Discussion
Make tmux Pretty and Usable
0dayman: that's pretty nice, but did you try cmux.com
phito: OP doesn't seem to be on Mac
TheRealPomax: Even if they are, cmux isn't an alternative to tmux, as it can't attach to/detach from sessions, which is usually the whole reason to use tmux.
wffurr: That's a totally different thing. Native macOS app vs portable terminal multiplexer. My main use case for tmux is detaching and re-attaching to a session on a remote server, for which it's extremely useful.
jarredkenny: I've been building a tmux wrapper that is similar you might be interested in. https://jmux.build
ndr: I gave up on it once I discovered https://zellij.dev/Just even for how tab and panes are setup, and how it's good for scrolling and text selection with your mouse for copy pasting.
llagerlof: I used tmux for a few years, until one day I discovered Zellij. With its significantly better UI and overall user experience, I was instantly convinced.
seemaze: I've been thoroughly impressed with tmux control mode[0] in iTerm2. This lets you manage remote terminal windows with your local window management provider. It is currently in the process of being implemented in ghostty[1] as well, can't wait![0] https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki/Control-Mode[1] https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/issues/1935#issuecomm...
knubie: I stopped using tmux when I started using kitty terminal with native split windows. I prefer the native window management of kitty, but I do miss the session saving of tmux (e.g. if I accidentally close a tab).
tosti: I like having a red bar for tmux running as root and a blue one for running it as a normal user, e.g. for root: set -g status-style "bg=red" I also like to have the bar on top and the status centered: set -g status-justify absolute-centre set -g status-position top
orbital-decay: There are many separate session persistence daemons: dtach, zmx, hauntty, shpool, diss, abduco - take your pick
0xbadcafebee: [delayed]
dummydummy1234: Can you use zellij over ssh on a remote server?
kjs3: but I do miss the session saving of tmuxInteresting...I kinda thought that was 90% of the use case for using tmux.
yoyohello13: If you're interested in an out of the box multiplexer. https://zellij.dev/ is great. I've been using it for about a year now and loving it.
tosti: Your out of the box isn't my out of the box. Tmux is in main on OpenBSD, where it started.
hugodan: I would love to have a way to switch sessions easily, like with panes where I just click or have more shortcuts available
dns_snek: [delayed]
heatmiser: I read "tmux 2: mouse-free productivity" in a weekend years ago and it may be, pound-for-pound, one of the more impactful books on my productivity.Seems like they are keeping up-to-date too: https://bookshop.org/p/books/tmux-3-productive-mouse-free-de...
tosti: The book doesn't mention the author of tmux or its origins even once :(
vessenes: I used screen until like 2010 or so -- but you triggered me to look back at it again today. One nicety there now is that you can easily get a dump of what's showing in the pty with screen -S <session_name> -X hardcopy. This is actually somewhat hard to do in tmux, but it's a thing you want your AI agents to do all the time. I'm curious if claude / codex are comfortable with screen, I'll check it out.
alecsm: I had my tmux customized to the point I forgot how to use it on a clean install which is a problem when I'm sshing into a server.I wish it had better defaults but now I run it as is. After a while you get used to it. The only thing I always have to change is the mouse scroll and my brain cannot retain the exact command.
dpflan: Do you have a "dot files" repo? It would contain things like this, config files for tmux, zsh, <other tools>, etc.
esseph: [delayed]
1vuio0pswjnm7: I prefer to use tmux non-interactively. For example, I use it for running daemons in the foreground, (textmode) screen scraping and scripting text-only browserI do almost all interactive work while detached from tmuxI also rely on tmux buffers for a textmode "clipboard" (I do not use x11)
pavel_lishin: > I do almost all interactive work while detached from tmuxHow come?
KetoManx64: Same here. I bounced off it a few times because KDE konsole already had built in tab/pane support but once I picked up neovim the key chords for triggering actions just made so much sense compared to the static key binds of Console that I just started using Zellij for tabs and panes within Console.
johnfn: Guys, did you know about tmux control mode? It tells the host terminal to treat tmux tabs as actual tabs in the terminal. That means that things like scrollback, tab navigation, etc are all handled natively, and you can visually see all your tmux tabs! It doesn't have great support across all terminals, but it does work great in iTerm 2.Try `tmux -CC` in iTerm.For a tmux novice like me, this was a total game changer :)
Morantron: One way to make tmux way more usable is to use tmux-fingers, which provides hint-based mouse-free copypaste capabilitieshttps://github.com/morantron/tmux-fingers(disclaimer: I'm the developer of the plugin)
faangguyindia: what does it add over screen which i don't even need to install?
esseph: [delayed]
himata4113: I highly recommend just turning the mouse on, it's amazing for resizing panels and the rightclick menu is nice. set -g mouse on for multi-monitor setups setw -g aggressive-resize on is also really nice.
throwa356262: Honestly, this is the only configuration I need.Wish they could make this default, not sure why they haven't.
fernandotakai: i tried both and i honestly... i didn't see anything different.i want tmux for three things:1. easy splits2. easy scrollback3. being able to restart a session if my terminal diesgiven all that, tmux works exactly as expected.what are all these "significantly better ui and overall ux"?
gsinclair: People have developed plugins for this. Check out “sesh” for instance.Switching between sessions with fuzzy finding, and creating new ones when needed, is a wonderful feature.
leephillips: Recent versions of Kitty have sessions. https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/sessions/
rbanffy: I like to have an IBM 3270 style status bar on the bottom. set-option -gq status-style "fg=brightblue,overline"
OhMeadhbh: I'm perfectly happy with tmux the way it is, but upvoting this one because it's a decent overview of what to modify to make tmux more better if you don't like its defaults.
nDRDY: This comment would be a lot more convincing if it weren't in response to one expressing the same sentiment :-)
azthecx: It is actually true though, I only use tmux nowadays when I am SSHed into a server that I need to do some work on.The only issues I've had with it is that sometimes it's hot keys conflict with vim, but you can easily turn it temporarily off with ctrl+ g.If you're already used to tmux I'm not sure you would benefit much from changing, but it definitely has a better out of the box with pane hints, names, and more user friendly hot keys.
brewmarche: Maybe give terminal windows in vim a try? vim is not a terminal multiplexer, but if all you need is multiple terminals windows::term to open a terminal in a new vim window (or :vert term)Standard window movements apply (by default the window prefix is Ctrl-W), most important are: Ctrl-W,{hjkl} to switch between windows, Ctrl-W,{<>+-} to resize windows, Ctrl-W,{HJKL} to move windows to edges, Ctrl-W,{qc} to (force) close windowsEnter normal mode of a terminal buffer with Ctrl-W,N: now you can perform vim motions and scroll the outputEnter insert mode with i and you can type into the terminal againIn insert mode: Ctrl-W "x to paste register x, Ctrl-W . to send a literal Ctrl-W. If too annoying, you can change the window prefix of vimThis goes for vim, neovim also has a terminal mode but it works differently I think
bsdz: At some point I switched to "oh my tmux" which seems to cover most of the customisations I needed https://github.com/gpakosz/.tmux
