Vendor ephemeral_tabs (2.1.8-6)

VSCode-style preview tabs: files opened from the treeview with a single
click open in a preview tab (titled "~ name ~") that is reused for the
next file opened and becomes a permanent tab as soon as it is edited,
double-clicked or dragged.

Verified against the running editor: single-click opens preview, opening
another file replaces it, editing promotes it to a permanent tab.

Pinned to lite-xl-plugins @ 31eef29 (see debian/extra/README.source).

debian/changelog

@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+lite-xl (2.1.8-6) stonking; urgency=medium
+
+  * Vendor ephemeral_tabs (lite-xl-plugins @ 31eef29): files opened from the
+    treeview with a single click open in a preview tab (titled "~ name ~")
+    that is reused for the next file and becomes a permanent tab as soon as
+    it is edited, double-clicked or dragged - matching VSCode's preview
+    editor behavior. Disable with config.plugins.ephemeral_tabs = false.
+
+ -- Valentin Haudiquet <valentin.haudiquet@canonical.com>  Thu, 17 Sep 2026 10:45:00 +0200
+
 lite-xl (2.1.8-5) stonking; urgency=medium
 
   * Vendor gitpanel 0.3.0 (own plugin, lite-xl-gitpanel @ 0731a63): a git

debian/extra/README.source

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 Vendored from upstream, pinned by commit:
 
 - lite-xl-plugins   https://github.com/lite-xl/lite-xl-plugins   @ 31eef29 (master, 2026-09)
-    plugins/: gitstatus, gitopen, fontconfig, open_ext, select_colorscheme,
+    plugins/: ephemeral_tabs (VSCode-style preview tabs), gitstatus, gitopen,
+    fontconfig, open_ext, select_colorscheme,
     smoothcaret, nerdicons, language_* (all 104; none overlap the ones bundled
     in the core data/ directory)
 - lite-xl-gitpanel  (own plugin, source tree lite-xl-gitpanel)  @ 0731a63 (main, 2026-09)

debian/extra/plugins/ephemeral_tabs.lua

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+-- mod-version:3
+local core = require "core"
+local command = require "core.command"
+local RootView = require "core.rootview"
+local DocView = require "core.docview"
+local Doc = require "core.doc"
+local TreeView = require "plugins.treeview"
+
+local RootView_open_doc = RootView.open_doc
+function RootView:open_doc(doc)
+  local docview = RootView_open_doc(self, doc)
+  -- The absence of the ephemeral flag means that before this moment in this
+  -- node this document was not exists
+  if docview.ephemeral == nil then
+    local node = self:get_active_node_default()
+    -- We assume that ephemeral tab is always the last one
+    -- But user can drag and drop tabs so full check is needed
+    for i, v in ipairs(node.views) do
+      if v.ephemeral then
+        node:close_view(self.root_node, v)
+      end
+    end
+    docview.ephemeral = true
+  end
+  return docview
+end
+
+local Doc_get_name = DocView.get_name
+function DocView:get_name()
+  return self.doc and self.ephemeral and ("~ " .. Doc_get_name(self) .. " ~")
+          or Doc_get_name(self)
+end
+
+-- Any change to the document makes the tab normal
+local Doc_on_text_change = Doc.on_text_change
+function Doc:on_text_change(type)
+  core.active_view.ephemeral = false
+  Doc_on_text_change(self, type)
+end
+
+-- Double clicking in the TreeView makes the tab normal
+local TreeView_on_mouse_pressed = TreeView.on_mouse_pressed
+function TreeView:on_mouse_pressed(button, x, y, clicks)
+  local result = TreeView_on_mouse_pressed(self, button, x, y, clicks)
+  if (clicks > 1) and (core.active_view.doc ~= nil) then
+    core.active_view.ephemeral = false
+  end
+  return result
+end
+
+-- Double clicking on a tab makes it normal
+local RootView_on_mouse_pressed = RootView.on_mouse_pressed
+function RootView:on_mouse_pressed(button, x, y, clicks)
+  local result = RootView_on_mouse_pressed(self, button, x, y, clicks)
+  if clicks > 1 then
+    local node = self.root_node:get_child_overlapping_point(x, y)
+    local idx = node:get_tab_overlapping_point(x, y)
+    if idx then
+      node.views[idx].ephemeral = false
+    end
+  end
+  return result
+end
+
+-- Dragging a tab makes it normal
+local RootView_on_mouse_released = RootView.on_mouse_released
+function RootView:on_mouse_released(button, x, y, ...)
+  if self.dragged_node then
+    if button == "left" then
+      if self.dragged_node.dragging then
+        local view = self.dragged_node.node.views[self.dragged_node.idx]
+        view.ephemeral = false
+      end
+    end
+  end
+  return RootView_on_mouse_released(self, button, x, y, ...)
+end

debian/install

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ debian/extra/plugins/lsp usr/share/lite-xl/plugins
 debian/extra/libraries/widget usr/share/lite-xl/libraries
 debian/extra/libraries/font_symbols_nerdfont_mono_regular.lua usr/share/lite-xl/libraries/
 debian/extra/fonts/SymbolsNerdFontMono-Regular.ttf usr/share/lite-xl/libraries/font_symbols_nerdfont_mono_regular/
+debian/extra/plugins/ephemeral_tabs.lua usr/share/lite-xl/plugins/
 debian/extra/plugins/fontconfig.lua usr/share/lite-xl/plugins/
 debian/extra/plugins/gitopen.lua usr/share/lite-xl/plugins/
 debian/extra/plugins/gitpanel.lua usr/share/lite-xl/plugins/