tmux cheatsheet and good practices

tmux keeps terminal sessions running when you detach or lose an SSH connection. It also gives you tabs and split terminals in one window.

• Session: a workspace, usually one per project or server task.
• Window: a tab inside a session.
• Pane: a split terminal inside a window, with its own shell or program.

Install and get started

Install with your distribution's package manager:

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt update
sudo apt install tmux

# Fedora / RHEL
sudo dnf install tmux

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S tmux

Start a named session:

tmux new -s work

Run commands normally. Press Ctrl+b, release both keys, then press d to detach. Your shells and programs keep running. Return with:

tmux attach -t work

Throughout this cheatsheet, Prefix means Ctrl+b, followed by the listed key. These are the default bindings; custom configurations can change them. For symbols such as % and ", use Shift as required by your keyboard layout.

Keyboard cheatsheet

Sessions and help

At the tmux command prompt, omit the tmux executable name. For example, enter list-sessions and press Enter.

Windows

Panes

If your terminal intercepts resize shortcuts, use Prefix : and enter resize-pane -R 5 instead. Other directions are -L, -U, and -D.

Use exit in an idle shell to close its pane normally. Closing the last pane closes the window; closing the last window ends the session. Detach with Prefix d when you want to come back later.

Shell commands

Run these at a normal shell prompt:

kill-session closes the session's terminals and can terminate running work. tmux kill-server destroys all sessions on that tmux server; it is not a detach or configuration-reload command.

Scroll, search, copy, and paste

Press Prefix [ to enter copy mode. Prefix Page Up enters copy mode and scrolls up one page. Once inside copy mode, the following keys do not need the prefix:

Enter the search text and press Enter. tmux normally uses Emacs mode, but can select Vi mode when VISUAL or EDITOR contains vi. Check with tmux show-options -gw mode-keys; the configuration below explicitly selects Vi mode.

Outside copy mode:

• Prefix ] pastes the most recent tmux buffer.
• Prefix = opens the buffer chooser.
• tmux show-buffer prints the latest buffer in your shell.

tmux paste buffers are separate from your desktop clipboard. System clipboard integration depends on your terminal and settings, especially over SSH. With mouse mode enabled, many terminals let you hold Shift while selecting text to use the terminal's own selection instead.

A practical SSH workflow

Start tmux on the remote host so the work stays there if SSH disconnects:

ssh user@server
tmux new -As maintenance

1. Rename the first window with Prefix , to shell.
2. Create a second window with Prefix c, rename it logs, and run journalctl -f there.
3. Return to shell with Prefix p and run your maintenance commands.
4. Detach with Prefix d, then exit the SSH shell when finished for now.
5. Reconnect with SSH and run tmux attach -t maintenance to resume.

Starting tmux locally and running SSH inside it only preserves the local terminal; it does not protect remote commands from an SSH disconnect.

Small, useful configuration

Add the settings you want to ~/.tmux.conf on the machine running tmux:

# Click to select panes, drag borders, and scroll with the mouse.
set -g mouse on

# Keep more scrollback for newly created panes (lines per pane).
set -g history-limit 50000

# Use the Vi copy-mode keys from the table above.
setw -g mode-keys vi

# Keep window names you set manually.
setw -g allow-rename off
setw -g automatic-rename off

# Open windows and splits in the active pane's working directory.
bind c new-window -c "#{pane_current_path}"
bind % split-window -h -c "#{pane_current_path}"
bind '"' split-window -v -c "#{pane_current_path}"

# Prefix r reloads this file.
bind r source-file ~/.tmux.conf

Reload from a shell inside a running tmux session:

tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

tmux reads its configuration automatically when its server first starts. Starting another session on an existing server does not reload the file. Increasing history-limit applies to new panes, not the scrollback allocation of existing ones.

Good practices

• Use meaningful names. Sessions such as project-api or maintenance and windows such as editor, shell, and logs are easier to find than numbers alone.
• Use windows for different tasks and panes for related views. A shell beside its logs is useful; too many tiny panes are not. Prefix z gives a pane temporary breathing room.
• Detach to preserve work. tmux survives terminal and SSH disconnections while its server and host remain running. It does not survive a host reboot or protect against processes being stopped by logout policies.
• Use a service manager for services. tmux is useful for interactive maintenance and development. Use systemd for programs that need startup at boot, restarts, and managed logs.
• Keep important output in real logs. Scrollback is finite and disappears when its pane is destroyed. To snapshot the current pane's retained history from a shell inside that pane, run tmux capture-pane -p -S - > ~/tmux-capture.txt; this is not continuous logging and overwrites that file.
• Run tmux as your regular user. Use sudo for individual commands when needed. Reattach as the same user on the same host; sudo tmux uses a separate server and session list.
• Switch sessions instead of nesting them. Use Prefix s or tmux switch-client -t work. If local and remote tmux are deliberately nested with the default prefix, press Ctrl+b, then Ctrl+b, then the command key to send a command to the inner tmux.
• Keep pane synchronization deliberate. Prefix : followed by setw synchronize-panes on broadcasts input to panes in the current window that are not in a mode. Turn it off with setw synchronize-panes off as soon as the shared task is done.
• Keep configuration small and version-controlled. Learn the default prefix and a few shortcuts first, then add bindings you actually use.

Troubleshooting and reference

Use tmux -V to check your installed version and man tmux for its matching manual. The official getting started guide has more examples.