# tmuxp compatibility and port status

Source: https://libtmux.org/en/py/latest/workspace/reference/compatibility/

> Separate parser acceptance, builder behavior, proposed CLI services, and installed capabilities.

This page documents the available Python tmuxp reference. Proposed native
extensions are labeled separately.

The reference is Python tmuxp 1.74.0 at the source revision linked below. A
native workspace library, parser experiment, and installed CLI are different
deliverables. None of the seven native ports currently supplies the full
command-line application described by the compatibility proposal.

## This port

Python tmuxp is the executable reference. Its YAML normalization, loader,
capture, importers, search, shell, and plugins establish the comparison
behavior. Current machine-output exceptions remain documented on the command
pages.

These observations are a dated local research snapshot, not a support guarantee
for a published artifact. Read the port's [builder
topics](../../internals/topics/) and [API](../) for the actual
library interface. Use the page's language switcher to compare the same topic
across ports.

## Shared gaps

Full parity needs document discovery and conversion, schema normalization,
load/attach/append policy, capture, search, editor execution, diagnostics, and
Python shell/plugin compatibility. Accepting YAML without rejecting unknown keys
can silently lose behavior. Passing a parser probe does not establish execution
parity.

Python shell switches and plugin import paths need a Python bridge or an
explicitly unsupported result. Regex behavior also differs by language;
identical search flags do not imply Python regular-expression semantics. See
[shell](../../cli/shell/), [search](../../cli/search/), and
[hooks](../../configuration/hooks/).

## Optional format separator

Python libtmux exposes `LIBTMUX_TMUX_FORMAT_SEPARATOR` in its format collector.
Native ports use different framing and decoding strategies. This prototype does
not claim support for the variable in those codecs. A port needs an explicit
compatible seam and live tests for collisions, empty values, Unicode, and line
breaks before accepting the setting.

## Reading examples

The [gallery](../../examples/gallery/) contains the upstream fixture corpus.
Parsing a fixture and executing its applications are separate checks. Several
require external programs, remote hosts, project directories, or plugin
packages. Current native gaps remain visible even when a YAML reader accepts the
file.

[tmuxp reference source](https://github.com/tmux-python/tmuxp/blob/618b398acc05506d3c682906c36cdeb29dcfa1ff/src/tmuxp/cli/__init__.py).