Zellij Tab/Pane Skill

Open a tab or pane in zellij -- empty, with a shell command, with a Claude session, or with a GitHub issue.

Decision Tree

Step 1: Container
  "pane"/"panel"/"панель" -> PANE
  "tab"/"вкладка"/default  -> TAB

Step 2: Mode
  nothing to run              -> A (empty)
  shell command               -> B (command)
  Claude prompt/plan/task     -> C (claude session)
  GitHub issue (#N / URL)     -> D (issue dev via start-issue)

Mode A: Empty Tab/Pane

User just wants a new tab or pane, nothing to run.

Tab name: user-specified or shell-HH:MM (e.g. shell-14:35).

TAB

timeout 5 zellij action new-tab --name "$TAB_NAME" || {
  _rc=$?
  echo "Command failed. Diagnosing..."
  if [ -z "$ZELLIJ" ]; then echo "Not in zellij session"
  elif [ $_rc -eq 124 ]; then echo "Timed out -- zellij may be hanging"
  else echo "Unknown error (exit code: $_rc)"
  fi
  exit $_rc
}

PANE

timeout 5 zellij action new-pane || {
  _rc=$?
  echo "Command failed. Diagnosing..."
  if [ -z "$ZELLIJ" ]; then echo "Not in zellij session"
  elif [ $_rc -eq 124 ]; then echo "Timed out -- zellij may be hanging"
  else echo "Unknown error (exit code: $_rc)"
  fi
  exit $_rc
}

Mode B: Command in Tab/Pane

User wants to run a shell command (npm test, make build, etc.) in a new tab or pane.

Tab name: derived from command (e.g. npm-test, make-build). Max 20 chars.

TAB

TAB_NAME="<from-command>"

timeout 5 zellij action new-tab --name "$TAB_NAME" -- $CMD || {
  _rc=$?
  echo "Command failed. Diagnosing..."
  if [ -z "$ZELLIJ" ]; then echo "Not in zellij session"
  elif [ $_rc -eq 124 ]; then echo "Timed out -- zellij may be hanging"
  else echo "Unknown error (exit code: $_rc)"
  fi
  exit $_rc
}

PANE

timeout 5 zellij run -- $CMD || {
  _rc=$?
  echo "Command failed. Diagnosing..."
  if [ -z "$ZELLIJ" ]; then echo "Not in zellij session"
  elif [ $_rc -eq 124 ]; then echo "Timed out -- zellij may be hanging"
  else echo "Unknown error (exit code: $_rc)"
  fi
  exit $_rc
}

Mode C: Claude Session in Tab/Pane

User wants an interactive Claude Code session with instructions/plan/task.

Tab name: auto-generated from context (1-2 words, max 20 chars):

• Has issue reference -> #123
• Has plan file -> plan-audit
• General task -> refactor, fix-tests
• Fallback -> claude-HH:MM

Step 1: Write bash launch script

SCRIPT=$(mktemp /tmp/claude-tab-XXXXXX.sh)
cat > "$SCRIPT" << 'SCRIPT_EOF'
#!/bin/bash
cd '<PROJECT_DIR>'
PROMPT='<escaped prompt -- single quotes escaped as '"'"'>'
clear
echo "Launching claude with prompt: $PROMPT"
echo ""
exec claude --dangerously-skip-permissions "$PROMPT"
SCRIPT_EOF
chmod +x "$SCRIPT"

Why a script: Prompts can be multi-line with quotes and special characters; a heredoc in a temp script avoids complex escaping in command arguments.

Step 2: Launch

TAB

TAB_NAME="<auto-generated>"

timeout 5 zellij action new-tab --name "$TAB_NAME" -- bash "$SCRIPT" || {
  _rc=$?
  echo "Command failed. Diagnosing..."
  if [ -z "$ZELLIJ" ]; then echo "Not in zellij session"
  elif [ $_rc -eq 124 ]; then echo "Timed out -- zellij may be hanging"
  elif ! command -v claude &>/dev/null; then echo "claude not found in PATH"
  else echo "Unknown error (exit code: $_rc)"
  fi
  exit $_rc
}

PANE

timeout 5 zellij run -- bash "$SCRIPT" || {
  _rc=$?
  echo "Command failed. Diagnosing..."
  if [ -z "$ZELLIJ" ]; then echo "Not in zellij session"
  elif [ $_rc -eq 124 ]; then echo "Timed out -- zellij may be hanging"
  elif ! command -v claude &>/dev/null; then echo "claude not found in PATH"
  else echo "Unknown error (exit code: $_rc)"
  fi
  exit $_rc
}

Mode D: Issue Development in Tab/Pane

User wants to start development on a GitHub issue. Recognized when request contains an issue reference (number, #number, or GitHub URL).

Tab name: always #NUMBER.

Issue Number Parsing

parse_issue_number() {
  local arg="$1"
  if [[ "$arg" =~ github\.com/.*/issues/([0-9]+) ]]; then
    echo "${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
  elif [[ "$arg" =~ ^#?([0-9]+)$ ]]; then
    echo "${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
  else
    echo ""
  fi
}

Issue Argument Format

Format	Example	Result
Number	123	Issue #123
With hash	#123	Issue #123
URL	https://github.com/owner/repo/issues/123	Issue #123

TAB

ISSUE_NUMBER=$(parse_issue_number "$ARG")

timeout 5 zellij action new-tab --name "#${ISSUE_NUMBER}" -- start-issue $ISSUE_NUMBER || {
  _rc=$?
  echo "Command failed. Diagnosing..."
  if [ -z "$ZELLIJ" ]; then echo "Not in zellij session"
  elif [ $_rc -eq 124 ]; then echo "Timed out -- zellij may be hanging"
  elif ! command -v start-issue &>/dev/null; then echo "start-issue not found in PATH"
  else echo "Unknown error (exit code: $_rc)"
  fi
  exit $_rc
}

PANE

timeout 5 zellij run -- start-issue $ISSUE_NUMBER || {
  _rc=$?
  echo "Command failed. Diagnosing..."
  if [ -z "$ZELLIJ" ]; then echo "Not in zellij session"
  elif [ $_rc -eq 124 ]; then echo "Timed out -- zellij may be hanging"
  elif ! command -v start-issue &>/dev/null; then echo "start-issue not found in PATH"
  else echo "Unknown error (exit code: $_rc)"
  fi
  exit $_rc
}

Examples

Example 1: Empty tab

User: "open a new zellij tab"

timeout 5 zellij action new-tab --name "shell-14:35"

Example 2: Command in pane

User: "run npm test in a pane"

timeout 5 zellij run -- npm test

Example 3: Command in tab

User: "run make build in new tab"

timeout 5 zellij action new-tab --name "make-build" -- make build

Example 4: Claude session in tab

User: "execute the plan from docs/plans/audit.md in new tab"

SCRIPT=$(mktemp /tmp/claude-tab-XXXXXX.sh)
cat > "$SCRIPT" << 'SCRIPT_EOF'
#!/bin/bash
cd '/home/danil/code/project'
PROMPT='Execute the plan from docs/plans/audit.md. Use superpowers:executing-plans.'
clear
echo "Launching claude with prompt: $PROMPT"
echo ""
exec claude --dangerously-skip-permissions "$PROMPT"
SCRIPT_EOF
chmod +x "$SCRIPT"

timeout 5 zellij action new-tab --name "plan-audit" -- bash "$SCRIPT"

Example 5: Delegate to pane

User: "delegate this refactoring to a pane"

SCRIPT=$(mktemp /tmp/claude-tab-XXXXXX.sh)
cat > "$SCRIPT" << 'SCRIPT_EOF'
#!/bin/bash
cd '/home/danil/code/project'
PROMPT='Refactor the auth module: extract JWT validation into separate service'
clear
echo "Launching claude with prompt: $PROMPT"
echo ""
exec claude --dangerously-skip-permissions "$PROMPT"
SCRIPT_EOF
chmod +x "$SCRIPT"

timeout 5 zellij run -- bash "$SCRIPT"

Example 6: Issue in tab

User: "start issue #45 in a new tab"

timeout 5 zellij action new-tab --name "#45" -- start-issue 45

Example 7: Issue URL in pane

User: "start https://github.com/org/repo/issues/123 in a pane"

timeout 5 zellij run -- start-issue https://github.com/org/repo/issues/123

Dependencies

• zellij -- terminal multiplexer (must be running)
• claude -- Claude Code CLI (for Mode C only)
• start-issue -- issue development command (for Mode D only)

Errors

Error	Cause	Solution
Timed out	zellij hanging (exit code 124)	Restart zellij
Not in zellij session	Running outside zellij	Start zellij first
claude not found	Claude CLI not in PATH	Install Claude Code
start-issue not found	start-issue not in PATH	Install or add to PATH
Invalid issue format	Bad argument	Use number, #number, or URL
Script not created	/tmp not writable	Check disk space

Important

• Skill works only inside zellij session
• TAB modes use new-tab -- CMD (atomic, no race conditions)
• PANE modes use zellij run -- CMD
• For Mode C, session is interactive (not -p print mode) -- remains a working chat