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Getting started with tmux

One of the biggest benefits I’ve seen from switching to vim as my primary text editor is that I can use the same text editor whether I ssh into a server, or I use any of my laptops (regardless of operating system). If you’re interested in learning how I use vim, please check out this old post. To keep my workflows as similar as possible, I have also started gravitating to tmux. This post should offer some tips on how to get started with tmux.

Part 1: Core concepts
Part 2: Navigation
Part 3: Configuration
Part 4: Data movement

For this tutorial, I’ll use the following notation:

<C-b> is equivalent to pressing control and b at the same time.
- This is the default prefix which is used to determine whether a command is intended for tmux or the terminal running in the tmux session.
prefix q is equivalent to pressing control and b at the same time, then letting them go and pressing the letter q.

If you’ve used emacs before, you’ll find that a lot of the keybindings bear some resemblance. Let’s get started.

Part 1: Core concepts

Pane: a pseudo terminal
Window: A collection of panes that are shown on screen at the same time. This is similar to what you’d expect to find in a window in an application like iTerm.
- Panes can be arranged however you like within a given window and can be moved between windows.
Session: A collection of windows that are managed by tmux. Sessions can persist in the background if you lose your connection with the server or detach from the session.
- tmux can manage multiple sessions. An arbitrary number of tmux instances can connect to a single session.

Using sessions:

$ tmux new = Creates a new tmux session
$ tmux ls = View current tmux sessions
- prefix s = Navigate between sessions
$ tmux attach -t SESSION_NAME = Attach to an existing tmux session
prefix $ = Rename a session
prefix d = Detach from current session

When you start a new tmux session, a single window with a single pane is created.

This is the end of Part 1 on core concepts.

Now that you have a tmux session, you need to setup up your work environment.

Managing windows:

prefix c = Creates a new window
prefix n = Navigate to the next window
prefix p = Navigate to the previous window
prefix NUM = Navigate to window at index NUM
prefix & = Close current window
prefix , = Rename current window
prefix w = Navigate between windows in active sessions

Managing panes:

prefix % = Creates a new pane by splitting the active pane vertically
prefix " = Creates a new pane by splitting the active pane horizontally
prefix arrow = Move between panes in the direction of the arrow
prefix x = Close active pane
prefix z = Make pane full screen
prefix q = Navigate between panes in active window
prefix ! = Split current pane into its own window

Resizing and moving panes:

prefix <M-arrow> = Resize the current pane
prefix E = Spread out the panes evenly
prefix Space = Select the next default layout
prefix { = Move pane up
prefix } = Move pane down

This is the end of Part 2 on navigation.

Part 3: Configuration

Like with a vimrc, you can add configurations to your tmux.conf. Here are some that you may consider adopting when you’re getting started. To learn more, you can browse the docs.

# tmux.conf
set -g mouse on           # enable mouse scrolling
set -s escape-time 10     # faster command sequences
set -g history-limit 5000 # boost history limit
set -g allow-rename off   # don't rename windows automatically

set -g mode-keys vi       # use vi keybindings for copy mode

# display "tmux.conf loaded!"

This is the end of Part 3 on configuration.

Part 4: Data movement

A key hurdle to me adopting a tmux-based workflow was figuring out how to move data between panes. Now that I know how to use it, I find it much more expressive than using my mouse to select text, and I appreciate having easy access to multiple buffers.

<C-[> = Enter copy mode
q = Exit copy mode
<C-]> = Paste buffer

emacs mode (default)

<C-Space> = Start selection
R = Change to rectangle selection
Use standard emacs movements
<C-w> = Copy selection

vi mode (my preference)

Space = Start selection
v = Change to visual block mode
Use standard vim movements
Enter = Copy selection

Multiple paste buffers

Copied text is placed into a buffer that you can paste later. tmux has the ability to manage multiple buffers. Here are the highlights of how I use them.

<C-=> = View the paste buffers
Enter or p = Paste selected buffer
d = Delete selected buffer

You can read more about copy and paste in tmux here.

This is the end of Part 4 on data movement.

Conclusion

Hope this helps get you oriented with tmux. For a quick refresher about the commands at your disposal, use prefix ?. For more details, I will sometimes browse through $ tmux list-keys to see all of the available keybindings and $ tmux list-commands to see all of the commands that can be used. I realize this is just scratching the surface of how tmux can help improve my workflow. If you have suggestions on things that I should consider trying, please let me know. Happy hacking.

Category Tutorial

Getting started with tmux

Part 1: Core concepts

Part 2: Navigation

Part 3: Configuration

Part 4: Data movement

Conclusion

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