Filepaths do not get interpreted correctly in config.kdl

[simjnd]

Or to put it another way: environment variables and the tilde are not expanded and will be interpreted literally

Steps to reproduce

1. Place a valid .kdl theme file in ~/.config/zellij/themes (e.g. catppuccin-macchiato.kdl)
2. Edit ~/.config/zellij/config.kdl
   • Set theme "catppuccin-macchiato"
   • Set theme_dir "~/.config/zellij/themes"
3. Save and launch a new Zellij session, the theme will not be applied
4. Edit ~/.config/zellij/config.kdl and remove theme_dir "~/.config/zellij/themes"
5. Save and launch a new Zellij session, the theme will be applied

Similarly theme_dir ".config/zellij/themes" and theme_dir "$HOME/.config/zellij/themes" do not work.

But theme_dir "/Users/<name>/.config/zellij/themes" (on macOS) and theme_dir "themes" work

[uncomfyhalomacro]

I also had this problem. I just moved the theme configuration to config.kdl as a workaround

[hellerbarde]

For me, on Linux, it seems that only the fully qualified path works. At least none of the above-mentioned ones work ("themes" also doesn't work). Omitting it from the config.kdl does work, however. Thanks for that hint, @simjnd :)

[wiraki]

Bumping this as it has remained open and no word whether this is intended?

It was pretty confusing for me to debug, if variables cannot be used in paths defined in config.kdl then this should be documented somehow. But I still feel that it would be nice to handle variables in paths as it e.g. makes it much easier to share configs across machines.

Thanks!

[philsherry]

Just spent a while butting up against this error on macOS, trying to use "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/zellij" and "$ZELLIJ_CONFIG_DIR/themes". Ended up here.

It either tells me the file doesn’t exist (it does) or just refuses to autoload zellij in the session.

People use different machines and platforms, so portability is pretty important for configuration. Documenting that configuration is even more important—especially when it's using a language that barely anyone else uses.