Get Started with Tmux: Your Powerful Terminal Multiplexer

1. Introduction

What is Tmux?

Tmux is a powerful tool when it comes to efficiency in your daily work. In short it stands for terminal multiplexer for Linux and other Unix-like operation systems. Tmux unfolds its greatest strength when it comes to running multiple terminal windows in a single window, each capable of executing an independent  task.

Why Use Tmux?

  • Multitasking: You can use Tmux to run multiple commands at the same time, without cluttering your screen having dozens of terminal windows open.
  • Persistence: The most powerful key feature. Even if you close your terminal, your Tmux session continues to run in the background. And you can easily reattach to this session at any time and continue work where you left off.
  • Organization: Group related tasks and commands in separate Tmux windows to better focus on your work.
  • Remote Work: If you are working on remote servers, Tmux ensures that your sessions continue running even if your connection drops.

2. Getting started

Starting a Tmux Session:

  1. Open your terminal.
  2. Type tmux and press Enter, which will start a new Tmux session with a single window and pane

Navigating the Tmux Interface:

  • At the bottom status bar of your screen you can now see the information about the current session, window and pane.
  • By default, Tmux uses the Ctrl+b key as the prefix key for most commands. Press Ctrl+b followed by another key to execute actions.

Basic Commands:

  • Create a new session: tmux new -s <session_name>
  • Attach to an existing session: tmux attach -t <session_name>
  • List all sessions: tmux ls
  • Detach from the current session: Ctrl+b d (Only detaching, Tmux still continues executing all the sessions)

3. Working with Panes

Splitting the Window:

  • Horizontally: Ctrl+b %
  • Vertically: Ctrl+b "

Selecting and Moving Panes:

  • Use arrow keys to navigate between panes: Ctrl+b <Key>
  • Switch to specific pane number: Ctrl+b q <Number>

Closing Panes:

  • Ctrl+d or Ctrl+b x

4. Working with Windows

Creating and Switching Between Windows:

  • Create a new window: Ctrl+b c
  • Switch to next/previous window: Ctrl+b n/p
  • Switch to window number: Ctrl+b 0 (0 for first window, 1 for second, etc.)

Renaming and Closing Windows:

  • Rename window: Ctrl+b ,
  • Close the current window: Ctrl+d or Ctrl+b x

5. Conclusion

Tmux enables you to become an efficient and organized terminal user. By leveraging its capabilities, you can optimize your workflow and manage multiple tasks simultaneously with ease.

Tmux offers tons of more commands which are very helpful. I recommend you read the official manual or type man tmux in your terminal.

You can find more about Tmux or contribute to the development in its official GitHub repository.