tmux Integration

tmux evaluates #(command) format strings to populate the status bar. Each #() is a subprocess — beachcomber makes these essentially free because the daemon is already running.

# ~/.tmux.conf

# Battery percentage and git branch in right status
set -g status-right '#(comb get battery.percent -f text)%% bat | #(comb get git.branch . -f text)'

# Left: session name + kubernetes context
set -g status-left '[#S] #(comb get kubecontext.context -f text)'

# Refresh interval — lower is fine because queries cost almost nothing
set -g status-interval 5

Why this is different from the problem described above: each #() invocation still forks a shell, but comb reads a pre-cached value in ~34µs instead of spawning git (5ms+) or running a battery subprocess (6ms). The total time savings across a 50-pane tmux session is substantial.

The simple #() approach shown above is already a major improvement over shelling out to git or battery commands directly. Each comb get also signals demand to the daemon, keeping the provider warm automatically.