description: tv config symlinked from the repo, a transparent cyberdream theme, and the custom cables behind gho, pj, and ctrl-e in fish, zsh, and bash.
---
[television](https://github.com/alexpasmantier/television) (`tv`) is a fuzzy picker built on "cables": TOML files that define a source command, a preview, and actions. Every shell picker in the repo runs on a tv cable, with the same keys in fish, zsh, and bash.
| Link | `dot_config/symlink_television.tmpl` → `~/.config/television` is a symlink to `{{ .chezmoi.sourceDir }}/television` |
| Target | `~/.config/television/` |
| Ignore | `.chezmoiignore.tmpl` lists `television`, so it is not copied to `~/television` |
| Install | Not listed in `.chezmoidata/packages.yaml`; install separately |
The whole directory is a symlink into the source tree, so edits apply without `chezmoi apply`. `cable/` holds tv's stock cables plus the repo's own and overridden ones.
tv 0.15 has no config key for inline mode (`--inline` and `--height` are CLI-only), so every call site passes `--inline`: `gho` (`tv ghq-repos --inline`), `pj` (`tv pj --inline …`), <kbd>ctrl-e</kbd> (`tv git-files --inline`), and bash <kbd>ctrl-t</kbd> (`tv --autocomplete-prompt … --inline`). Actions that re-exec tv pass it too: `files` (`tv files .. --inline`), `dirs` (`tv dirs .. --inline`), and `channels` (`tv {} --inline`). `tv --inline` opens on the line below the prompt and leaves the cursor there on exit; the shell key bindings move the prompt back ([fish](/shell/fish#key-bindings), [bash and zsh](/shell/bash-zsh)).
A channel that sets its own `[ui.preview_panel]` replaces the whole table with tv's defaults (rounded border, scrollbar). The stock cables that override it (`alias`, `cargo-commands`, `crontab`, `env`, `fonts`, `gh-issues`, `journal`, `man-pages`, `npm-scripts`, `opencode-sessions`, `ports`, `tea-issues`, `tea-prs`, `text`, `todo-comments`) therefore repeat `border_type = "none"`, `scrollbar = false`, and padding left 2, right 1.
`themes/cyberdream-transparent.toml` is a separate file because tv 0.15's builtin `cyberdream` shadows a user theme of the same name and paints an opaque `#16181a` background. This theme omits `background`, so kitty's translucent background shows through (tv 0.15 rejects `background = 'none'`).
Every custom cable except `agents` (a fixed list, see [agents](#agents)), `omp-sessions` (sorted by [`omp-session`](/shell/scripts#omp-session) itself), and `jobs` (fish's job order) pipes its source through [`mtime-sort`](/shell/scripts#mtime-sort), which orders lines newest-first by the mtime of the path in the line's last tab-separated field (`--repo` stats `<path>/.git/index` first). tv then ranks match quality and frecency on top of that order. All custom cables set `shell = "bash"`, because `$SHELL` is fish.
The keys are bound in fish (`fish_user_key_bindings.fish`), zsh (`keybinds.zsh`), and bash (`keybinds.bash`); bash has no <kbd>ctrl-a</kbd> binding, and <kbd>ctrl-z</kbd> is fish only. See [fish](/shell/fish#key-bindings) and [bash and zsh](/shell/bash-zsh).
Entries are `name<TAB>path`: tv shows and matches the name and prints the path. <kbd>ctrl-s</kbd> cycles between the two sources.
| Source | Entries | Sort |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Repos | `ghq list` under `ghq root`, plus the chezmoi source (`~/.local/share/chezmoi`) listed as `github.com/prdlk/dotfiles` | `mtime-sort --repo` |
| Vaults | Every directory under `~/Documents/Obsidian` (depth 3) that contains `.obsidian`, named relative to that directory | `mtime-sort` |
**Preview.** Two commands; <kbd>ctrl-f</kbd> cycles. The default is the commit graph for git directories: `git log --graph --all`, newest 300 commits, as short hash, relative date, subject and refs. The second is `onefetch --no-art`. Non-git directories show `eza --tree --level 2` (falling back to `ls -la`) in both.
[serie](https://github.com/lusingander/serie) cannot draw inside the preview pane: it is a fullscreen TUI that paints its graph with kitty images and has no print mode. <kbd>ctrl-g</kbd> opens it instead.
Source `pj --list`; tv shows the display column. The preview runs `pj --preview` in the global 50% panel, and <kbd>enter</kbd> runs `pj --run`. Running `pj` scans the project and opens this cable with its own records. See [pj](/shell/scripts#pj).
Overrides tv's stock `files` cable. Sources `Default` (`fd -t f`) and `Hidden` (`fd -t f -H`), both piped through `mtime-sort`. The `edit` action opens the selection in `nvim` on `/dev/tty`, so it also works from <kbd>ctrl-t</kbd>, where the shell captures tv's stdout.
Entries are `name<TAB>path` for every directory under `~/Documents/Obsidian` (depth 3) that contains `.obsidian`, named relative to that directory (nested vaults show as `Research/Sonr`) and sorted with `mtime-sort`. The preview is `eza --tree --level 2`.
| Key | Action |
| --- | --- |
| <kbd>enter</kbd> | `open`: `xdg-open obsidian://open?path=<path>`, detached with `setsid -f` because the generic `xdg-open` stays in the foreground |
`obsidian://open?path=` only resolves vaults listed in `~/.config/obsidian/obsidian.json`, and Obsidian reads that file once at startup and rewrites it from memory. So when the vault is not listed and Obsidian is closed, `open` adds `{path, ts}` under a random 16-hex id first. When Obsidian is running, it sends a notification and opens the vault switcher (`obsidian://choose-vault`) for **Open folder as vault**.
The source is a table of known agent CLIs in the cable, `binary|launch command|description`, kept in table order (`omp` first). A row is listed only when `command -v <binary>` resolves, so agents appear and disappear as they are installed. Entries are `<name description><TAB><launch command><TAB><binary>`; the description is part of the matched text, so `openai` finds `codex`.
The preview shows the launch command, the path on `PATH`, its `readlink -f` target, and, for the `~/.local/bin` wrappers that install the agent through mise on first run, the mise tool. It never runs the agent, since some wrappers take seconds to answer `--version`.
Source `omp-session --list`: the [omp](/ai/omp) sessions of the current git repo, newest first, as `<age> <branch> <title>[ · <subdir>]<TAB><session file>`. tv shows and matches the display column, so typing a branch name filters to its sessions. The branch is the one HEAD was on when the session was last written, from the reflog; see [omp-session](/shell/scripts#omp-session).
The preview runs `omp-session --preview`: title, last-write time and cwd, then the text of every user and assistant message. <kbd>enter</kbd> runs `resume` in execute mode, `omp-session --resume <file>`, which `exec`s `omp --resume <file>`.
The current fish shell's background jobs, stopped or running, newest first. tv runs as a child process and cannot read the shell's job table, so `_jobs_bind` ([fish](/shell/fish#key-bindings)) writes it to a temp file named by `$TV_JOBS` and the source just `cat`s that file; opened any other way the list is empty. Entries are `%<id> <state> <command><TAB><id><TAB><pgid>`; <kbd>enter</kbd> prints the id and the binding runs `fg %<id>`.
The preview finds the job's processes by process group (procps `ps -g` matches sessions, so it filters `ps -e -o pgid,pid`) and shows the first process's cwd and start time, then `ps --forest` with PID, STAT (`T` = stopped), elapsed time, CPU, RSS, and arguments. The preview script avoids `{`/`}` because tv would parse them as templates and leave `{split:…}` unexpanded.
| Key | Action |
| --- | --- |
| <kbd>enter</kbd> | Print the job id; `_jobs_bind` runs `fg` on it |
| <kbd>ctrl-d</kbd> | `kill` then `reload_source`: SIGTERM to the job's process group, then SIGCONT so a stopped job receives it. Once the group is gone (polled up to 1 s) the row is removed from `$TV_JOBS`, so the reloaded list drops it; a job that ignores SIGTERM stays listed. Fish reports the termination at the next prompt |
