TMUX Setup

Overview
TMUX

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Overview

TMUX is a terminal multiplexer. It gives you quick access to multiple terminals that persists across shell sessions, and can remain open even if you disconnect via SSH. It allows you to split shells and open new windows akin to Terminator.

I highly recommend all your shell sessions are run via TMUX.

TMUX

Installation

Installation of the base package is rather straightforward for most systems. On APT based systems:

sudo apt install tmux

This will install the base package for tmux. Note some of my plugins may not work on this version.

I built the latest from source via:

git clone https://github.com/tmux/tmux.git
cd tmux
sh autogen.sh
./configure
make && sudo make install

This will ensure you have the latest stable version

I also need the following package for one of my plugins

sudo snap install yq

This will be used for some yaml parsing by some plugins

The final package we will need is fzf. I install it from source via:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.git ~/.fzf
~/.fzf/install

Without further ado onto TMUX plugins

Configuration

Let's configure the basic setup first. Add the following to ~/tmux.conf. This is based on justinwalz's config

# reload config
bind-key r source-file ~/.tmux.conf \; display "Reloaded config."

# switch prefix to control-a, unmap b
set -g prefix C-a
unbind C-b

# allow multiple commands in sequence w/o pressing prefix again (default 500 millis)
set -g repeat-time 2000

# remove delay
set -sg escape-time 1

# number of lines in window history
set -g history-limit 20000

# Unbind default split keys
unbind-key '"'
unbind-key %

# Bind new keys for splitting
# NOTE: If you're using tmux-sessionist you'll need to place this after it's loading or re-bind it
# I like this keybind setup I have :)
bind-key g split-window -h -c "#{pane_current_path}"
bind-key v split-window -v -c "#{pane_current_path}"


## ENV ##

# Set default shell here
# set-option -g default-shell /usr/bin/bash
# set-option -g default-command /usr/bin/bash

## MOVEMENT ##
# vim style movement (PRE [ then hjkl)
set -wg mode-keys vi

# vim style through panes
bind-key h select-pane -L
bind-key j select-pane -D
bind-key k select-pane -U
bind-key l select-pane -R

# vim style through windows (PRE Control-H/L)
bind-key -r C-h select-window -t :-
bind-key -r C-l select-window -t :+

# vim style through resizing
bind-key -r H resize-pane -L 5
bind-key -r J resize-pane -D 5
bind-key -r K resize-pane -U 5
bind-key -r L resize-pane -R 5

Base TMUX offers very useful features, but I prefer to have a few more bells and whistles.

For this I use tmux plugin manager. It can be installed as follows:

git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm

After cloning this workspace you'll need to update your tmux.conf

# edit ~/tmux.conf

# List of plugins
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tpm'
# The sensible plugin is a set of pretty good default settings
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-sensible'

# Initialize TMUX plugin manager (keep this line at the very bottom of tmux.conf)
run '~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm'

I install the following set of plugins for mine. You can view other plugins here.

# Pretty Theme
set -g @plugin 'dracula/tmux'

# Pretty font
set -g @plugin 'joshmedeski/tmux-nerd-font-window-name'

# Restore TMUX sessions after shutdown/reboot - backups occur every 15 minutes by default
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-continuum'

# Add's a systemd user-script to initialize tmux-server on startup
# May need to edit the binary path if you installed it from source
# edit here if needed: ${HOME}/.config/systemd/user/tmux.service
set -g @continuum-boot 'on'
# Restore prior sessions on powerup
set -g @continuum-restore 'on'

# Tool to do fuzzy text copy and paste from the screen above
# NOTE: This will need to be updated if you installed from source!
set -g @extrakto_fzf_tool "/home/patrick/.fzf/bin/fzf"
set -g @plugin 'laktak/extrakto'

# More standard mouse functionallity
set -g @plugin 'nhdaly/tmux-better-mouse-mode'
# And enable mouse mode in the first place
set-option -g mouse on

# An interactive tool to remind you of your TMUX commands
set -g @plugin 'alexwforsythe/tmux-which-key'

# Notifies when a pane returns, useful when running long jobs
set -g @plugin 'rickstaa/tmux-notify'

# Plugin for regex search for files/text/paths/etc.
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-copycat'

# Plugin for tmux copying and pasting, tmux has a copy mode that doesn't work great with clipboards by default!
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-yank'

# Useful for session management
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-sessionist'
# I override their default binding of 'g' because that's my horizontal split!

To handle the sessionist conflict I just edit it out in the sessionist.tmux file and bind it to 'G' rather than 'g'. Your key selections are yours, be unique, have fun.

Usage

Workflow

Typically my workflow goes as follows: -create a new TMUX session for some specific, I typically name it with the date just so I can have them sorted. This is because at work I'll have multiple projects I work on and I may have sessions from a long time ago. Year is probably overkill :)

tmux new -s project_session_name_YYYY_MM_DD

You can also use the sensible command if you're already in a session so you don't have to disconnect

From here I'll initialize my windows and split them as I'd typically need for my task at hand. I keep a separate session for each unique task. Sessionist allows you to split up terminals as seems appropriate

Commands

Here's my list of commands

Plugins	Command	Command
tmux	ctrl + a	prefix commands
tmux	prefix + z	zoom in/out on pane
tmux	prefix + r	reload configuration
tmux	prefix + g	horizontal split
tmux	prefix + v	vertical split
tmux	prefix + h	jump left to pane
tmux	prefix + j	jump down to pane
tmux	prefix + k	jump up to pane
tmux	prefix + l	jump right to pane
tmux	prefix + H	resize pane left
tmux	prefix + J	resize pane down
tmux	prefix + K	resize pane up
tmux	prefix + L	resize pane right
tmux	prefix ctrl-z	disconnect from tmux session
tmux	prefix + s	search through current tmux sessions
tpm	prefix + I	install plugin packages
tmux-continuum	prefix ctrl-s	save current tmux config
tmux-continuum	prefix ctrl-r	reload tmux config
extracto	prefix + tab	extracto open prompt
extracto	tab (from prompt)	insert text to current pane
extracto	space (from prompt)	copy text to clipboard
tmux-which-key	ctrl + space	tmux which key root binding
tmux-which-key	prefix + space	tmux which key default prefix
tmux-notify	prefix + m	Start monitoring pane
tmux-notify	prefix + alt + m	Start monitoring pane and return to it when it finishes
tmux-notify	prefix + M	stop monitoring pane
tmux-yank	prefix + y	copies from command line to clipboard
tmux-yank	y(copy mode)	copy selected text to clipboard
tmux-yank	Y(copy mode)	put from keyboard onto the command line
tmux-copycat	prefix + /	regex search
tmux-copycat	prefix + ctrl-f	file search
tmux-copycat	prefix + ctrl g	jump over git status files
tmux-copycat	prefix + alt-h	jump over SHA hashes
tmux-copycat	prefix + ctrl-u	URL search
tmux-copycat	prefix + ctrl-d	number search
tmux-copycat	prefix + alt-i	ip address search
tmux-copycat	n (in copycat-mode)	next match
tmux-copycat	N (in copycat-mode)	previus match
tmux-copycat	Enter (in copycat-mode)	copy text
tmux-copycat	prefix + ] (default tmux)	paste text
tmux-sessionist	prefix + G	go to session (I overrode this and typically don't use it)
tmux-sessionist	prefix + S	jump to previous session
tmux-sessionist	prefix + C	create new session by name
tmux-sessionist	prefix + X	kill current session without detaching
tmux-sessionist	prefix + @	make the current pane into a new session

And that wraps up my guide on TMUX. Highly recommend the tool!