extrakto

extrakto for tmux

{ repos & mirrors: github.com/laktak/extrakto, codeberg.org/laktak/extrakto }

Output completions - you can complete commands that require you to retype text that is already on the screen. This works everywhere, even in remote ssh sessions.

You can fuzzy find your text instead of selecting it by hand:

• press tmux prefix + tab to start extrakto
• fuzzy find the text/path/url/line
• use custom filters (ctrl + f)
• press
  • tab to insert it to the current pane,
  • enter to copy it to the clipboard,
• see other features in HELP (press ctrl-l in extrakto)

Use it for paths, URLs, options from a man page, git hashes, docker container names, ...

• Requirements
• Installation
  • Using Tmux Plugin Manager
  • Manual Method
• Wiki
• Options
  • Common Options
  • Keys
  • Advanced Options
  • Using skim instead of fzf
  • Examples
  • Custom Tmux Keybindings
• Custom Filters
• CLI tool
  • Installation
  • Usage
• Contributions

Requirements

• tmux - popups require 3.2, otherwise extrakto will open in a split window.
• fzf or skim (see below)
• Python 3.6+
• a posix shell like Bash
• optionally Tmux Plugin Manager

Supported clipboards:

• Linux Xorg (xclip) and Wayland (wl-copy)
• macOS (pbcopy)
• WSL
• bring your own, see the Wiki for examples (like termux)

Installation

Using Tmux Plugin Manager

Add the plugin to the list of TPM plugins in .tmux.conf:

set -g @plugin 'laktak/extrakto'

Hit prefix + I to fetch the plugin and source it. You can use prefix + U to update all plugins.

You should now have all extrakto key bindings defined.

Manual Method

Clone the repo:

$ git clone https://github.com/laktak/extrakto ~/clone/path

Add this line to the bottom of .tmux.conf:

run-shell ~/clone/path/extrakto.tmux

Reload the tmux environment:

# type this in terminal
$ tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

You should now have all extrakto key bindings defined.

Wiki

Add or look for special requirements and tips in our wiki.

Options

You can set any of these options by adding them to your ~/.tmux.conf file:

set -g <option> "<value>"

Where <option> and <value> correspond to one of the options specified below

Common Options

Option	Default	Description
@extrakto_grab_area	window full	Whether you want extrakto to grab data from the recent area, the full pane, all current window's (window recent) areas or all current window's (window full) panes. You can also set this option to any number you want (or number preceded by "window ", e.g. "window 500"), this allows you to grab a smaller amount of data from the pane(s) than the pane's limit. For instance, you may have a really big limit for tmux history but using the same limit may end up on having slow performance on Extrakto.
@extrakto_filter_order	word all line	Filter modes order. The first listed mode will be the default when opening extrakto. You may use word, line, path, url, quote, s-quote or any of your own filters separated by a space. all applies all filters at the same time.

Keys

Option	Default	Description
@extrakto_key	tab	The key binding to start. If you have any special requirements (like a custom key table) set this to 'none'. See "Custom Tmux Keybindings".
@extrakto_copy_key	enter	Key to copy selection to clipboard.
@extrakto_insert_key	tab	Key to insert selection.
@extrakto_filter_key	ctrl-f	Key to toggle filter mode (see @extrakto_filter_order).
@extrakto_grab_key	ctrl-g	Key to toggle grab mode.
@extrakto_edit_key	ctrl-e	Key to run the editor.
@extrakto_open_key	ctrl-o	Key to run the open command.
@extrakto_clip_mode_key	ctrl-t	Key to cycle clipboard mode (see @extrakto_clip_mode_order).

All but @extrakto_key are controlled by fzf and must follow its conventions.

Advanced Options

Option	Default	Description
@extrakto_clip_mode	bg	Set this to tmux_osc52 to enable remote clipboard support, fg/bg to have your clipboard tool run in a foreground/background shell, or buffer to only save to tmux buffer without copying to the clipboard.
@extrakto_clip_mode_order	bg buffer	Order of clipboard modes to cycle through with @extrakto_clip_toggle_key. Omit modes you don't want in the cycle. Specify any mode of @extrakto_clip_mode.
@extrakto_clip_tool	auto	Set this to whatever clipboard tool you would like extrakto to use to copy data into your clipboard. auto will try to choose the correct clipboard for your platform.
@extrakto_editor		This defaults to $EDITOR if not set.
@extrakto_fzf_layout	default	Control the fzf layout which is "bottom-up" by default. If you prefer "top-down" layout instead set this to reverse. In fact, this value is passed to the fzf --layout parameter. Possible values are: default, reverse and reverse-list
@extrakto_fzf_tool	fzf	Set this to path of fzf if it can't be found in your PATH. If you prefer skim you need to set this option to sk or its full path.
@extrakto_fzf_header	i c o e f g h	Define the fzf header to show keys for insert, copy, open, edit, filter, grab and help. Not shown by default: m=clip mode. You can add, reorder or omit information you don't need.
@extrakto_fzf_unset_default_opts	true	Unsets custom FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS as it can potentially cause problems in extrakto operations
@extrakto_open_tool	auto	Set this to path of your own tool or auto to use your platforms open implementation.
@extrakto_popup_position	C	Set position of the tmux popup window. Possible values are in the display-popup entry in man tmux. Set this to x,y to set the x and y positions to x and y respectively.
@extrakto_popup_size	90%	Set width and height of the tmux popup window. Set this to w,h to set the width to w and height to h.
@extrakto_split_direction	a	Whether the tmux split will be auto, popup, vertical or horizontal
@extrakto_split_size	7	The size of the tmux split (for vertical/horizontal)
@extrakto_alt	all	Show alternative filters. Possible values are: all to only show them for the all filter, any for any filter and none for never.
@extrakto_prefix_name	all	Prefix the results with the filter name. Possible values are: all to only show the prefix for the all filter, any for any filter and none for never.

Legacy Options

Option	Replaced by
@extrakto_clip_tool_run	@extrakto_clip_mode, since 2026-03

Using skim instead of fzf

If you prefer skim you need to set the @extrakto_fzf_tool option to sk or its full path. Skim should be compatible with fzf but let us know if you run into any issues.

Examples

set -g @extrakto_split_size "15"
set -g @extrakto_clip_tool "xsel --input --clipboard" # works better for nvim
set -g @extrakto_copy_key "tab"      # use tab to copy to clipboard
set -g @extrakto_insert_key "enter"  # use enter to insert selection
set -g @extrakto_fzf_unset_default_opts "false"  # keep our custom FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS
set -g @extrakto_fzf_header "i c f g" # for small screens shorten the fzf header

Custom Tmux Keybindings

Instead of using @extrakto_key you can define your own key binding to start extrakto in your .tmux.conf:

tmux bind-key YOUR-KEY run-shell "~/.tmux/plugins/extrakto/scripts/open.sh \"#{pane_id}\""

If you wish you can also define different keys to start with a specific filter:

tmux bind-key YOUR-KEY run-shell "~/.tmux/plugins/extrakto/scripts/open.sh \"#{pane_id}\" FILTER-NAME"

Custom Filters

You can define your own filters by creating a file in ~/.config/extrakto/extrakto.conf:

[quote]
regex: ("[^"\n\r]+")

To override an existing filter copy it to your file first.

If you want to remove one of the alternate filters you can set it to None:

[quote]
alt2: None

See extrakto.conf for syntax and predefined filters.

---

CLI tool

You can also use extrakto as a standalone tool to extract tokens from text.

Installation

For now simply clone the repository and link to the tool somewhere in your path:

git clone https://github.com/laktak/extrakto
cd extrakto
# assuming you `export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin` in your `.bashrc`:
ln -s $PWD/extrakto.py ~/.local/bin/extrakto

Requires Python 3.6+.

Usage

usage: extrakto.py [-h] [--name] [-w] [-l] [--all] [-a ADD] [-p] [-u] [--alt] [-r] [-m MIN_LENGTH] [--warn-empty]

Extracts tokens from plaintext.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --name                prefix filter name in the output
  -w, --words           extract "word" tokens
  -l, --lines           extract lines
  --all                 extract using all filters defined in extrakto.conf
  -a ADD, --add ADD     add custom filter
  -p, --paths           short for -a=path
  -u, --urls            short for -a=url
  --alt                 return alternate variants for each match (e.g. https://example.com and example.com)
  -r, --reverse         reverse output
  -m MIN_LENGTH, --min-length MIN_LENGTH
                        minimum token length
  --warn-empty          warn if result is empty

Contributions

Thanks go to all contributors for their ideas and PRs!

If you make a PR, please keep it small so that it's easier to test and review. Try to create one PR per feature/bug.

Please run black if you change any python code and run shfmt -p if you change any shell files.