= Controlling kitty from scripts or the shell

kitty can be controlled from scripts or the shell prompt. You can open new
windows, send arbitrary text input to any window, name windows and tabs, etc.
Let's walk through a few examples of controlling kitty.

Start by running kitty as:

    kitty -o allow_remote_control=yes --window-layout tall

In order for control to work, `allow_remote_control` must be enabled in
kitty.conf. Here we turn it on explicitly at the command line.

Now, in the new kitty window, enter the command:

    kitty @ new-window --title Output --keep-focus cat

This will open a new window, running the ``cat`` program that will appear next
to the current window.

Let's send some text to this new window:

    kitty @ send-text --match cmdline:cat Hello, World

This will make `Hello, World` show up in the window running the `cat` program.
The `--match` option is very powerful, it allows selecting windows by their
titles, the command line of the program running in the window, the working
directory of the program running in the window, etc.  See `kitty @ send-text
--help` for details.

More usefully, you can pipe the output of a command running in one window to
another window, for example:

    ls | kitty @ send-text --match title:Output --stdin

This will show the output of ls in the output window instead of the current
window. You can use this technique to, for example, show the output of running
make in your editor in a different window. The possibilities are endless.

You can even have things you type show up in a different window. Run:

    kitty @ send-text --match title:Output --stdin

And type some text, it will show up in the output window, instead of the current
window. Type `Ctrl+D` when you are ready to stop.

Now, let's open a new tab.

   kitty @ new-window --new-tab --tab-title "My Tab" --keep-focus bash

This will open a new tab running the bash shell with the title "My Tab".
We can change the title of the tab with:

   kitty @ set-tab-title --match title:My  New Title

Let's change the title of the current tab:

   kitty @ set-tab-title Master Tab

As you can see, it is very easy to control kitty using the
`kitty @` messaging system. This tutorial touches only the
surface of what is possible. See `kitty @ --help` for more details.