Skip to content

How to use Tmux

Links: 200 home

Setup

  • Install tmux using any package manager
  • Install tmux package manager (TPM) by cloning it from the following link: tmux-plugins/tpm: Tmux Plugin Manager (github.com)
    • git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm
  • We can create the tmux config file at either $HOME/.tmux.conf or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tmux/tmux.conf ($HOME/.config/tmux/tmux.conf)

Configuration

  • With the below configuration we will have a package manager for tmux and a sensible configuration to get started with. 
    set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tpm'
Set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-sensible'

run '~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm'

Basic Idea

  • Tmux consists of 3 mains objects: sessions, windows and panes.
  • Sessions are the top most layer in tmux and are a collection of one or more windows.
  • We can have any number of sessions open at a time but only attached to one.
  • Each session has a single active window (denoted by a *).
    • attachments/Pasted image 20230428080506.jpg
  • Windows are a container to one or more panes.
  • Panes are split in the window and represent individual terminals.
    • attachments/Pasted image 20230428080712.jpg

Shortcuts

Shortcut Result
Prefix + c Create a new window in a session
Prefix + n/p To move between windows next/previous
Prefix + & Kill a window
Prefix + % Create a vertical pane
Prefix + " Create a horizontal pane
Prefix + arrow keys Navigate panes
Prefix + q Panes have numbers which can be toggled using this. Pressing the number will switch us to that pane
Prefix + z Zooming into the pane to take whole window
Prefix + ! Turn a pane into a window
Prefix + x Close the pane. Just closing the shell will also work
Prefix + s List tmux sessions
Prefix + w Preview windows for each session and attach to a session by pressing enter
  • Another way of killing the window is by killing all the panes inside it.

Extra plugins

  • Vim tmux navigator to navigate around panes using vim key bindings
    • Set -g @plugin 'christoomey/vim-tmux-navigator'

Reference

Last updated: 2023-04-28