development-environment.md

Development Environment

This guide demonstrates how to create a comprehensive development environment with ergoterm using project-specific configuration files.

Project-Specific Configuration with .nvim.lua

Neovim automatically loads .nvim.lua files from your project root, making them perfect for project-specific terminal setups. This keeps your development environments isolated and immediately available when you open a project.

Security note: Since .nvim.lua executes arbitrary Lua code, only load files from projects you trust. Neovim will prompt you to confirm before loading these files for the first time.

Example: Phoenix Framework (Elixir)

Here's a complete development environment setup for a Phoenix application with separate terminals for different environments and databases:

.nvim.lua (in your project root):

local ergoterm = require("ergoterm")

-- Development server (Phoenix)
local dev_server = ergoterm:new({
  name = "dev",
  cmd = "mix phx.server",
  layout = "right",
  size = {
    right = "40%"
  },
  sticky = true
})

-- Staging console (connected to Fly.io)
local staging_console = ergoterm:new({
  name = "staging",
  cmd = "fly ssh console --app myapp-staging --command '/app/bin/myapp remote'",
  layout = "right",
  size = {
    right = "40%"
  },
  sticky = true
})

-- Production console (connected to Fly.io)
local production_console = ergoterm:new({
  name = "production",
  cmd = "fly ssh console --app myapp-production --command '/app/bin/myapp remote'",
  layout = "right",
  size = {
    right = "40%"
  },
  sticky = true
})

-- Local database (psql)
local local_db = ergoterm:new({
  name = "db-local",
  cmd = "psql -U postgres -d myapp_dev",
  layout = "below",
  size = {
    below = "30%"
  },
  sticky = true
})

-- Production database (psql via Fly.io proxy)
local prod_db = ergoterm:new({
  name = "db-prod",
  cmd = "fly proxy 5432 --app myapp-db && psql postgres://localhost:5432/myapp",
  layout = "below",
  size = {
    below = "30%"
  },
  sticky = true
})

Configuration explained:

• Server terminal (dev_server): Runs mix phx.server on the right side for local development
• Staging/Production consoles: Remote IEx sessions connected to deployed environments via Fly.io SSH
• Database terminals: Local psql access for development, proxied connection for production database
• Sticky terminals: sticky = true keeps terminals available for restart even after the process exits

Usage

Once your .nvim.lua is loaded, all terminals are registered and ready to use. Simply run:

:TermSelect

This opens the terminal picker showing all five terminals. Select any terminal to start it and open it in the configured layout.