Launching Emacs

Jotain supports three launch patterns. Pick the one that matches the task — they’re complementary, not alternatives.

One-shot

A fresh emacs process every time. Loads the full Jotain config; pays package-init cost on every launch.

just run            # GUI, full config
just debug          # GUI with --debug-init and debug-on-error
just tty            # -nw, full config

Best for sanity checks, CI, and just bench runs. Avoid for day-to-day editing — the startup cost adds up.

Daemon + client

Start Emacs once as a server; reuse it via lightweight clients. The first frame is slow; every frame after is instant.

In the repo (development)

just daemon         # foreground daemon with --init-directory=<repo>
just client         # graphical emacsclient frame
just client-tty     # terminal emacsclient frame

just daemon blocks; run it in another terminal (or under tmux) and connect with just client / just client-tty from elsewhere. Each client passes an --alternate-editor fallback that spawns a fresh Emacs with --init-directory=<repo>, so isolation from ~/.emacs.d is preserved even when the daemon isn’t running yet. Stop the daemon with C-c in its terminal, or from any client:

emacsclient -e '(kill-emacs)'

As an installed user (home-manager)

The services.jotain module ships:

A systemd user service (Linux) or launchd agent (macOS) that runs emacs --fg-daemon. Enabled via services.jotain.startWithUserSession.
jotain-editor — emacsclient --tty with a -nw fallback. Set as $EDITOR when services.jotain.defaultEditor = true.
jotain-visual — emacsclient --create-frame. Set as $VISUAL.
A .desktop entry (jotain-client.desktop) for launching a GUI client from your application menu, enabled by services.jotain.client.enable.

See Module Options in the appendix for the full option reference.

Shell aliases

Inspired by Rahul Juliato’s launching-emacs-terminal post, the module can install short aliases for the daemon and clients:

services.jotain = {
  enable = true;
  shellAliases.enable = true;
  # shellAliases.prefix = "j";   # for "jemd"/"jem"/"jemg"
};

Alias	Expands to
`emd`	`emacs --fg-daemon` (wrapped)
`em`	`jotain-editor` (`emacsclient --tty`)
`emg`	`jotain-visual` (`emacsclient -c`)

The aliases are written to programs.bash.shellAliases, programs.zsh.shellAliases, and programs.fish.shellAliases — pick up whichever shell home-manager already manages.

Quick edit (`-Q -nw`)

When you need a stripped-down Emacs — editing /etc/hosts over SSH, fixing a typo in a 200 MB log file, demonstrating something with no muscle-memory key bindings — bypass Jotain entirely:

just quick          # emacs -Q -nw with the wombat theme

This is the pattern Rahul Juliato describes in basic-emacs-alias. -Q skips early-init.el, init.el, site-lisp, and ~/.emacs.d/; -nw keeps it in the current terminal; the wombat theme line is the one concession to readability on dark terminals. To get the same effect outside the repo, add an alias to your shell:

alias eq='emacs -Q -nw --eval "(load-theme '\''wombat t)"'

Which one to use

Situation	Use
First-time setup, CI, benchmarking	`just run`
Day-to-day editing, fast frame opens	daemon + `em`/`emg`
Sysadmin SSH session, ad-hoc edit	`just quick`
Debugging a config regression	`just debug`

Documentation Index

​Launching Emacs

​One-shot

​Daemon + client

​In the repo (development)

​As an installed user (home-manager)

​Shell aliases

​Quick edit (-Q -nw)

​Which one to use