Tmux Cheat Sheet

Tmux is a terminal multiplexer that helps you manage multiple tasks and workflows.

With tmux, you can:

Sessions: Preserve your work and keep tasks running, even if you log out or disconnect.
Windows: Create separate workspaces for different projects or tools within the same session.
Panes: Split a window into multiple views so you can monitor and interact with several processes side by side.

Installing tmux

Linux

Often pre-installed.

macOS

Install it using Homebrew.

brew install tmux

Windows

Install via WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

sudo apt update

sudo apt install tmux

Starting and exiting tmux sessions

Start a default session

tmux

Start a named session

tmux new -s <session-name>

Detach from a session

Leave the current tmux session running in the background so you can come back to it later.

Ctrl-b d

Exit a session

Close tmux completely. This will terminate the application and end all running sessions.

Ctrl-d

Managing tmux sessions

List sessions

tmux list-sessions

tmux ls

Attach to a session

tmux attach -t <session-name>

tmux a -t <session-name>

Kill a session

tmux kill-session -t <session-name>

Kill all sessions

tmux kill-server

Tmux sessions

Rename current session

Ctrl-b $

Choose a session from a list

Ctrl-b s

Close a session

Ctrl-d

Tmux windows

Create a new window

Ctrl-b c

Rename a window

Ctrl-b ,

Move to next / previous window

Ctrl-b n

Ctrl-b p

Go to a specific window

Ctrl-b 0

Ctrl-b ...

Ctrl-b 9

List windows

Ctrl-b w

Close window

Ctrl-b &

Tmux panes

Split vertically

Ctrl-b %

Split horizontally

Ctrl-b "

Move between panes

Ctrl-b ← ↓ ↑ →

Resize a pane

Ctrl-b hold Ctrl ← ↓ ↑ →

Resize a pane (macOS only)

Ctrl-b hold Shift + Option ← ↓ ↑ →

Maximize/minimize a pane

Ctrl-b z

Change layout

Ctrl-b Space

Close a pane

Ctrl-d

Searching in tmux

You can search through your tmux history using copy mode. This allows you to scroll back and find specific text in the buffer.

1. Enter tmux copy mode

Ctrl-b [

2. Start a search

Search downwards:

Ctrl-s

Search upwards:

Ctrl-r

3. Navigate through matches

Type your search term and press Enter.

Press n to jump to the next occurrence.

Press N to jump to the previous occurrence.

4. Exit copy mode

Press q or Escape twice to exit copy mode.

Searching for a window in tmux

When you have multiple windows open, you can quickly jump to one based on text currently displayed inside it.

1. Open the find-window prompt

Ctrl-b f

2. Type your search term

Type the text you are looking for, then press Enter.

3. Select the matching window

If there's only one match, tmux will switch to it automatically.

If multiple windows match, you'll see a list and can choose the one you want.