Tmux Cheat Sheet with Custom Configuration

A comprehensive guide and cheat sheet for using tmux effectively, including keyboard shortcuts, command-line commands, and configuration tips.

Getting Started

Start and Manage Sessions

Task	Command
Start tmux	tmux
Start new named session	tmux new -s <session-name>
Attach to last session	tmux attach or tmux a
Attach to named session	tmux a -t <session-name>
List all sessions	tmux ls or tmux list-sessions
Kill session	tmux kill-session -t <name>

Prefix Key

Default prefix key:

Ctrl + a

💡 Note: I’ve remapped Caps Lock to Ctrl using MAC OS keyboard settings for easier access.

To change to Ctrl+a (like GNU screen), add this to ~/.tmux.conf:

unbind C-b
set -g prefix C-a
bind C-a send-prefix

Sessions

Task	Keyboard / Command
List sessions	Ctrl+a s / tmux ls
Detach from session	Ctrl+a d
Rename session	Ctrl+a $ / tmux rename-session
Switch session	tmux switch-client -t <name>

Windows

Task	Keyboard / Command
Create new window	Ctrl+a c / tmux new-window
Rename window	Ctrl+a , / tmux rename-window
List windows	Ctrl+a w
Close window	Ctrl+a & / tmux kill-window
Move window	tmux move-window -s 1 -t 2
Select window	Ctrl+a 0-9 / n / p / l

Panes

Task	Keyboard / Command
Split horizontally	Ctrl+a " / tmux split-window -v
Split vertically	Ctrl+a % / tmux split-window -h
Switch pane	Ctrl+a o / Ctrl+a ;
Resize pane	Ctrl+a + arrow keys
Kill pane	Ctrl+a x / tmux kill-pane
Toggle zoom	Ctrl+a z

Copy Mode (vi-style)

Enable in config:

setw -g mode-keys vi

Task	Keyboard / Command
Enter copy mode	Ctrl+a [
Scroll in copy mode	PgUp, k/j/h/l, w/b
Start selection	Space
Copy selection	Enter
Paste buffer	Ctrl+a ]
Search text	/, ?, then n/N

Mouse Mode

Enable mouse support in ~/.tmux.conf:

set -g mouse on

• Click to switch panes/windows
• Scroll with mouse wheel
• Drag to resize

Buffers

Task	Command
List buffers	tmux list-buffers
Show buffer contents	tmux show-buffer -b 0
Paste buffer	tmux paste-buffer -b 0
Save buffer to file	tmux save-buffer -b 0 buffer.txt
Delete buffer	tmux delete-buffer -b 0

Configuration Tips

Example ~/.tmux.conf:

# Set Ctrl+a as prefix (replacing Caps Lock with Ctrl in OS settings)
unbind C-b
set -g prefix C-a
bind C-a send-prefix

# Enable mouse
set -g mouse on

# Vi mode
setw -g mode-keys vi
set -g status-keys vi

# History
set -g history-limit 10000

# Reload config
bind r source-file ~/.tmux.conf \; display-message "Reloaded!"

Miscellaneous

Task	Command
Enter command prompt	Ctrl+a :
Show key bindings	tmux list-keys
Reload config	tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf
Show info	tmux info

Exiting

Task	Command
Kill pane/window	exit, Ctrl+d
Kill all sessions	tmux kill-server

Custom Configuration Notes

📌 Note from the user: The following customizations are applied in my tmux setup:

• Caps Lock is remapped to Ctrl at the OS level for ergonomic usage.
• Prefix key is changed to Ctrl+a.
• Mouse mode is enabled.
• Panes and windows start indexing at 1.
• Shift+Arrow and Alt+Vim keys are used for navigation.
• Pane splitting uses | and - instead of % and ".
• Vi mode enabled in copy mode and pane navigation.
• Plugins managed with TPM, including:
  • tokyo-night-tmux theme
  • vim-tmux-navigator
  • tmux-which-key
  • (Optional) resurrect, continuum, etc.
• Status bar is moved to the top.
• Tree view with s key to sort/select panes and windows.

References

• tmuxcheatsheet.com
• Official tmux documentation