nvim and pane focus

You can move between nvim windows and flockr panes with the same keys, the way vim-tmux-navigator works with tmux. ctrl+h/j/k/l first moves between nvim windows. At the edge of nvim, the same key moves to the next flockr pane.

How it works

1. You bind the pane focus keys without the prefix, for example ctrl+h.
2. ui.pane_focus_passthrough lists programs that get those keys first. When the foreground program in the focused pane is on the list, flockr sends it the key instead of moving focus.
3. nvim moves between its own windows. When it is already at the edge, it calls flockr pane focus to hand off to flockr.

Names in pane_focus_passthrough match the process name of the pane's foreground job leader. The list is empty by default, so no program gets the keys until you add it.

flockr config

[keys]
focus_pane_left = ["prefix+h", "ctrl+h"]
focus_pane_down = ["prefix+j", "ctrl+j"]
focus_pane_up = ["prefix+k", "ctrl+k"]
focus_pane_right = ["prefix+l", "ctrl+l"]

[ui]
pane_focus_passthrough = ["nvim"]

Keeping prefix+h/j/k/l in the list means the prefixed keys still work everywhere. Reload with prefix+shift+r after editing.

nvim config

Add this to your nvim config. It moves between windows and hands off to flockr at the edge:

if vim.env.FLOCKR_PANE_ID and not vim.env.TMUX then
  for key, dir in pairs({ h = "left", j = "down", k = "up", l = "right" }) do
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<c-" .. key .. ">", function()
      local win = vim.api.nvim_get_current_win()
      vim.cmd("wincmd " .. key)
      if vim.api.nvim_get_current_win() == win then
        vim.fn.jobstart({
          vim.env.FLOCKR_BIN_PATH or "flockr", "pane", "focus",
          "--pane", vim.env.FLOCKR_PANE_ID, "--direction", dir,
        }, { detach = true })
      end
    end)
  end
end

What it does:

• It runs only inside a flockr pane (FLOCKR_PANE_ID is set) and not inside tmux.
• For each direction it tries wincmd. If the window didn't change, nvim is at its edge, so it runs flockr pane focus --pane $FLOCKR_PANE_ID --direction <dir>.
• It uses FLOCKR_BIN_PATH, which flockr sets in every pane, and falls back to flockr on PATH.

The mappings are for normal mode ("n"). Add other modes to vim.keymap.set if you want them there too.

With vim-tmux-navigator

If you use vim-tmux-navigator, set this so its own mappings don't replace these:

vim.g.tmux_navigator_no_mappings = 1

Other programs

Any program can join in the same way: add its process name to pane_focus_passthrough, and have it call flockr pane focus --direction <dir> at its edge. --direction takes left, right, up, or down.