crex ^{_{(cmux-resurrect)}}

Design, manage, and automate terminal workspaces — for cmux and Ghostty.

Save layouts by name. Restore them anytime. Switch between them in seconds. Resume AI coding sessions mid-conversation. Launch workspaces from Alfred. 🐦‍🔥

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🗂️ Workspace Groups

On cmux, a restore brings the sidebar back exactly as it was: group names, emojis, order, and each group's state (collapsed, pinned, colour, icon). The layout format is in Workspace Groups: layout format.

  

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Features

💾 Save & Restore Every tab, pane, CWD, and command — captured and restored by name, with the exact split arrangement and cmux sidebar groups. 📦 16 Templates Instant workspace setup — splits, IDE layouts, AI pair-programming. 📝 Markdown Blueprints Obsidian-compatible, version-controlled, shareable workspace definitions.

🤖 AI Auto-Detection 24 AI tools detected, and all 24 resume their conversation. How far each one has been tested against the real tool varies. 🔍 Alfred Integration NEW Search and launch any workspace from Alfred with one keystroke. ⚡ Auto-Accept NEW Skip permission prompts on restore for Claude, Codex, OpenCode, and 18 more.

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Quick Start

brew install drolosoft/tap/crex       # install
crex setup                            # first-run wizard (ships a demo layout)
crex restore demo                     # try the bundled example — safe anywhere
crex save my-day                      # snapshot your layout
crex restore my-day                   # bring it all back
crex pop                              # instant workspace picker (Ctrl+G)

Also available via go install github.com/drolosoft/cmux-resurrect/cmd/crex@latest. See Building.

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Instant Workspace Picker

Type crex pop or hit Ctrl+G — a floating picker with fuzzy search across all layouts, templates, and individual workspaces.

Tab into any layout to browse its workspaces:

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Alfred Integration

Search and restore workspaces directly from Alfred. Type crex + your query — every saved workspace is searchable by name.

Key	Action
Enter	Restore workspace
Cmd+Enter	Restore full layout
Alt+Enter	Show layout details
Ctrl+Enter	Open TOML file

Works with both cmux and Ghostty. See Alfred setup guide for installation.

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One Command, Full IDE

crex template use ide

16 built-in templates — from simple splits to monitoring dashboards. See the Template Gallery.

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AI Session Resume

crex save detects running AI sessions and captures their session IDs. On restore, each resumes exactly where you left off — per pane and per tab, so a workspace holding one tab per git worktree comes back with every tab on its own conversation.

crex❯ save my-day

📦 my-day
   7 🧩 drolosoft 📌
   ├── claude --resume 90d6d97b... ★
   └── →right 🌐 https://drolosoft.com/

   🚀 Homepage 📌
   ├── npm run dev
   ├── →right nvim CLAUDE.md ★
   └── →right 🌐 http://localhost:3000/

24 tools supported: Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex, Amp, Gemini CLI, Copilot, Grok, Cursor, Aider, and more. Any foreground process (npm, nvim, htop) is also detected and restored.

And it works both ways — crex skill install teaches Claude Code and Codex to drive crex themselves: snapshot before risky changes, restore layouts non-interactively, resume sessions. See crex skill.

Configure auto-accept to skip permission prompts on restore — agents start in autonomous mode automatically.

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Interactive Shell

crex tui — a REPL with browse mode, numbered items, history, and tab completion.

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Workspace Groups: layout format

On cmux, crex save also captures the sidebar groups: each group's name, its members in sidebar order, which workspace is the group header (the anchor), and whether the group is collapsed or pinned, with its colour and icon. crex restore rebuilds the groups and puts each workspace back in its own.

In the layout file (~/.config/crex/layouts/<name>.toml), each group is a [[group]] table and each member workspace names its group:

[[group]]
name = 'backend'
collapsed = false
pinned = true
color = '#FF9500'   # "#RRGGBB", omit for the cmux default
icon = 'flame'      # SF Symbol name, omit for no icon

[[workspace]]
title = 'api'
cwd = '~/src/api'
index = 0
group = 'backend'
group_anchor = true  # this workspace is the group header

[[workspace.pane]]
type = 'terminal'

[[workspace]]
title = 'worker'
cwd = '~/src/worker'
index = 1
group = 'backend'

[[workspace.pane]]
type = 'terminal'

A workspace without group stays outside any group. Layouts saved before groups existed restore as before, and older crex versions ignore these fields. Ghostty has no groups: the workspaces come back loose, with a warning.

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Supported Backends

Backend	Status	Detection
cmux	Full support	Auto-detected via CMUX_SOCKET_PATH, verified alive (falls back to a running Ghostty if the socket is dead)
Ghostty	Full support	Auto-detected when running

macOS only. Both backends auto-detected — same commands, same templates, same Blueprints. Per-pane working directories work on both; exact split geometry is cmux-only for now (backend differences).

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vs cmux native restore

	cmux native	crex
🔄	Restores last session on relaunch	Named layout library — switch between saved layouts
📐	No templates	16 built-in templates
📝	JSON snapshots	Markdown Blueprints — Obsidian-compatible
🔍	AI tools via hooks	Any foreground process — npm, vim, htop, all detected
⚡	Automatic on relaunch	On-demand — filter, dry-run, restore specific workspaces
⏱️	Saves on quit	Watch daemon — background auto-save

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Documentation

Commands	Full command reference
Templates	16 built-in templates with diagrams
Blueprints	Markdown workspace definitions
Alfred	Alfred workflow setup
AI Tools	Supported AI tools, their flags and how far each is tested
Configuration	config.toml, auto-accept, env vars
Auto-Save	Daemon, shell hooks, launchd
Shell Completion	bash, zsh, fish setup
Workflows	Save/Restore vs Import comparison
Building	Build from source

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Contributing

Contributions welcome — bug fixes, templates, feature ideas. Open an issue or PR.

If crex saves your sessions, a ⭐ helps others discover it.

Support

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MIT License · Forged by Drolosoft · Tools we wish existed