Pacmux

A tmux plugin that transforms your status line into a Pᗣᗧ·•·MᗣN arcade.

Features

• 6 format strings for fully customizable Pac-Man-themed status lines
• Session indicators — each session rendered as Blinky, Pinky, Inky, or Clyde
• Window state mapping — active (Pac-Man), quiet (dot), activity (pellet), bell (blue ghost)
• Power pellet mode — ghosts turn blue when a window is zoomed
• Mouth animation — Pac-Man alternates between open and closed mouth on each refresh
• Character customization — swap any glyph (Nerd Font icons, emoji, etc.)
• Full color control — override every color via tmux options

Requirements

• tmux >= 1.9
• bash >= 4.0

Installation

With TPM (recommended)

Add to your tmux.conf:

set -g @plugin 'eduarbo/pacmux'

Press prefix + I to install.

Manual

git clone https://github.com/eduarbo/pacmux ~/.tmux/plugins/pacmux

Add to the bottom of tmux.conf:

run-shell ~/.tmux/plugins/pacmux/pacmux.tmux

Reload with tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf.

Format Strings

Format String	Description	Recommended Option
#{pacmux_overview}	All sessions + windows of the active session in Pac-Man style	status-right
#{pacmux_sessions}	Each session as a colored ghost, active session shows its name	status-left
#{pacmux_window_flag}	Window state as a Pac-Man symbol (dot, pellet, or blue ghost)	window-status-format
#{pacmux_window_flag_zoomed}	Like window_flag but ghosts turn blue when window is zoomed	window-status-format
#{pacmux_pacman}	The Pac-Man character ᗧ in yellow (animated if enabled)	window-status-current-format
#{pacmux_ghost}	A ghost with cycling color based on window index	window-status-format

Symbol Mapping

Symbol	Meaning
ᗧ	Pac-Man — active window
·	Pac-Dot — quiet window
•	Power Pellet — window with activity
ᗣ	Blue Ghost — window with bell

Example Configuration

# Status left: zoom icon + session ghosts
set -g status-left-style fg=brightwhite,bold
set -g status-left '#{?window_zoomed_flag, ,}#{pacmux_sessions} '

# Status right: full overview
set -g status-right '#{pacmux_overview}'

# Window tabs
set -g window-status-separator ' '
set -g window-status-style fg=brightblack,bold,bg=black
set -g window-status-last-style default
set -g window-status-activity-style default
set -g window-status-bell-style default
set -g window-status-format '#{pacmux_window_flag} #I#[none,fg=brightblack]/#W'

# Active window tab
set -g window-status-current-style fg=white,bold,bg=black
set -g window-status-current-format '#{pacmux_pacman} #I#[none,fg=white]/#W'

Options Reference

Style Options

Control the colors of each element using tmux style format (see message-command-style in the tmux man page).

Option	Default	Description
@pacmux-pacman-style	fg=yellow	Pac-Man color
@pacmux-blinky-style	fg=red	Blinky (1st ghost) color
@pacmux-pinky-style	fg=brightmagenta	Pinky (2nd ghost) color
@pacmux-inky-style	fg=brightcyan	Inky (3rd ghost) color
@pacmux-clyde-style	fg=yellow	Clyde (4th ghost) color
@pacmux-blue-ghost-style	fg=blue	Vulnerable ghost color
@pacmux-dots-style	fg=white	Dots and pellets color

Character Options

Override the default Unicode characters. Useful for Nerd Font or emoji substitution.

Option	Default	Description
@pacmux-pacman-char	ᗧ	Pac-Man (open mouth)
@pacmux-pacman-close-char	ᗤ	Pac-Man (closed mouth, for animation)
@pacmux-ghost-char	ᗣ	Ghost
@pacmux-dot-char	·	Pac-Dot (quiet window)
@pacmux-pellet-char	•	Power Pellet (activity window)

Behavior Options

Option	Default	Description
@pacmux-animate	off	Set to on to animate Pac-Man's mouth on each status refresh
@pacmux-separator	(space)	Character between elements in overview and sessions

Example: Custom Colors

set -g @pacmux-blinky-style "fg=#fc0d1b"
set -g @pacmux-pinky-style "fg=#febafe"
set -g @pacmux-inky-style "fg=#2dfffe"
set -g @pacmux-clyde-style "fg=#feb75b"
set -g @pacmux-blue-ghost-style "fg=#2533fb"
set -g @pacmux-pacman-style "fg=#ffff00"
set -g @pacmux-dots-style "fg=#ffb897"

Example: Nerd Font Icons

set -g @pacmux-pacman-char ""
set -g @pacmux-ghost-char "󰊠"

Example: Enable Animation

set -g @pacmux-animate on

What's New in v2

• Bug fix: Ghost color rotation now correctly starts with Blinky for the first session
• Bug fix: Session names now display properly in #{pacmux_sessions}
• New: #{pacmux_ghost} format string for per-window colored ghosts
• New: #{pacmux_window_flag_zoomed} — power pellet mode (blue ghosts when zoomed)
• New: Pac-Man mouth animation (@pacmux-animate)
• New: Character customization (@pacmux-*-char options)
• New: Configurable separator (@pacmux-separator)
• Improved: Full ShellCheck compliance and CI via GitHub Actions
• Improved: Proper variable quoting and error handling throughout

Recording a Demo

To record an animated GIF for your own config, you can use vhs:

vhs record pacmux-demo.tape

Or use asciinema and convert with agg:

asciinema rec pacmux-demo.cast
agg pacmux-demo.cast pacmux-demo.gif

Contributing

1. Fork the repo
2. Create your branch (git checkout -b my-feature)
3. Ensure shellcheck pacmux.tmux scripts/*.sh passes
4. Commit and open a PR

License

MIT - Eduardo Ruiz Macias