TMUX Manual

What is tmux?

1. tmux = terminal multiplexer



2. That means it lets one terminal process (the tmux server) manage many sessions, windows, and panes,
   all inside the same terminal emulator (like Kitty, Alacritty, Konsole, etc.).



3. So tmux is inside your terminal — not another terminal emulator.

The real reasons people use tmux

1. Persistence: If you close your terminal or lose your SSH session, everything inside tmux keeps running.

# Start a session
tmux new -s work

# Do your stuff...
# Lose connection? No problem.

# Reattach later
tmux attach -t work




2. Multiple panes / windows in one terminal.



3. Session management: You can have multiple sessions (e.g., one per project).

tmux new -s projA
tmux new -s projB
tmux ls
tmux attach -t projA




4. Automation and scripting: tmux can run commands on startup (from .tmux.conf or scripts):

tmux new-session -d -s dev
tmux new-window -t dev:1 -n "server" "npm run dev"
tmux new-window -t dev:2 -n "logs" "tail -f /var/log/syslog"
tmux attach -t dev

Tmux: Sessions, Windows, and Panes

1. Sessions: groups of windows



2. Windows: tabs inside a session



3. Panes: splits inside a window



4. Starting and Attaching Sessions

tmux
# Starts a new unnamed session.




tmux new -s mysession

• Creates a session named mysession.




tmux attach -t mysession

• Attaches to an existing session.




tmux ls

• Lists all tmux sessions.




5. Detaching from a Session

Ctrl-b d

• Press Ctrl-b, release, then press d.
• The session keeps running in the background.




6. Working with Sessions

tmux rename-session -t <oldname> <newname>
tmux kill-session -t <mysession>

• Rename or destroy sessions from outside tmux.




7. Windows: Tabs Inside a Session (A window is like a browser tab inside your tmux session)



Ctrl-b c

• Create a new window.



Ctrl-b w

• List all windows and choose one.



Ctrl-b n   # next window
Ctrl-b p   # previous window

Ctrl-b ,   # rename the current window




8. Useful Window Commands

tmux new-window -n editor
tmux kill-window -t 2
tmux select-window -t 1

• Can be used from outside or inside tmux.




9. Panes: Splits Inside a Window


• Panes allow you to split a single window into multiple terminals.




Ctrl-b %

• Split vertically.




Ctrl-b "

• Split horizontally.




Ctrl-b x

• Close a pane.




Ctrl-b o

• Switch to the next pane.




Ctrl-b ;

• Toggle between current and previous pane.




10. Resizing Panes

Ctrl-b Ctrl-arrow keys

• Resize pane in direction of arrow key.




Ctrl-b : resize-pane -L 10
Ctrl-b : resize-pane -R 10

• Resize pane from the command prompt inside tmux.




11. Synchronize Panes

Ctrl-b :
set-window-option synchronize-panes on

• Typing in one pane mirrors input to all panes in the window.
• Useful for managing distributed servers or parallel CLI tasks.




12. Moving Panes and Converting Between Panes and Windows

Ctrl-b !

• Convert the current pane into its own window.




Ctrl-b :
join-pane -s 2 -t 1

• Move a pane from window 2 into window 1.




13. Zooming a Pane

Ctrl-b z

• Toggles between:
  • zoomed fullscreen pane
  • normal layout




14. Layouts (Auto-arranging Panes)

Ctrl-b space

• Cycles through layouts:
  • even-horizontal
  • even-vertical
  • main-horizontal
  • main-vertical
  • tiled




15. Quick Overview of Key Bindings



Feature	Shortcut	Description
Create session	tmux new -s name	Start a named session
Detach	Ctrl-b d	Detach from session
New window	Ctrl-b c	Create a new window
Next/previous window	Ctrl-b n / Ctrl-b p	Navigate windows
Vertical split	Ctrl-b %	Split pane vertically
Horizontal split	Ctrl-b "	Split pane horizontally
Switch pane	Ctrl-b o	Move to next pane
Resize pane	Ctrl-b Ctrl-arrow	Resize active pane
Zoom	Ctrl-b z	Toggle fullscreen pane
Kill pane	Ctrl-b x	Close current pane