Daemon Mode

Formerly "Session Mode" / "Session Persistence". Daemon mode was previously called session mode, and this page was titled Session Persistence. The terminology changed to avoid the overloaded word "session"; the old CLI form fresh --cmd session … still works as an alias, and this page keeps its /features/session-persistence URL so existing links and bookmarks continue to work.

Palette: Detach. CLI: fresh -a, fresh --cmd daemon list|new|kill, fresh --restore, fresh --no-restore. Config: hot_exit, editor.restore_previous_session.

Detach from Fresh and reattach later, similar to tmux. The Fresh daemon keeps running in the background, so your editor state survives even after you close the terminal.

See also: Remote Editing (SSH) for pairing daemon mode with remote backends, and Devcontainers for routing through a container.

Hot Exit

All buffers — including unnamed scratch buffers — persist automatically. When you quit Fresh, unsaved changes are preserved and restored on next startup. Configurable via the hot_exit setting (default: on).

Workspace Storage

Each workspace's state (open files, split layout, plugin state) is restored on startup by default. Control this with:

• editor.restore_previous_session (config, default true) — when set to false, Fresh skips restoring tabs and splits but still brings back unsaved "hot-exit" content (dirty files and unnamed buffers).
• --no-restore (CLI) — one-shot skip equivalent to the config flag being off.
• --restore (CLI) — force a full workspace restore even when the config flag is off. Mutually exclusive with --no-restore.

Quick Start

# Start or attach to a daemon for the current directory
fresh -a

# Detach: press Ctrl+Shift+D (or use Command Palette > "Detach")
# Terminal closes, but the Fresh daemon keeps running in the background

# Reattach later from the same directory
fresh -a

# List all running daemons
fresh --cmd daemon list

The daemon subcommand is an alias for the older session subcommand; both forms work (e.g. fresh --cmd session list is equivalent to fresh --cmd daemon list).

Direct vs Daemon Mode

Use daemon mode for long-running tasks or remote work where the connection may drop.

How It Works

With -a, Fresh starts a background daemon. The terminal is a lightweight client relaying input/output.

Terminal (Client)  ←→  Unix Socket  ←→  Fresh Daemon (Background)
     ↓                                        ↓
  Your keyboard                         Editor state
  Your screen                           Open files
                                        Running terminals

Detaching exits only the client; the daemon keeps running.

Commands

Named Daemons

For multiple daemons in the same directory:

fresh --cmd daemon new feature-work
fresh --cmd daemon list
fresh -a feature-work

Opening Files in a Daemon

Open files in a running daemon without attaching to it. If no daemon is running, one is started and the client attaches interactively:

# Open file in the current directory's daemon (use "." for the name)
fresh --cmd daemon open-file . src/main.rs

# Open file at specific line and column
fresh --cmd daemon open-file myproject src/lib.rs:42:10

# Open multiple files
fresh --cmd daemon open-file . file1.rs file2.rs

This is useful for integrating Fresh with file managers or other tools—files open in the existing editor without starting a new terminal.

Blocking Until Done (--wait)

The --wait flag keeps the CLI process alive until the user is done with the file. The process exits when:

• The popup is dismissed (press Escape) — if the file was opened with an @"message"
• The buffer is closed — if no message was given

# Open a file and block until the user closes the buffer
fresh --cmd daemon open-file . src/main.rs --wait

# Open at a line with a popup message — blocks until popup is dismissed
fresh --cmd daemon open-file . 'src/main.rs:42@"Review this function"' --wait

If no daemon is running, one is started automatically and the client attaches interactively (--wait is ignored in this case — quit or detach normally).

Use as Git's Editor

Set Fresh as git's editor so git commit, git rebase -i, etc. open in your running daemon and block until you close the buffer:

git config --global core.editor 'fresh --cmd daemon open-file . --wait'

Git appends the filename, so the final command becomes e.g. fresh --cmd daemon open-file . --wait .git/COMMIT_EDITMSG. The --wait flag can appear anywhere after the daemon name — files after it are collected normally.

Annotated Code Walkthroughs

Combine --wait with range selection and popup messages to walk a user through code one location at a time. Each command blocks until the user presses Escape, then the next location opens:

fresh --cmd daemon open-file . 'src/parse.rs:10-25@"Step 1: The parser entry point"' --wait
fresh --cmd daemon open-file . 'src/eval.rs:80-95@"Step 2: Expression evaluation"' --wait
fresh --cmd daemon open-file . 'src/emit.rs:5@"Step 3: Code generation starts here"' --wait

Popup messages support markdown. Use $'...' quoting for multi-line messages:

fresh --cmd daemon open-file . \
  $'src/main.rs:1-15@"**Overview**\n\nThis is the entry point.\nNote the error handling on line 12."' --wait

Programmatic Integration

The --wait blocking behavior makes daemon open-file composable with any tool that needs to present files to a user and wait for acknowledgement:

# Code review script
for file in $(git diff --name-only HEAD~1); do
  fresh --cmd daemon open-file . "$file@\"Review this file\"" --wait
done

# Step through grep matches
grep -rn "TODO" src/ | while IFS=: read -r file line _; do
  fresh --cmd daemon open-file . "$file:$line@\"TODO found here\"" --wait
done

Detaching

• Ctrl+Shift+D or Command Palette → "Detach" or File → Detach
• Detach: Client exits, daemon keeps running
• Quit (Ctrl+Q): Both client and daemon exit

Limitations and Pitfalls

Resource Usage

Each daemon consumes memory for open files, terminal scrollback, and LSP servers. Use fresh --cmd daemon list periodically to check for forgotten daemons.

Terminal State

When reattaching, terminal size may differ and some applications may not render correctly after resize. Scrollback is preserved but limited by buffer size.

Platform Differences

Known Issues

1. Stale sockets: If Fresh crashes, socket files may remain. See Socket Locations for cleanup.
2. Signal handling: Some signals don't propagate to daemon terminals.

Troubleshooting

"Connection refused"

The daemon may have crashed. Run fresh --cmd daemon kill to clean up, then fresh -a again.

Daemon not in list

Daemons are keyed by working directory. ~/project and /home/user/project create different daemons—use consistent paths.

High memory usage

Check for forgotten daemons with fresh --cmd daemon list.

Socket Locations