Summary

• Add a ChainWorkspaceBuilder that constructs a workspace's entire session → window → pane tree from a single libtmux._experimental.chain.ForwardPlan, resolved over the minimum number of tmux invocations instead of one subprocess per new-window / split-window.
• Add an opt-in --builder=chain flag to tmuxp load (Env: TMUXP_BUILDER); the default builder is unchanged.
• Experimental: depends on libtmux's _experimental.chain API, pinned to a sibling worktree via [tool.uv.sources]. Not for merge — companion to the libtmux experiment.

Changes by area

src/tmuxp/workspace/chain_builder.py (new)

ChainWorkspaceBuilder, a subclass of WorkspaceBuilder, overriding build(): the session is created, then every window and pane is described in one ForwardPlan seeded from the session and resolved via ServerPlanRunner. Reuses the parent's helpers (_wait_for_pane_ready, config_after_window, focus handling, plugin hooks, before_script, session options).

src/tmuxp/cli/load.py

Adds --builder={default,chain} (Env TMUXP_BUILDER), threaded through command_load → load_workspace as builder_name, selecting the builder class. The rest of the load path is unchanged because the subclass mirrors the constructor, .session, and event hooks.

pyproject.toml

[tool.uv.sources] pins libtmux to the sibling ../libtmux worktree so the experimental chain API is importable.

Design decisions

• Reuse the default window, don't orphan it. Seeding with ForwardPlan.from_session(session) and addressing window 1 through seed.initial_window / seed.initial_pane builds onto the session's default window instead of moving it aside and killing it (the move-to-99 + kill dance the classic builder performs).
• send_keys_mode, default readiness. The chain batches split + send-keys without waiting for the new pane's shell prompt. readiness builds only the structure via the chain, then sends each pane's commands shell-ready (matching the classic builder, deterministic). batched folds send-keys into the plan for the fullest "all at once" — faster, but it can race an interactive prompt.
• Sync, not async. tmuxp has no async today and a workspace build is causally serial (windows depend on the session; decorations depend on captured ids), so the chain's synchronous path (ServerPlanRunner / run_resolving) is the right fit.
• Subclass, not fork. Extending WorkspaceBuilder keeps .session, find_current_attached_session, the on_* event hooks, and the plugin lifecycle identical, so load.py needs only to pick the class.

Test plan

• Lint + format clean on the new builder, tests, and the CLI change
• Type-check (mypy) clean
• tests/workspace/test_chain_builder.py — two/three-pane structure, window + pane focus, readiness-mode commands landing, batched mode, and --builder flag parsing
• Existing tests/workspace/test_builder.py and tests/cli/test_load.py still pass (the subclass leaves the default builder untouched)
• Smoke: tmuxp load -d --builder=chain tests/fixtures/workspace/builder/two_pane.yaml builds editor (2 panes), logging, test, matching the default builder

Companion PR

Depends on the libtmux experimental chain API: tmux-python/libtmux#685.