temporary solution is to uninstall Fig.

[htlin222]

@HzTTT Suggestion worked. Fig is now changed to Amazon Q for command line. Uninstalling the latter solved the problem. Thank you. 🙏

[HzTTT]

@htlin222 How do you use Amazon Q for command line？😭I seem to still be having issues with it.
Here is my ps output:

PID TTY           TIME CMD
79402 ttys000    0:00.15 zsh (qterm)
79411 ttys002    0:00.08 /bin/zsh --login
79475 ttys002    0:00.00 /bin/zsh --login
79476 ttys002    0:00.02 q _ inline-shell-completion --buffer ps

The first ttys000 zsh (qterm) is mistakenly recognized by #{pane_tty}, but nvim should be on ttys002.

[neurosnap]

Possibly unrelated, but I run neovim inside alpine and ran into the same issue described above. Not sure if this was a recent change or not but I needed to install procps for things to work properly. Definitely check that ps command.

[HzTTT]

@neurosnap I'm using mac.procps doesn't seem to support mac.

[dbagia]

I am using nvim inside an alpine docker container and I have the same issue. What I have observed is that this started happening recently so I guess it was caused by a recent change?

[dehidehidehi]

I had the same issue and found a solution.

Opening split paned in Vim and a terminal buffer -> no issues moving in and out.
Doing the same but from within Tmux -> I couldn't move into the terminal buffer.

This update changed the mappings from noremap to nnoremap.
c600cf1

Reverting the changes by adding the following config to my vimrc fixed my issue:

let g:tmux_navigator_no_mappings = 0
noremap <silent> <C-h> :<C-U>TmuxNavigateLeft<cr>
noremap <silent> <C-j> :<C-U>TmuxNavigateDown<cr>
noremap <silent> <C-k> :<C-U>TmuxNavigateUp<cr>
noremap <silent> <C-l> :<C-U>TmuxNavigateRight<cr>
noremap <silent> <C-\> :<C-U>TmuxNavigatePrevious<cr>

[JuiceDrinker]

Any update on this issue? Facing the same problem where vim pane navigation works great outside of tmux, tmux <-> vim navigation works great in tmux but cannot change vim panes inside tmux. Tried both above fixes but to no avail. Thanks for your help!

[Edgar-P-yan]

Had the same problem, uninstalling Amazon Q (prior Fig) fixes the issue. But if you want both Amazon Q and vim-tmux-navigator to work you have to modify the is_vim expression of the plugin. Check out the Fig's Known Issues page https://github.com/withfig/fig/blob/main/KNOWN-ISSUES.md#vim-tmux-navigator and this comment here #295 (comment)

[paolomissagia]

Possibly unrelated, but I run neovim inside alpine and ran into the same issue described above. Not sure if this was a recent change or not but I needed to install procps for things to work properly. Definitely check that ps command.

That was the issue here, thanks @dbagia.

PS: I am running a Fedora 40 rootfs inside of WSL2 - that does not happen on Fedora 40 Workstation.