Tmux 101

Welcome to tmux 101! In this guide I'll attempt to show you all the basics you need to feel comfortable using tmux.

ⓘ NOTE: The keyboard is the primary way of using tmux. If you are more interested on using your mouse, keep reading as it's possible to some extent. However, I'd recommend letting go and embrase your fingers. Lots of things will become easier once you have built enough muscle memory.

ⓘ NOTE 2: If you are in MacOs, take a look at this extra steps.

Installation

You can refer to the tmux wiki for the most up to date information on how to install it on your system.

Basics

Open tmux

Typing tmux and pressing Enter on a terminal should be enough to start tmux.

$ tmux

Create a window (a.k.a. tab)

Once inside tmux, it's possible to create windows/tabs. For that, you need to:

• press the key control
• without releasing control, press b and release both keys
• press c

Such key binding is also expressed as below

C-b + c

You can achieve the same result by doing

C-b + :new-window

Rename a window

By default, the window is dynamically named after the command that it's running. If we know already that we will dedicate a window to something in particular, it's possible to rename it with the following command.

C-b + ,

Create panes

In case there's a need to see more than one terminal at the same time, it's possible to make a vertical split using the key binding below.

C-b + %

Prefer a horizontal split? Tmux got you.

C-b + "

Prefix

As you have seen, C-b + <key> for contrlling tmux behavior. C-b (referred to as Ctrl-b in some places) is also known as <prefix> and it can be configured to be anything.

ⓘ NOTE: If you ask me, it's better to keep the default prefix. This way you can use tmux on other systems without having to struggle with your muscle memory.

Move across panes

Move up, down, left, or right using the arrows of your keyboard.

<prefix> + <arrow>

Move across windows

Move to the right, or next, window.

<prefix> + n

Move to the left, or previous, window.

<prefix> + p

Move to a specific window.

<prefix> + <number>

Sessions

Let's say that it's now time to work on a different project, but the current terminals open are still of use. Instead of adding a new window, tmux is capable of creating new sessions, or "fresh spaces". To make a new session

<prefix> + :new-session

It's also possible to assign a name

<prefix> + :new-session -s my-session-name

or to rename the current session.

<prefix> + :rename-session my-session-name

Change active session

<prefix> + s

or

<prefix> + :choose-session

Show pane title

Show pane titles

<prefix> + :set pane-border-status top

Change name of the pane

<prefix> + :select-pane -T my-pane-title

Mouse mode

Enable the mouse mode by setting the mouse option to on. Now try right clicking around the terminal to see what the options are. Hint: right click on the session indicator and on the window names. You can also change the focused window/pane by clicking on them, or resize panes by drag and dropping their edges. Disable it by setting it to off.

# Turn mouse on
<prefix> + :set mouse on

# Turn mouse off
<prefix> + :set mouse off

Quality of life

These are configurations I like to have setup.

Set index starting from 1

These two options allow you to change the start number of the index assigned to all windows and panes on tmux.

set -g base-index 1
set -g pane-base-index 1

I find this index numbering useful when changing quickly to a different pane (<prefix> + q + <pane-index-number>) or window (<prefix> + <window-index-number>).

Take a look at the screenshots below. The image on the left shows the default behavior, and the one in the right has the setting from above enabled. You will notice how both pane and window indexes start from either zero (left) or one (right).

Zero-base index	One-base index

ⓘ NOTE: The session "index" shown when doing <prefix> + s cannot be changed to be 1-based as what's shown is in reality the session id, and the maintainers seem to be unwilling to add an index here.

Attach to another session after closing last window

This option allows tmux to change to a different session in case you close all the windows/panes of the current one. If not enabled, it will detach from tmux and will require you to manually attach to any of the existing sessions.

set -g detach-on-destroy no-detached

Disable bell sounds

As the title suggests, disables tmux from making unrequested noises.

set -g bell-action none

Create new windows with current working directory

When creating new windows the default path used for the new terminal is the one from where tmux was opened. This makes sure that any new window is created at the path of the current active pane.

bind c new-window -c "#{pane_current_path}"

Split panes with current working directory

By default, tmux creates new panes at the path where tmux was first executed. This makes sure to create panes using the current active pane's path.

bind '"' split-window -v -c "#{pane_current_path}"
bind % split-window -h -c "#{pane_current_path}"

Increase history

Allow tmux to store more lines in the buffer of each pane.

set -g history-limit 50000

This option is useful if you like scrolling back to a few minutes/hours back in the past to see what was typed in the terminal and what was the output.

Custom quality of life

Custom pane titles

Bash scripts at dotfiles/.local/bin.

Other resources

The official tmux wiki page has lots of information on how to use tmux that I'd recommend checking out:

• Getting started
• Clipboard
• FAQ
• Advanced use