[Ranger-users] Ranger as an IDE filemanager

[John Z.]

Hi all,
    some time ago I posted (in a wrong thread, by accident) about how
    I'd like each instance of ranger to open files in different instance
    of Vim (using --remote flag), and pondered if making a custom edit
    command would be the right way.

    I've since managed to solve the problem much more elegantly using
    rifle, so I figured I'd share the tip for every developer out there
    who likes to compose their own IDE.

    1. run Vim with different server names ('vim --servername
    'VIM-PROJECTX')
    2. in ~/.config/ranger/rifle.conf, find a catch-all line:
        
           # Define the "editor" for text files as first action
           mime ^text,  label editor = $EDITOR -- "$@"

       and add your projects workspaces using 'path' condition, eg.:

           path Q/workspace/lookalikes, mime ^text, label editor = vim
           --servername 'VIM-AO' --remote "$@"


    I'm sure this can be improved to avoid modifying rifle.conf for every
    project - for example, keeping an empty file in the folder and then
    assembling vim servername using that file's name.

    For an extra touch, switch Ranger to MC mode (Shift+~).

    Cheers!