Branch Sessions

Easily create/load sessions based on git branches, or current directory if not in a git repository.

Installation

I recommend using a modern version of vim (version 8.0 or higher) and cloning the repository in a package directory.

mkdir -p $HOME/.vim/pack/evanthegrayt/start

git clone https://gethub.com/evanthegrayt/vim-branch-sessions.git \
    $HOME/.vim/pack/evanthegrayt/start/vim-branch-sessions

Otherwise, use your favorite vim plugin manager.

Generate and view the help from within vim.

:helptags ALL
:help branch-sessions

Usage

To create a session, call :Mksession, which will create a session file that that will be named after the current directory. The default location for session files is ~/.cache/vim_sessions. To change this location, add the following to your .vimrc.

let g:branch_sessions_directory = $HOME . '/.vim/cache/sessions'

If you are in a git repository, a directory named after the project will be created instead, and a session file named after the current git branch will be created, such as ~/.cache/vim_sessions/my_project/main.vim. This allows for a different session file based on the git branch. Now, you can work on multiple branches, each with their own session file.

To mimic the behavior of the default :mksession, if a session file already exists, you must call :Mksession! to overwrite it. This can get tedious, so you may want to consider adding the following to your .vimrc.

let g:branch_sessions_mksession_bang = 1

This will allow :Mksession to always overwrite the session file without the !.

To restore a session, call :SessionLoad. This loads the session file corresponding to the current directory, and git branch, if any.

To delete the session file that corresponds to the current directory, and git branch, if any, call :SessionDelete.

If you have Tim Pope's vim-obsession, You can call :SessionStart, which will start automatically updating your session file. Also, calling :SessionDelete will call Obsession! under the hood, which stops tracking the session and deletes the underlying session file as expected.

Suggestions

Consider making the following alias in your shell's dotfile (.zshrc, .bashrc) to start vim with your session already loaded.

alias vims='vim -c SessionLoad'

Reporting Bugs and Requesting Features

If you have an idea or find a bug, please create an issue. Just make sure the topic doesn't already exist. Better yet, you can always submit a Pull Request.

Self-Promotion

I do these projects for fun, and I enjoy knowing that they're helpful to people. Consider starring the repository if you like it! If you love it, follow me on github!