A newbie’s information to Tmux: a multitasking superpower in your terminal

of the brand new issues I’ve come throughout lately, whereas researching command-line-based coding assistants, is the point out and use of a device I hadn’t heard of earlier than. That device is named Tmux, which stands for Terminal Multiplexer. 

Within the easiest doable phrases, Tmux lets you break up up a single terminal window into quite a few separate home windows and panes, every of which is a terminal in its personal proper. Adoption of instruments like Tmux has surged, largely because of the agent group workflows present in command-line coding agent merchandise like Claude Code. I point out Claude Code right here, however all of its major rivals, equivalent to Google’s Gemini CLI and OpenAI’s Codex, both have already got or might be engaged on their very own equivalents.

The purpose is that, in instruments like Claude Code, when it creates a number of brokers to hold out work, it will possibly assign every agent to its personal window pane. These visible clues make it a lot, a lot simpler ( for people) to maintain monitor of what’s going on as your agentic workloads progress. 
Claude Code will spin up as many separate terminal window panes as wanted, assign every agent a pane, and mechanically shut every pane because the agent completes its work. And in lots of circumstances, it’s utilizing Tmux for this terminal administration.

Because it’s doubtless that an increasing number of workloads sooner or later might be carried out with a number of brokers, you’ll most likely see and use Tmux extra typically. So, I feel it is sensible to study a bit extra about what Tmux is and what it will possibly do outdoors of simply coding platforms. For the remainder of this text, I’ll clarify the way to obtain Tmux and present some typical operations you are able to do with it. I’m solely going to cowl an important ideas and can add a hyperlink to the Tmux GitHub residence web page on the finish so you possibly can dive deeper in order for you.

Notice: aside from being a consumer of them, I’ve no affiliation or affiliation with any of the merchandise or firms talked about on this article

Tmux Licensing

Tmux is open supply and fully free to make use of. Every supply code file within the repo has the next licence hooked up.

Putting in Tmux

Relying in your working system, you possibly can set up Tmux in one of many methods under.

macOS The best approach to set up tmux on macOS is through Homebrew. Open your terminal and run:

brew set up tmux

Ubuntu / Debian / Linux Mint
On Debian-based distributions, use the apt bundle supervisor:

sudo apt replace
sudo apt set up tmux

Fedora / CentOS / RHEL
For distributions utilizing dnf or yum:

sudo dnf set up tmux

Home windows
I’m a Home windows consumer, however sadly, Home windows doesn’t assist Tmux natively however you can run it by the Home windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). To try this,

• Set up a WSL Linux distribution (like Ubuntu) from the Microsoft Retailer.
• Open the WSL terminal.
• Use the Ubuntu command: sudo apt set up tmux.

Key Tmux phrases it’s best to perceive

These are the foundational concepts of tmux, and nearly every part else builds on them.

• Classes. Persistent workspaces that survive disconnects. You’ll be able to detach and reattach later.
• Home windows: These are your digital desktops. You might need one window devoted to “Coding” and one other for debugging.
• Panes. Sub-windows inside a window. They are often oriented both vertically or horizontally. Every pane is a mini command-line terminal in its personal proper.

One of many key benefits of Tmux is you could connect and detach classes. If you detach a session, no matter it’s working will stay working within the background, and whenever you re-attach to the session, you’ll see the up to date state of regardless of the session was already doing. 

Verifying your Set up

As soon as the set up is full, you possibly can confirm that it’s working by checking the model:

$ tmux -V

tmux 3.2a

Beginning a Tmux session

The “hello world” of utilizing Tmux is just beginning a session.

$ tmux

Nothing a lot will change, however you’ll discover a inexperienced standing bar seem on the backside of your terminal window, indicating that you’re now inside a tmux session. You’ll be able to sort in common working system instructions from right here. For instance listing all my directories,

Inside a Tmux window or pane, you possibly can listing all of your classes utilizing the command:

$ tmux ls

0: 3 home windows (created Tue Feb 10 18:22:12 2026)
2: 1 home windows (created Tue Feb 10 19:11:12 2026)
3: 1 home windows (created Wed Feb 11 10:42:16 2026) (hooked up)
session2: 2 home windows (created Tue Feb 10 18:29:23 2026)

To kill classes, sort one of many following,

# To kill a particular session:
$ tmux kill-session -t [session_name_or_number]

# Or ... to kill EVERY session (The "Nuke" choice):
$ tmux kill-server

Executing Tmux built-in instructions

Tmux depends on a “prefix” key mixture to execute its built-in instructions. By default, that is Ctrl + b, adopted normally by a single character. Listed below are some examples of frequent instructions you’ll use typically.

Motion                     Command
-------                    -------------------------
Break up display screen vertically    Ctrl + b then %
Break up display screen horizontally  Ctrl + b then """
Transfer to a different pane       Ctrl + b then Arrow Keys
Kill present window        Ctrl+b then &
Exit tmux                  Ctrl + then d

Instance 1 – Creating new panes

So, having began a Tmux session as above, attempt typing Ctrl+b adopted by the per cent character (%) to separate your authentic window vertically into two panes. You must see one thing like this.

Now sort Ctrl+b adopted by the double quote (“) character, and it’s best to see that the brand new pane has now been break up horizontally like this,

Notice that the “name” of your present window is at all times displayed within the standing bar on the backside of the display screen. By default, these are merely numbered sequentially ranging from 0, however you possibly can rename them in order for you.

To shut down the energetic pane, sort the command Ctrl+b adopted by the x character. On the standing bar, you’ll see a immediate asking you to verify the operation.

Instance 2 – Creating new Home windows

To create a brand new window, sort Ctrl+b adopted by the character c. The brand new window will overlay and obscure any current Tmux home windows you will have displayed. However have a look at the standing bar, and you will note it shows all of your window names. To modify between completely different home windows, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+b adopted by the n (or p) character to go to the subsequent (or earlier) window. You too can change to a particular window quantity by typing its quantity in as a substitute of n (or p)

To shut down a window, sort the Ctrl+b command adopted by the ampersand (&) character. The standing bar will show a immediate asking you to verify the operation.

Instance 3 – Shifting between panes and enabling the mouse

Okay, you created a bunch of panes inside a window. Say it’s essential transfer between them. By the way, observe that your present pane is bordered in inexperienced, so that you at all times know which one has focus. 

There are two methods to do that. By way of the keyboard, you possibly can sort Ctrl+b adopted by an acceptable arrow key. Notice that you will need to key on this sequence each time you wish to transfer panes.

Utilizing the keyboard like this on a regular basis to maneuver round can develop into tiresome, however there’s a means to make use of the mouse as a substitute. To allow the mouse, you possibly can sort Ctrl+b adopted by the colon (:) character. The underside bar of your display screen ought to flip a distinct color, and also you’ll see a colon immediate. Kind within the following,

: set -g mouse on

After that, it’s best to be capable to change between panes together with your mouse simply by left-clicking on them. You probably have a number of home windows open, you may also transfer between them by left-clicking on the suitable window identify in your standing bar.

Instance 4 – The Tmux configuration file

The way in which we arrange the mouse within the earlier instance was completed on a per-session foundation. This implies once we shut down Tmux and re-open it, the mouse setting might be gone. To keep away from having to arrange issues like this each time you begin Tmux, you possibly can put them in a configuration file in your private home listing known as .tmux.conf. Like this,

echo "set -g mouse on" > ~/.ftmux.conf

To use the change instantly with out restarting Tmux, run this inside a Tmux terminal: 

Ctrl + b then : then sort source-file ~/.tmux.conf.

In any other case, the subsequent time Tmux begins, it mechanically seems to be in your configuration file and makes use of it if current.

There’s a bunch of different settings you possibly can put in your configuration file, so I recommend you test the Tmux doc hyperlink on the finish for a full listing.

Instance 5- Detaching a session

That is the superpower of Tmux, however there’s not so much to it actually. You can begin a course of (like a giant obtain), “detach” from it, shut your terminal app, and it retains working within the background, able to be displayed whenever you re-attach to it. To detach a session, sort Ctrl+b adopted by the character d. As soon as a session is indifferent, you re-attach by typing this into any common terminal command window:

$ tmux connect

Instance 6- Creating your individual Ctrl+b instructions

To create customized Ctrl+b instructions, use the Tmux bind command. For instance, suppose you wish to create a shortcut key sequence to allow mouse assist everytime you sort Ctrl+b adopted by the m character. Kind the next instructions in,

# get to the command line on the standing bar first
Ctrl+b :
# Now map urgent Ctrl+b m to show the mouse ON
bind m set -g mouse on ; show 'Mouse: ON'

Once more, this is able to activate the mouse ON key mapping for the present session solely. To make it obtainable in each Tmux session, place the bind command within the .tmux.conf file.

echo "bind m set -g mouse on ; display 'Mouse: ON'" >> .tmux.conf

Instance 7- Miscellaneous suggestions

• Resizing a pane. Assuming you will have the mouse enabled, to resize a pane, merely left-click on its border with one other pane and drag left-right or up-down as required. If the mouse isn’t enabled, sort Ctrl+b, then maintain down the ALT key while urgent one of many arrow keys.
• Getting assist. Show all Ctrl-b instructions by typing Ctrl+b adopted by the query mark (?) character. To exit this show, sort the c or ESC key
• Zooming in. You probably have a number of panes open, urgent Ctrl+b adopted by the z character will make the present, energetic pane fill the entire window. Urgent the identical key mixture once more will restore issues to the way in which they have been.
• The “Where Am I?” Flash. You probably have a display screen stuffed with panes and also you lose monitor of which is which, press Ctrl+b then q. Giant numbers will flash over each pane. Not solely does this present you the variety of every pane, however should you sort the quantity whereas it’s displayed, you’ll immediately bounce to that pane and make it energetic.
• Switching pane positions. To swap pane positions, click on Ctrl+b adopted by both an open or closed curly brace character ({}). This may alternate the situation of the energetic pane with one other pane within the window.

Abstract

I feel attending to know and utilizing a utility like Tmux is an efficient addition to have in your developer toolbox. That is strengthened by the truth that we’re beginning to see many code assistant instruments, equivalent to Claude Code, actively utilizing instruments like Tmux to show the progress of multi-agent processes. As command-line agentic improvement workflows flourish, we’ll see extra of such a use case.

This text has solely scratched the floor of what the Tmux utility is able to. Instruments like this will take appreciable time to develop into actually proficient with, however I feel it’s worthwhile to persevere. For those who do, you may look again and surprise the way you coped with out it.

To search out out extra about Tmux, go to its GitHub web page on the following hyperlink: