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How to Use Tmux

This guide provides an extended and beginner-friendly overview of the most essential tmux commands, workflows, and key concepts. Whether you're brand new to tmux or looking to strengthen your terminal game, this guide will help you gain control over sessions, windows, panes, and navigation with confidence.

What is Tmux?

tmux is short for Terminal Multiplexer. It is a powerful tool that allows you to manage multiple terminal sessions within a single terminal window. This is especially useful for developers, sysadmins, and anyone who works extensively in the command-line interface.

What You Can Do with Tmux:

  • Run and manage multiple terminal sessions from one window.
  • Split the terminal into multiple panes, both horizontally and vertically.
  • Detach from a session and leave it running in the background.
  • Reattach to a session later and continue where you left off.
  • Keep long-running processes alive, even if you disconnect.

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⌨️ About the Prefix Key

tmux uses a prefix key — a combination that must be pressed before any other tmux command. By default, this is Ctrl + b. However, in our configuration, we changed it to Ctrl + a to make it easier to reach and more ergonomic for regular use.

This prefix acts as a gateway: it tells tmux to expect a command input. For example:

  • prefix + c means: press Ctrl + a, then release both keys and press c.
  • prefix + d means: press Ctrl + a, then press d to detach.

💡 Think of the prefix key as the "tmux leader" key, much like Vim's leader key. It initiates every action.

Why Change the Prefix?

  • Ctrl + a is closer to the home row.
  • It’s more natural to press frequently than Ctrl + b.
  • It matches the behavior of GNU Screen, which many users are familiar with.

You can always change it back in your .tmux.conf:

set -g prefix C-b

Understanding and using the prefix is essential. If shortcuts aren't working, make sure you've pressed the prefix first.

Starting Tmux

To begin using tmux, simply open your terminal and type:

tmux

This creates a new tmux session and opens an interactive shell inside it.

You can also name your session:

tmux new -s mysession

Naming sessions is helpful if you’re managing multiple projects or environments.

📂 Managing Sessions

Sessions are the top-level container in tmux. You can have multiple sessions running simultaneously.

  • 🧾 List all active sessions:
tmux ls
  • 🔄 Attach to a session:
tmux attach -t mysession
  • ❌ Kill (terminate) a session:
tmux kill-session -t mysession

Panes: Split Your Screen

Panes let you divide your tmux window into sections, so you can view multiple terminal sessions side-by-side.

  • Split horizontally: prefix + "

  • Split vertically: prefix + %

  • Switch between panes: Use arrow keys: prefix + ←/→/↑/↓

  • Resize panes: Hold Ctrl and use arrow keys after pressing the prefix

  • Close a pane: Type exit inside the pane

Panes are perfect for running build tools, editors, and logs all in one terminal view.

Detach and Reattach Sessions

One of tmux’s killer features is the ability to leave a session running and come back to it later.

  • 🔌 Detach from session:
prefix + d
  • 🔁 Reattach to a session:
tmux attach -t mysession

Even if your terminal crashes or you reboot, your tmux session will survive (unless killed manually).

Exiting Tmux Properly

To exit from a session, close each pane and window:

exit  # inside each pane

Once all windows are closed, tmux exits automatically.

You can also kill the session externally:

tmux kill-session -t mysession

✅ That’s it! With these essentials, you're now equipped to work faster, cleaner, and more efficiently inside your terminal using tmux. Try it out, explore further plugins and configuration, and make it your own workspace powerhouse.