Workflow integrations: external editors, search, preview tools and shell utilities #366

Goal

Give the #359 terminal workflow initiative a single decision-and-integration tracker for tools that genuinely improve copying, searching, previewing and reusing command results.

Audit first

NMSh already supports some of Atuin, fzf/Television, zoxide, bat, delta, and other curated tools/providers. Read current /tools, /providers, /watch, /open, Theme Bridge, clipboard and command queue integration before proposing anything. Separate existing support from planned features.

Defaults and safety

Every integration is optional, absent-dependency-safe, user-controlled and truthfully described. Never auto-install, mutate external configs, run AI/clipboard-sourced commands, or transmit clipboard contents. Reuse host/shell capability detection, ScreenPlan and the existing provider registry. Keep PTY/passthrough and password/single-key input semantics correct.

Acceptance

• Document baseline support and per-candidate use case, dependency, risk and decision (adopt / defer / reject) with links.
• Implement only high-return integrations in focused PRs, with honest fallback and confirmation.
• Real-shell/PTY and narrow/NO_COLOR/Safe tests for adopted slices.
• Document explicitly why native queue, native Compare and existing tools are retained.

Related: #359, #304 Theme Bridge, #305 Context Engine; no wholesale terminal/multiplexer replacement.

2026-10-16 addition — external terminal editors and presentation tools

Motivation: TTT Editor feels more GUI-like than many terminal editors: discoverable menu bar, tabs, mouse and keyboard operation, in-editor Git/diffs, LSP, familiar shortcuts. Rather than rebuild this in NMSh, offer reliable external editor invocation and discovery alongside existing native source/output navigation.

Candidates to audit: TTT, Fresh, Micro, Helix, Neovim/Vim, and existing Zed/VS Code host open. For read-only viewing also assess Glow for Markdown and the already curated bat, delta, and less. Distinguish installed/verified tools from recommendations, and do not duplicate current /tools, Theme Bridge, Actions → Open in pager, /open, or external editor functionality.

Possible /editor / /edit [file[:line[:col]]] picker:

• Resolve explicit $VISUAL/$EDITOR and supported user preferences; allow a per-invocation choice and truthful missing-tool states.
• Launch TUI editors via the actual managed PTY/alternate-screen passthrough, preserving terminal size, keyboard/mouse modes, cwd, file/line arguments and exit-to-composer/focus restoration. Launch GUI editors with existing reviewed host actions where appropriate.
• Shell-safe argument vectors, trustworthy cwd/path resolution, quote/escape file names with Unicode/spaces/metacharacters; never execute a filename as shell code. Never silently overwrite editor settings or create/modify source files just to preview.
• For supported tools, prefer optional theme/environment adaptations through Theme Bridge and semantic terminal integration #304 only after verifying their native theme formats. Never promise TTT/Fresh/Micro integration or synchronized theme modes before a capability audit.
• Use familiar TTT interaction patterns as design references for NMSh pickers/actions but not editor reimplementation.
• Keep opt-in/absent-dependency-safe behavior, no silent installation, no new editor-owned PTY implementation. Test real Ghostty/Terminal.app, macOS/Linux, resized and detached scenarios.

Boundaries/related: Native read-only /view has its own focused issue #397 (including a decision whether improving the existing pager is preferable); semantic-output transforms stay #386; contextual shortcut UI stays #335. No editor implementation, LSP, filesystem tree or integrated IDE is authorized by this tracker. Preserve this issue's earlier workflow-tool audits and decisions.

References: TTT, Micro, Fresh, Glow.