Use bash script to setup tmux windows

Question

I'm trying to write a script that will setup tmux windows for rails development, so far I have this:

#!/bin/bash
tmux new-window -n vim
tmux new-window -n guard
tmux new-window -n console/server

tmux select-window -t 3
tmux send-keys -t 3 'rails server' C-z

What I want, on that specific window, is to run rails server and then send it to the background. The thing is, all I get is ^Zand the usual prompt after a couple of seconds.

How can I accomplish this?

Answer 1

You can combine those tmux commands so that they’re all received by the same session. Separate by \; (escaped to get all the way to tmux):

#!/bin/bash

tmux new -stest \; \
  new-window -n vim \; \
  new-window -n guard \; \
  new-window -n console/server
  select-window -t 3 \; \
  send-keys -t 3 'rails s &' Enter

I don't see the C-z working, but you can achieve the same with & backgrounding.