A WezTerm utility to define and load tab/pane layouts from a configuration table.

wezterm_tabs_loader.lua

-- =============================================================================
-- WezTerm Tab Loader Utility
-- =============================================================================
-- DESCRIPTION:
-- A helper script to define and load complex tab/pane layouts in WezTerm.
--
-- USAGE:
-- 1. Copy this code into your wezterm.lua (or a separate file and require it).
-- 2. Define your 'tabs' table (see example below).
-- 3. Bind a key to trigger the 'apply_tabs' function.
--
-- EXAMPLE BINDING:
-- {
--   key = "t", mods = "LEADER",
--   action = wezterm.action_callback(function(win, pane)
--     pane:send_text "exit\n" -- Close current tab prompt
--     apply_tabs(tabs, wezterm.mux.get_window(win:window_id()))
--   end),
-- }
-- =============================================================================

local wezterm = require "wezterm"

-- [Example Definition]
local tabs = {
  {
    tab_name = "Example",
    shell_command_before = "cd ~/tmp",
    panes = {
      { shell_command = "cd /var/log && ls -al | grep \\.log" },
      { shell_command = "echo second pane", split = "Right", size = 0.45 },
      { shell_command = "echo third pane", split = "Bottom", size = 0.3 },
    },
  },
}

-- [Implementation]
local function apply_tab(tab_def, mux_win)
  local system_shell = os.getenv "SHELL" or "bash"
  local first_pane = nil
  local last_pane = nil
  local cmd_before = tab_def.shell_command_before or ""

  for i, p_conf in ipairs(tab_def.panes or {}) do
    local p_cmd = p_conf.shell_command or ":"
    local full_cmd = cmd_before ~= "" and (cmd_before .. " && " .. p_cmd) or p_cmd
    full_cmd = full_cmd .. "; exec " .. system_shell

    if i == 1 then
      local tab = mux_win:spawn_tab { args = { system_shell, "-ic", full_cmd } }
      if tab_def.tab_name then
        tab:set_title(tab_def.tab_name)
      end
      first_pane = tab:active_pane()
      last_pane = first_pane
    else
      last_pane = last_pane:split {
        direction = p_conf.split or "Bottom",
        size = p_conf.size,
        args = { system_shell, "-ic", full_cmd },
      }
    end
  end
  return first_pane
end

function apply_tabs(tab_defs, mux_win)
  if not tab_defs or not mux_win then
    return
  end
  for _, tab_def in ipairs(tab_defs) do
    apply_tab(tab_def, mux_win)
  end
end