Space Herder

A sidebar that sorts itself

A suffix in the space name picks its group. Groups come in this order, and inside each one spaces sort by name with the suffix removed, ignoring case. Worktree children follow their parent and sit right under it.

The space before the suffix is required, so C++ stays in the default group. Sort on a key, or turn on autosort and let the sidebar sort itself after every new or renamed space:

The focused space stays focused, sorting a sorted sidebar changes nothing, and space numbers and next/previous-space navigation follow the new order.

A colour per customer

The key is the part of the name before the first -: ACME - api, ACME - web and ACME + all share ACME, so they share a colour. The colour is chosen in this order:

1. Rules first. A regular expression matched against the name; the first match picks the colour.
2. Then a colour picked in a dialog for that key.
3. Otherwise the key's colour, by assign:
   • "hash" (default): a stable SHA-256 hash of the key. The same customer gets the same colour on every machine, with nothing stored.
   • "sticky": a new key starts from its hash colour but takes the least-used colour when that one is taken, and keeps it. No two customers share a colour until there are more customers than colours.
4. Worktree children take their parent's colour, so a repo's checkouts match it.

9 preset palettes

Accent colours of popular themes, the most distinct first, up to the 15 a sidebar row can hold. Or bring your own list of hex colours.

Dialogs that show the result

Herdr's own prompts ask only for a name. Space Herder's dialogs open in a popup and show the sidebar as it will look: the name with its group suffix, the space in its place and in its colour.

Set it up in five steps

1. Install the plugin:

   herdr plugin install MrBogomips/herdr-tools/space-herder

2. Optionally create config.json in herdr plugin config-dir mrbogomips.space-herder. This one sorts after every new or renamed space and keeps customers' colours apart:

   {
     "auto_sort": "both",
     "assign": "sticky"
   }

3. Generate the sidebar rows; the path shows in a toast:

   herdr plugin action invoke mrbogomips.space-herder.snippet

4. In ~/.config/herdr/config.toml, set rows of your [ui.sidebar.spaces] table to the value from that file, and bind the sort and the dialogs:

   [keys]
   new_workspace = "prefix+ctrl+n"    # Herdr's own prompts, still reachable
   rename_workspace = "prefix+ctrl+w"
   
   [[keys.command]]
   key = "prefix+shift+s"
   type = "plugin_action"
   command = "mrbogomips.space-herder.sort"
   
   [[keys.command]]
   key = "prefix+shift+n"
   type = "plugin_action"
   command = "mrbogomips.space-herder.new-space"
   
   [[keys.command]]
   key = "prefix+shift+w"
   type = "plugin_action"
   command = "mrbogomips.space-herder.rename-space"

5. Check, then reload:

   herdr config check && herdr server reload-config

Configuration

Every key is optional. The file is read on every run, so auto_sort changes apply at once.

The README documents every key, the colour slots and the sticky assignments file.

Good to know

• Herdr styles a token's foreground only, so there is no background colour: the marker before the name stands in for a swatch.
• At most 15 colours, the tokens one sidebar row holds next to the agent-state dot.
• The colours are 24-bit, like the dialogs' swatches: they need a terminal with truecolor support (iTerm2, Ghostty, WezTerm and kitty have it).
• The colours show in the expanded sidebar; the collapsed rail and the mobile layout keep Herdr's own rendering.
• ACME-api does not split on -: keep the space before the dash, or change separator.
• A space dragged by hand goes back to its group at the next sort.