Named profiles

Named profiles are reusable launch recipes stored as TOML files in:

~/.config/rozi/profiles/<name>.toml

Each version-1 profile records workspaces, pane titles, layout metadata, and optional launch identity (cwd, command, keep_open, floating geometry). Profiles do not save live PTY state. Launching from one starts fresh shells or commands.

A profile and a session are independent objects. The same-name session is only the profile's canonical default binding: opening profile dev uses session dev, while rozi new review --profile dev launches the same recipe as an independent session named review. A session created from a profile may record that recipe as created_from_profile, but it does not remain linked to the file and later profile edits do not alter the running session. Existing version-1 profile files remain compatible.

Profile fields

Each pane entry supports:

Field	Notes
name	Pane title shown in the titlebar.
cwd	Local working directory when the pane launches. ~ expands to $HOME; remote SSH paths are not captured as local paths.
command	Typed into the pane's interactive shell at its first prompt, so aliases and rc-file PATH resolve as if you ran it yourself.
keep_open	Kept for round-tripping; a restored command pane always returns to its interactive shell when the command exits.
floating	Start as a floating pane instead of tiled.
fullscreen	Start fullscreen.
rect	Floating geometry { x, y, w, h }.

Workspace entries may also include synchronized = true to restore pane synchronization for that workspace. Omit tree in a workspace to let rozi auto-build a dwindle tree from pane order. Saving a command keeps an explicit launch command, or captures the executable of a still-running command.

Example: lazygit + nvim

version = 1
active_workspace = 0

[[workspaces]]
index = 0
layout = "dwindle"
focused_pane = 0

[[workspaces.panes]]
id = 0
name = "lazygit"
command = "lazygit"
keep_open = true

[[workspaces.panes]]
id = 1
name = "nvim"
command = "nvim"

A commented copy lives at examples/profiles/dev.toml.

Launch a profile

Use the profile's canonical same-name session:

rozi dev
rozi --session dev

These spellings attach to running session dev; if it is not running, they launch it from profiles/dev.toml. If neither the session nor profile exists, rozi reports an error and tells you to create the session explicitly. An unknown target never silently creates an empty session.

To create an independent session, optionally from any recipe, use:

rozi new review
rozi new review --profile dev

attach and new are reserved CLI command words. Use rozi --session attach or rozi --session new when a session or canonical profile binding actually has one of those names. A bare rozi opens the session picker unless [session] startup says otherwise. In ephemeral mode, [profile] default remains the first launch seed, followed by session autosave.

To make one profile the thing a bare launch opens, without typing its name:

[profile]
default = "dev"

[session]
startup = "profile"

A bare rozi then does exactly what rozi dev does — attach to session dev, or create it from profiles/dev.toml. See startup policies.

startup is also Settings → Sessions → Startup mode; the default profile is set here in Profiles with Ctrl+f, which is the one place that owns it. The two keep each other honest: Settings offers the Profile mode only while a default profile is set, and clearing the default resets the mode. So the pair can only fall out of step in a config you wrote by hand or synced in from another machine.

Set a default profile in config:

[profile]
default = "dev"

Or use the in-app Profiles command (command palette): highlight a profile and press Ctrl+f to toggle it as the startup default.

The default seeds every session opened without a recipe, not just the launch that started rozi: the initial session, each new temporary session, and each named session created without a profile. Paths that already name a recipe are unaffected — attaching to an existing session, a canonical rozi <name> target, new <name> --profile <recipe>, and the picker's Open as all keep using theirs. Sessions seeded this way record the default as their creating profile, so the capture prompt offers its name back.

If a configured default profile is missing or fails to parse, rozi shows a startup warning and falls through to the next bare-launch source (or a fresh layout); sessions created later fall back to a single shell rather than failing to open. An explicit canonical target with a missing or invalid profile reports an error instead.

In-app commands

Command	Action
Capture session as profile...	Prompts for a name and writes profiles/<name>.toml. Overwriting requires a second Enter. From a temporary session, Enter also names that session after the profile — see below.
Profiles	Lists saved profiles with in-picker actions (see below).
Replace session with profile...	Destructively replaces every pane in the current session from a profile without changing the session name or disconnecting its clients.

The capture prompt prefers the creating profile as the initial name, then the session name.

Capturing a temporary session

Capturing from a temporary session names that session after the profile on the same Enter, so the running session and its recipe end up sharing one identity:

• while the session lives, rozi <name> reattaches to it,
• once it is gone, rozi <name> rebuilds a new one from the profile.

A session that is already named keeps its name — capturing dev-full out of session dev leaves dev called dev. To capture a temporary session without keeping it, capture it and kill the resulting named session afterwards.

Naming is skipped, and the capture reported as session name already in use, when another session is already running under that name. The profile is still written.

Profile picker actions

Open Profiles from the command palette, then:

Key	Action
Enter	Attach to the running canonical same-name session, or launch that canonical session from the profile. Leaving a live ephemeral session may require a second press.
Ctrl+o	Open as: launch the highlighted recipe under a new session name, or leave the name empty for a fresh ephemeral session. A name must not already be running.
Ctrl+n	Capture the current session as a new profile.
Ctrl+r	Replace the current session with the highlighted profile. Press twice to close all panes and running processes and launch the recipe; the session name and attached clients are kept.
Ctrl+f	Toggle the highlighted profile as [profile] default. Pressing it on the current default clears the setting. Clearing it while [session] startup is "profile" also puts startup back to "picker".
Ctrl+d	Delete the highlighted profile file. Press Ctrl+d again on the same row to confirm.

The status beside a profile refers only to its canonical same-name session: attached or running. It does not count independent sessions created from that profile under other names. Profiles marked default match your current [profile] default setting. Deleting the default profile clears that config entry when the file is removed. A toast reports when clearing the default also resets [session] startup from "profile" to "picker". The footer hints follow the selected row, showing attach or launch as appropriate; the default hint remains a toggle.

Profile names use letters, numbers, _, or - because their canonical binding can identify a same-named session.

Command lifetime

A restored pane starts your interactive shell in its cwd; a pane with a command then has that command typed into the shell's first prompt. Because the command runs inside a real interactive shell, aliases, shell functions, and rc-file PATH entries resolve, the prompt's title/OSC integration runs first, and when the command exits the pane simply returns to the prompt — the command's output stays in the scrollback above it. (keep_open matters for panes spawned with a command through the command-runner shell, such as [[rules]] targets or control new-pane; for those, keep_open = true replaces the dead PTY with your interactive shell in place after the command exits.)

See also Project profiles & pane identity for pane titles, saving limitations, and session autosave details.