try

try

Interactive ephemeral workspace manager.

Create and navigate to temporary project directories with fuzzy finding, automatic date-prefixing, and recency scoring. Automatically spawns a new shell in the selected workspace.

Inspired by tobi/try.

Features

• Interactive selection: Use fzf for fuzzy finding workspaces
• Auto-select on single match: When a search term returns exactly one match, automatically select it without opening fzf
• Date-prefixed directories: Automatically prefix with YYYY-MM-DD format
• Recency scoring: Most recently accessed workspaces appear first
• Quick creation: Create new workspaces on the fly
• Customizable path: Use --path option or TRY_PATH environment variable

Usage

try                    # Open interactive selector
try react              # Open matching workspace (or create if no match)
try +myproject         # Create workspace named myproject
try +                  # Create workspace with random name
try -myproject         # Delete workspace matching myproject
try --delete react     # Delete workspace matching react
try -                  # Delete the workspace you're currently inside
try -p ~/projects      # Use custom workspace path
try -l                 # List all workspaces

Prerequisites

• fzf - Fuzzy finder for interactive selection

Configuration

Default path is ~/workspace/tries. Set a custom path:

export TRY_PATH="$HOME/my-workspaces"

Examples

# Select from existing workspaces
try

# Open matching workspace or create if no match
try feature

# Create a new workspace with specific name
try +my-project

# Create a new workspace with random name
try +

# Delete a workspace (uses trash if available, else prompts to confirm)
try -myproject

# Delete via explicit long form (handy when name collides with flags)
try --delete myproject

# Delete the workspace you're currently inside
try -

# Use custom base directory
try -p /tmp/experiments

# List all workspaces without interactive selection
try --list

# List workspaces in custom directory
try --list -p /tmp/experiments

Behavior

When a search term is provided, the script checks for matches:

• Single match: Automatically enters that workspace without user interaction
• Multiple matches: Opens fzf with the search term pre-filled for further filtering
• No matches: Creates a new workspace with the search term as the name (equivalent to try +search_term)
• No search term: Opens fzf with all workspaces sorted by recency

Deletion

try -NAME (or try --delete NAME) removes a workspace:

• Single match: Selected automatically
• Multiple matches: Opens fzf to pick one
• No matches: Exits with an error (never silently no-ops)
• If trash is on $PATH, the workspace is moved to trash; otherwise you get a [y/N] prompt before rm -rf