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tmux shortcuts

Aliases mux / mux1 open (or re-attach to) the first and second sessions.

Custom bindings

Generated from terminal/dot-tmux.conf by tools/gen-docs.py — run just docs-update to refresh.

The prefix is C-a (Ctrl+a).

After the prefix

Press the prefix first, then the key.

Key Description Command
C-a Jump to the last active window last-window
Escape Enter copy mode copy-mode
p Paste buffer paste-buffer
r Reload ~/.tmux.conf source-file ${HOME}/.tmux.conf \; display-message "source-file reloaded"
C-l Send a literal Ctrl+L (clear screen) to the pane send-keys 'C-l'
= Split pane horizontally (keeps current path) split-window -h -c "#{pane_current_path}"
- Split pane vertically (keeps current path) split-window -v -c "#{pane_current_path}"
M Mouse mode ON set -g mouse on \; display 'Mouse: ON'
m Mouse mode OFF set -g mouse off \; display 'Mouse: OFF'
u Capture pane and pick a URL to open (urlview popup window) capture-pane \; save-buffer /tmp/tmux-buffer \; new-window -n "urlview"…
C-f Popup fuzzy file picker (pick-files) display-popup -E -h 70% -w 70% "/home/rdlu/.local/bin/pick-files"
C-t Popup terminal in the current pane's path display-popup -E -h 70% -w 70% -d "#{pane_current_path}"

No prefix (root table)

Active anywhere, no prefix needed.

Key Description Command
F12 Toggle OFF mode for nested/remote tmux — all keys (incl. the prefix) pass through to the pane; status bar turns red set prefix None \; set key-table off \; set status-style "fg=colour245,…

Copy mode (vi keys)

Active while in copy mode.

Key Description Command
v Begin selection (vi-style) send-keys -X begin-selection
C-v Toggle rectangle (block) selection send-keys -X rectangle-toggle
y Copy selection and leave copy mode send-keys -X copy-selection-and-cancel

OFF mode

Active only while OFF mode is toggled on.

Key Description Command
F12 Leave OFF mode (restore the local prefix) set -u prefix \; set -u key-table \; set -u status-style \; set -u wind…

tmux defaults worth remembering

Key (after prefix) Action
c New tab (window)
1 2 39 Change to tab #1 to #9
! Promote pane to tab
, Rename tab
w List windows
f Find window
& Kill window
. Move window (prompt #)
:movew + Enter Move window (unused #)
$ Rename session

Plugin bindings (TPM)

Plugin keymaps are defined by the plugins themselves, not in tmux.conf, so these tables are maintained by hand. The plugin list lives in the @tpm_plugins block of tmux.conf. Manage plugins with Prefix + I (install) and Prefix + U (update all).

copycat

Key (after prefix) Action
/ regex search + copy mode
n jump to the next match in copy mode
N jump to the previous match
y copy entire line
Enter copy highlighted match

yank

  • y — copy selection to the system clipboard

Tip with mouse support: press y before releasing the mouse.

Key (after prefix) Action
Tab fuzzy search + fzf mode
Enter copy selection inside fzf mode

Requires fzf (paru -S fzf).

resurrect + continuum

Key (after prefix) Action
Ctrl+s save all tabs
Ctrl+r restore all tabs

Continuum is configured with @continuum-restore on, so sessions also restore automatically when the tmux server starts.

pain-control (panes)

Splitting:

Key (after prefix) Action
\| split current pane horizontally
- split current pane vertically

Navigation:

Key (after prefix) Action
h C-h select pane on the left
j C-j select pane below the current
k C-k select pane above the current
l C-l select pane on the right

Resizing:

Key (after prefix) Action
H resize left
J resize down
K resize up
L resize right

Swapping windows:

Key (after prefix) Action
< move one position to the left
> move one position to the right

sessionist (sessions)

Key (after prefix) Action
g prompt for session name and switch to it
C prompt for creating a new session by name
X kill current session without detaching tmux
S switch to the last session
@ promote current pane into a new session

sessionx (session picker)

Key (after prefix) Action
o open the sessionx picker (zoxide mode, ~/Projects)

open

Key (in copy mode) Action
o open a highlighted selection with the system default program
Ctrl+o open a highlighted selection with $EDITOR
S web-search the selection (DuckDuckGo)

thumbs

Hint-based copy: trigger with Prefix + Space, then press the hint key to copy that text (configured to use wl-copy via OSC52).

logging

Key (after prefix) Action
P start/stop logging
Alt+p log current screen
Alt+P save complete history

fzf

Prefix + F opens the tmux-fzf menu (sessions, windows, panes, commands).