Posts tagged: tmux Archive

tmux push/pull panes

2022-12-04T13:25:54Z

Moving panes between tmux sessions is something that makes tmux a very flexible and powerful tool. I don’t need this feature very often, but it comes in clutch when you need it.

Pull a pane from any other session #

Using choose-window I was able to come up with a way to select any pane withing any other session and join it into my current session.

# Choose a pane to join in horizontally
bind f choose-window -Z 'join-pane -h -s "%%"'

Push/Pull from scratch #

I’ve long had this one in my tmux config, I always have a “scratch” session that I’m running, I often use for looking at things like k9s accross repos within a popup.

This use case puts a pane into the scratch session, then pulls it back out. I will use this to move a pane between sessions in the rare cases I need to do this.

# push the active pane into the scratch session horizonally
bind -n M-f join-pane -ht scratch
# pull the last active pane from the scratch session horizonally into this session
bind -n M-F join-pane -hs scratch

How I Present Markdown Slides from the Terminal

2022-03-21T16:13:39Z

I love the freedom of writing in markdown. It allows me to write content from the comfort of my editor with very little focus on page style. It turns out that markdown is also a fantastic tool for creating slides.

Present from the terminal #

I will most often just present right from the terminal using lookatme. Presenting from the terminal lets me see the results quick right from where I am editing. It also allows me to pop into other terminal applications quickly.

reveal.js #

I sometimes also use reveal.js, but that’s for another post. It is handy that it lives in the browser and is easier to share.

New Slides #

I leverage auto slides when I write my slides in markdown. The largest heading, usually an h2 for me, becomes the new slide marker. Otherwise my process is not much different, It just becomes a shorter writing style.

Installation #

lookatme is a python library that is available on pypi, you can install it with the pip command.

python -m pip install lookatme

Since it’s a command line application it works great with pipx. This prevents the need to manage virtual environments yourself or ending up with packages clashing in your system python environment.

pipx install lookatme

From my terminal #

lookatme {filepath}

I just run it with pipx.

pipx run \
 --spec git+https://github.com/waylonwalker/lookatme \
 lookatme {filepath} \
 --live-reload \
 --style gruvbox-dark

Note, I use a custom fork of lookatme. It’s schema validation did not like the date format of my blog posts, so I have a one line fix built into my fork that is pretty specific to me.

From Neovim #

most often what I do

From Neovim I use a plugin I created for sending out commands to tmux called telegraph. This sends the above command to a new session that I can bounce between quickly.

nnoremap <leader><leader>s <cmd>lua require'telegraph'.telegraph({cmd='pipx run --spec git+https://github.com/waylonwalker/lookatme lookatme {filepath} --live-reload --style gruvbox-dark', how='tmux'})<CR>

Open Files with Nvim Remote

2022-03-06T16:22:49Z

I recently found a really great plugin by mhinz to open files in neovim from a different tmux split, without touching neovim at all.

Installation #

neovim-remote is not a neovim plugin at all, it’s a python cli that you can install with pip. Unlike the repo suggests, I use pipx to install nvr.

pipx install neovim-remote

How I use it #

I have this added to my .envrc that is in every one of my projects. This will tie a neovim session to that directory, and all directories under it.

export NVIM_LISTEN_ADDRESS=/tmp/nvim-$(basename $PWD)

In my workflow I open a tmux session for each project, so this essentially ties a neovim session to a tmux session.

Open neovim #

First open neovim, but with the nvr command. This will open neovim, and look pretty much the same as always.

nvr

If you try to run nvr again in another shell nothing will happen as its already runnin under that address, but if you give it a filename it will open the file in the first instance of neovim that you opened.

nvr readme.md

Links #

GitHub

Textual Popup Hack

2022-02-26T15:41:12Z

As I am toying around with textual, I am wanting some popup user input to take over. Textual is still pretty new and likely to change quite significantly, so I don’t want to overdo the work I put into it, So for now on my personal tuis I am going to shell out to tmux.

The Problem #

The main issue is that when you are in a textual app, it kinda owns the input. So if you try to run another python function that calls for input it just cant get there. There is a textual-inputs library that covers this, and it might work really well for some use cases, but many of my use cases have been for things that are pre-built like copier, and I am trying to throw something together quick.

textual is still very beta

Part of this comes down to the fact that textual is still very beta and likely to change a lot, so all of the work I have done with it is for quick and dirty, or fun side projects.

The Solution #

So the solution that was easiest for me… shell out to a tmux popup. The application I am working on wants to create new documents using copier templates. copier has a fantastic cli that walks throught he template variables and asks the user to fill them in, so I just shell out to that with Popen. Make sure that you wait for this process to finish otherwise there will be bit of jank in your textual app.

async def action_new_post(self) -> None:
    proc = subprocess.Popen(
        'tmux popup "copier copy plugins/todo-template tasks"', shell=True
    )
    proc.wait()

example #

Here is what the running todo application looks like with the copier popup over it.

tmux popups

a bit more on tmux-popus [here] https://waylonwalker.com/tmux-popups/)

Links #

A better copy-mode bind for Tmux

2022-02-13T17:05:23Z

The default keybinding for copy-mode <prefix>-[ is one that is just so awkward for me to hit that I end up not using it at all. I was on a call with my buddy Nic this week and saw him just fluidly jump into copy-mode in an effortless fashion, so I had to ask him for his keybinding and it just made sense. Enter, that’s it. So I have addedt his to my ~/.tmux.conf along with one for alt-enter and have found myself using it way more so far.

Setting copy-mode to enter #

To do this I just popped open my ~/.tmux.conf and added the following. Now I can get to copy-mode with <prefix>-Enter which is control-b Enter, or alt-enter.

bind Enter copy-mode
bind -n M-Enter copy-mode

More on copy-mode #

I have a full video on copy-mode you can find here.

tmux copy-mode

Tmux and Vim Clipboard for Ubuntu

2022-01-26T02:50:56Z

One of the first things I noticed broken in my terminal based workflow moving from Windows wsl to ubuntu was that my clipboard was all messed up and not working with my terminal apps. Luckily setting tmux and neovim to work with the system clipboard was much easier than it was on windows.

First off you need to get xclip if you don’t already have it provided by your distro. I found it in the apt repositories. I have used it between Ubuntu 18.04 and 21.10 and they all work flawlessly for me.

I have tmux setup to automatically copy any selection I make to the clipboard by setting the following in my ~/.tmux.conf. While I have neovim open I need to be in insert mode for this to pick up.

# ~/tmux.conf
bind -T copy-mode-vi Enter send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "xclip -i -f -selection primary | xclip -i -selection clipboard"
bind-key -T copy-mode-vi MouseDragEnd1Pane send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "xclip -selection clipboard -i"

To get my yanks to go to the system clipboard in neovim, I just added unnamedplus to my existing clipboard variable.

# ~/.config/nvim/init.vim
set clipboard+=unnamedplus

If you need to copy something right from the terminal you can use xclip directly. I do this semi-often to send someone a message in chat.

cat file.txt | clip -sel copy

I set up some alias’s for doing this a bit more efficiently, but don’t find myself using them very often. This helps me grab commands from history and copy them.

alias hclip="history | tail -n1 | cut -c 8- | xclip -sel clip"
alias fclip="history -n 1000 | fzf | cut -c 8- | xclip -sel clip"
alias fclip="history -n 1000 | fzf | xclip -sel clip"

Tmux hotkey for copier templates

2022-01-24T02:22:53Z

I have added a hotkey to my copier template setup to quickly access all my templates at any time from tmux. At any point I can hit <c-b><c-b>, thats holding control and hitting bb, and I will get a popup list of all of my templates directory names. Its an fzf list, which means that I can fuzzy search through it for the template I want, or arrow key to the one I want if I am feeling insane. I even setup it up so that the preview is a list of the files that come with the template in tree view.

bind-key c-b popup -E -w 80% -d '#{pane_current_path}' "\
    pipx run copier copy ~/.copier-templates/`ls ~/.copier-templates |\
    fzf --header $(pwd) --preview='tree ~/.copier-templates/{} |\
    lolcat'` . \
    "

I’ve had this on my systems for a few weeks now and I am constantly using it for my tils, blogs, and my .envrc file that goes into all of my projects to make sure that I have a virtual environment installed and running any time I open it.

Tmux Pop size

2022-01-05T17:37:26Z

tmux popups can be sized how you like based on the % width of the terminal on creation by using the flags (h, w, x, y) for height, width, and position.

# normal popup
tmux popup figlet "Hello"
# fullscreen popup
tmux popup -h 100% -w 100% figlet "Hello"
# 75% centered popup
tmux popup -h 100% -w 75% figlet "Hello"
# 75% popup on left side
tmux popup -h 100% -w 75% -x 0% figlet "Hello"

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

example running these commands

Uses

2021-11-20T10:38:00Z

This is a listing of all the things that I use on a daily basis to build data pipelines, lead my team, and build this website.

older editions #

[[ uses-2021 ]]

Installation #

Everything installed on my machines is done through ansible-playbooks. It’s been a long transformation to get here, but its so satisfying to boot a brand new system, run a single command a have every single thing cofigured exactly to my liking.

# GET is available by default on Ubuntu
GET waylonwalker.com/bootstrap | bash

# For debian based systems without GET by default
sudo apt install curl
curl -F https://waylonwalker.com/bootstrap | bash

OS #

I run Ubuntu, it works well for me without too much fuss. For me the distribution does not really matter too much, I’m more interested in what’s inside.

Window Manager #

I use awesome wm. Awesome is a tiling window manager that alows me to navigate through 9 workspaces (technically called tags in awesomewm). I can script out certain applications to open in a certain tag, move it to different tags, and join tags super easy. I really dont see myself going back to a floating window manager where you have to place all your windows with the mouse by hand. This is probably one of the biggest selling points for me to move to a Linux desktop.

Terminal #

gnome-terminal #

For the longest time I just used gnome-terminal. It works, for the most part it gets out of the way and lets me do what I want. I just want a terminal that runs tmux properly, runs without titltbars or scrollbars, and lets me theme it without much effort.

kitty #

Kitty is my main terminal, these days, it’s nice, its easy to configure how I want it, but most of its fancier features do not work inside of tmux. It does render incredibly fast, If I accidently cat out a massive file, it typically just handles it, compared to other terminals that will be printing for 30s or so.

Windows Terminal #

When I am on a windows terminal I use the new Terminal. It’s a massive improvement over any other terminal that I have ever tired on windows. Text looks good, the built in themese look good, I use the One-Half-Dark Theme, and the built in Cascadia Code font. Also things like system clipboards, copy, and paste just seem to work better, and integrate well with wsl.

Shell #

The shell is the interpreter that interprets the commands that you send to it from the command line, unlike the terminal that displays the text.

zsh #

I use zsh as my shell of choice. I don’t run oh-my-zsh, I just need a few plugins for things like autosuggestions syntax-highlighting history-substring-search.

Tmux #

Text Editor #

Presentation / Slides #

Video Recording / Streaming #

Video Editing #

Image Editor #

Virtual Environments #

node #

Desk #

Monitor #

Keyboard #

Desktop PC #

Keyboard #

Microphone #

Audio Interface #

Headphones #

Chair #

tmux targeted session

2021-08-02T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/5KE7Il7SOEk

This is something that I made up but use every single day, this is what keeps much of what is on my blog or my teams private work wiki going. I have a few very important directories that I have assigned directly to a hotkey for fast session switching.

bind -n M-i new-session -A -s waylonwalker_com "cd ~/git/waylonwalker.com/ && nvim"
bind i popup -E -h 95% -w 95% -x 100% "tmux new-session -A -s waylonwalker_com 'cd ~/git/waylonwalker.com/ && nvim'"
bind -n M-I popup -E "tmux new-session -A -s waylonwalker_com 'cd ~/git/waylonwalker.com/ && nvim'"

tmux new-session

This one is building off of yeserday’s new-session post, make sure you check that one out as well.

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

Also check out the full YouTube tmux-playlist to see all of the videos in this series.

tmux detach

2021-08-01T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/A1qx3tNKDdA

tmux detach is a handy tmux command that will quit your current session while keeping it running. The full name of the comamnd is detach-client, detach is a shorthand.

default keybinding

bind-key          d detach-client

I have mine bound to mod+d where mod is alt.

bind -n M-d detach-client

https://waylonwalker.com/tmux-nav-2021/

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

Also check out the full YouTube tmux-playlist to see all of the videos in this series.

tmux attach

2021-07-31T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/JQ0yDCVu44E

attach is one of the most useful features of tmux. If you have no interest in tmux for pane and window management, you should use tmux for this. It can be a life saver if you ever get disconnected from the host machine or accidently close your terminal you can connect right back into the session you were just in using attach.

attach #

tmux attach

this command will simply attach back to tmux if you are ever disconnected

If you ever run long running tasks on a remote machine by sshing into this you should be doing it inside tmux, or something like tmux so that you do not loose your work.

attach to a specific session #

If you have multiple sessions running you can select the session that you want to attach to by passing -t <name-of-session>.

tmux attach -t scratch

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

Also check out the full YouTube tmux-playlist to see all of the videos in this series.

tmux ls

2021-07-30T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/LY41GLn_DGg

tmux ls will list the sessions that you have running within the tmux server if tmux is currently running. This is handy to combine with commands such as attach.

tmux ls

tmux attach

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

Also check out the full YouTube tmux-playlist to see all of the videos in this series.

tmux command line

2021-07-29T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/SNu-4IrkjAs

So far we have covered a lot of tmux commands and how they map to keybindings but these same commands can be executed at the command line.

From the command line #

Let’s make a popup that displays our git status for 5s or until we close it manually. We can run the following command at the command line, in a split.

tmux display-popup -E -d '#{pane_current_path}' 'git status && sleep 5'

From the tmux command line #

Or we can open the tmux command line and run it from tmux’s built in command line, which is very similar to bim EX mode. By default the tmux command line can be opened with prefix+[.

display-popup -E -d '#{pane_current_path}' 'git status && sleep 5'

🗒️ note that the tmux command is called by default when inside of tmux.

Make it a keybinding #

Finally we can make it a keybinding by adding a bind command ahead of our tmux command, then we can execute this in the tmux command line or add it to our ~/.tmux.conf.

bind s display-popup -E -d '#{pane_current_path}' 'git status && sleep 5'

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

Also check out the full YouTube tmux-playlist to see all of the videos in this series.

tmux copy-mode

2021-07-28T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/-ypY_-VmBKk

tmux copy-mode is a tmux mode that lets you scroll, search, copy, and jump your way through a pane. There are a ton of keybindings for copy-mode, the main ones you will need to know are / for searching down ? for searching up, n for next item, space for starting a selection, and enter to copy the selection. Arrow keys will be used for navigation unless you have specified vi mode, then it will be hjkl.

Default keybinding to get into copy mode is prefix+[.

bind-key          [ copy-mode

If you are a vim user you will likely want to use vi style keys, add this to your ~/.tmux.conf file to enable vi mode.

setw -g mode-keys vi

full list of copy-mode keybindings from the man page.

  Command                                      vi              emacs
           append-selection
           append-selection-and-cancel                  A
           back-to-indentation                          ^               M-m
           begin-selection                              Space           C-Space
           bottom-line                                  L
           cancel                                       q               Escape
           clear-selection                              Escape          C-g
           copy-end-of-line [<prefix>]                  D               C-k
           copy-line [<prefix>]
           copy-pipe [<command>] [<prefix>]
           copy-pipe-no-clear [<command>] [<prefix>]
           copy-pipe-and-cancel [<command>] [<prefix>]
           copy-selection [<prefix>]
           copy-selection-no-clear [<prefix>]
           copy-selection-and-cancel [<prefix>]         Enter           M-w
           cursor-down                                  j               Down
           cursor-down-and-cancel
           cursor-left                                  h               Left
           cursor-right                                 l               Right
           cursor-up                                    k               Up
           end-of-line                                  $               C-e
           goto-line <line>                             :               g
           halfpage-down                                C-d             M-Down
           halfpage-down-and-cancel
           halfpage-up                                  C-u             M-Up
           history-bottom                               G               M->
           history-top                                  g               M-<
           jump-again                                   ;               ;
           jump-backward <to>                           F               F
           jump-forward <to>                            f               f
           jump-reverse                                 ,               ,
           jump-to-backward <to>                        T
           jump-to-forward <to>                         t
           jump-to-mark                                 M-x             M-x
           middle-line                                  M               M-r
           next-matching-bracket                        %               M-C-f
           next-paragraph                               }               M-}
           next-space                                   W
           next-space-end                               E
           next-word                                    w
           next-word-end                                e               M-f
           other-end                                    o
           page-down                                    C-f             PageDown
           page-down-and-cancel
           page-up                                      C-b             PageUp
           pipe [<command>] [<prefix>]
           pipe-no-clear [<command>] [<prefix>]
           pipe-and-cancel [<command>] [<prefix>]
           previous-matching-bracket                                    M-C-b
           previous-paragraph                           {               M-{
           previous-space                               B
           previous-word                                b               M-b
           rectangle-on
           rectangle-off
           rectangle-toggle                             v               R
           refresh-from-pane                            r               r
           scroll-down                                  C-e             C-Down
           scroll-down-and-cancel
           scroll-up                                    C-y             C-Up
           search-again                                 n               n
           search-backward <for>                        ?
           search-backward-incremental <for>                            C-r
           search-backward-text <for>
           search-forward <for>                         /
           search-forward-incremental <for>                             C-s
           search-forward-text <for>
           search-reverse                               N               N
           select-line                                  V
           select-word
           set-mark                                     X               X
           start-of-line                                0               C-a
           stop-selection
           top-line                                     H               M-R

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

Also check out the full YouTube tmux-playlist to see all of the videos in this series.

tmux join-pane

2021-07-27T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/Vm5rRtcVXLw

Join-pane allows you to join panes that you have broken away from your window, or created in a different window to the window you want it in. As far as I know there is not a default keybinding for it.

Before you can join a pane you must first have a pane marked to join. Once you mark a pane, go back to the window you want to join it to and join-pane.

My keybindings, you must add this to your ~/.tmux.conf file to use them.

# Mark and swap panes
#――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
bind -n M-m select-pane -m # mark
bind -n M-M select-pane -M # unmark

bind -n M-< join-pane

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

Also check out the full YouTube tmux-playlist to see all of the videos in this series.

tmux break-pane

2021-07-26T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/ICL609F2xnc

Break-pane is a handy tmux command when your layout gets too cramped and you want to just move a split into its own window. Calling break-pane does exactly that, it creates a new-window for you and moves your currently selected split into that window

Default key binding for break-pane

bind-key          ! break-pane

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

tmux zoom

2021-07-25T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/Rn6mOarCQ-Y

Zooming into the current split in tmux is a valuable tool to give yourself some screen real estate. These days I am almost always presenting, streaming, or pairing up with a co-worker over a video call. Since I am always sharing my screen I am generally zoomed in to a level that is just a bit uncomfortable, so anytime I make a split it is really uncomfortable, being able to zoom into the split I am focused on is a big help, and also help anyone watching follow where I am currently working.

Default key bindings for zooming the current split

bind-key          z resize-pane -Z

I have rebound this to match the default binding with mod+z rather so that I get that single keystroke experience.

bind -n M-z resize-pane -Z

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

tmux new-window

2021-07-24T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/YRPZBv-iYyE

New window as it sounds makes new windows in tmux. Windows are kind of like tabs. They are another screen within your sessions that you can name and make new panes in.

Default key bindings for creating and navigating windows in tmux.

bind-key          c new-window
bind-key          p previous-window
bind-key          n next-window

As always I have rebound these keys because I generally prefer a single keystroke over the prefix plus keybinding approach that tmux gives by default.

#――windows――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
bind -n M-c new-window -c '#{pane_current_path}'
bind -n M-p previous-window
bind -n M-n next-window

When I started using tmux I did almost everything in one giant session with many panes and windows. It became a nightmare to manage and quickly get between two sets work efficiently. This year I leaned in on sessions quite heavily. Checkout this 👇 post to see that workflow in depth.

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

tmux slect-pane

2021-07-23T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/CPZJZjN9YTY

These are my MOST often used keybindings that I use in tmux. They allow me to jump between splits with ease with a vim style layout. I can hold mod and jump between panes with a familiar arrow key.

bind -n M-h select-pane -L
bind -n M-l select-pane -R
bind -n M-k select-pane -U
bind -n M-j select-pane -D

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

tmux rotate-window

2021-07-22T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/06z5qf81ofo

Rotate window is the main way that I navigated tmux before I learned select-pane. It allows you to change your focused pane, or rotate the position of the panes easily.

Default keybindings

bind-key        C-o rotate-window
bind-key          o select-pane -t :.+

My keybindings look just a bit different than the default ones, I do not like needing to hit prefix for every command, especially for repeated commands. I set a similar keybinding to the default one that uses mod instead of prefix.

bind -n M-o select-pane -t :.+
bind -n M-O rotate-window

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

tmux select-layout

2021-07-21T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/F0mHnwTrNNc

When you get many splits going in tmux sometimes its time for a new layout. There are four layout strategies that I use, main-vertical, main-horizontal, even-vertical, even-horizontal. Almost always I am useing the main ones with mod plus a or mod plus shift a keybindings.

# Select Layouts
#―――――――――――――――――
bind -n M-a select-layout main-vertical
bind -n M-A select-layout main-horizontal
bind -n M-E select-layout even-vertical
bind -n M-V select-layout even-horizontal

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

tmux resize-panes

2021-07-20T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/hpFYE2LU7xc

Resizing panes in tmux can be quite difficult in default tmux, I use a set of keybingings to help resize panes in the rare occasions that I do need just a bit more space. I set the keybinding to the same as my split navigation bindings but shifted. They are very vim like (h,j,k,l).

# resize panes
#―――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
bind -n M-H resize-pane -L 2
bind -n M-L resize-pane -R 2
bind -n M-K resize-pane -U 2
bind -n M-J resize-pane -D 2

Most often when I need to resize panes I just grab the edge of the pane with my mouse. Yes the mouse, its not that often that I actually need to change the size of a pane.

# Enable mouse control (clickable windows, panes, resizable panes)
set -g mouse on

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

tmux choose-tree

2021-07-19T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/79Y-kqAiMpw

Choose tree is a powerful tmux utility that provides a graphical interface to preview all sessions, windows, and panes, move between them kill them, move them and much more.

The default keybinding

bind-key -T prefix s choose-tree -s

my preferred keybinding to open sessions and windows collapsed and Zoomed in.

bind-key j choose-tree -swZ

From the man page.

choose-tree [-GNrswZ] [-F format] [-f filter] [-K key-format] [-O sort-order] [-t target-pane] [template]
        Put a pane into tree mode, where a session, window or pane may be chosen interactively from a tree.  Each session, window or pane is shown on
        one line.  A shortcut key is shown on the left in brackets allowing for immediate choice, or the tree may be navigated and an item chosen or
        otherwise manipulated using the keys below.  -s starts with sessions collapsed and -w with windows collapsed.  -Z zooms the pane.  The follow‐
        ing keys may be used in tree mode:

            Key    Function
            Enter  Choose selected item
            Up     Select previous item
            Down   Select next item
            +      Expand selected item
            -      Collapse selected item
            M-+    Expand all items
            M--    Collapse all items
            x      Kill selected item
            X      Kill tagged items
            <      Scroll list of previews left
            >      Scroll list of previews right
            C-s    Search by name
            m      Set the marked pane
            M      Clear the marked pane
            n      Repeat last search
            t      Toggle if item is tagged
            T      Tag no items
            C-t    Tag all items
            :      Run a command for each tagged item
            f      Enter a format to filter items
            H      Jump to the starting pane
            O      Change sort field
            r      Reverse sort order
            v      Toggle preview
            q      Exit mode

        After a session, window or pane is chosen, ‘%%’ is replaced by the target in template and the result executed as a command.  If template is
        not given, "switch-client -t '%%'" is used.

        -O specifies the initial sort field: one of ‘index’, ‘name’, or ‘time’.  -r reverses the sort order.  -f specifies an initial filter: the fil‐
        ter is a format - if it evaluates to zero, the item in the list is not shown, otherwise it is shown.  If a filter would lead to an empty list,
        it is ignored.  -F specifies the format for each item in the tree and -K a format for each shortcut key; both are evaluated once for each
        line.  -N starts without the preview.  -G includes all sessions in any session groups in the tree rather than only the first.  This command
        works only if at least one client is attached.

https://waylonwalker.com/tmux-nav-2021/

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

tmux prefix

2021-07-18T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/BMkpbfhbkKM

The prefix key is an essential part of tmux, by default all of tmux’s key-bindings sit behind a prefix. This prefix is very similar to vim’s leader key. It is common for folks to change the default C-b (control b) to C-a or if they are a vim user something to match their vim leader key.

set -g prefix C-Space
bind Space send-prefix

A few of the essential default key-bindings.

%      vertical split
"      horizontal split
d      detach

up     select up one pane
down   select down one pane
right  select right one pane
left   select left one pane

t      clock
o      swap panes
c      create window
n      next window
p      previous window

A more complete list of key-bindings can be found in this gist https://gist.github.com/mzmonsour/8791835.

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

tmux splitting panes

2021-07-17T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/kzgyiHap1nQ

splitting panes is a core feature of tmux. It allows us to split the terminal vertically or horizontally into new panes.

bind -n M-s split-window -c '#{pane_current_path}'
bind -n M-v split-window -h -c '#{pane_current_path}'
bind -n M-X kill-pane

🗒️ note that ‘#{pane_current_path}‘will keep the split in the same directory as it’s parent, without this it will default to your home directory.

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

tmux last session

2021-07-16T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/RB87EEnnMnU

An ultimate productivity key-binding in tmux is one to switch to the last session. I use this to quickly get between sessions really quick. Often I am working and need to lookup a quick note, or copy something into my notes, then get back to where I was quickly.

bind -n M-b switch-client -l

I think of this hub and spoke model, and use last-session to quickly drive it.

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

tmux floating popups

2021-07-15T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/2ZqFDsJywt8

Tmux popups are actually floating windows that you can drag around the screen. They always open in the middle (by default) when you open them, no matter where you leave them.

Here are a couple of keybindings I use to open up popup windows.

bind C-g display-popup -E "ta ~/git"
bind -n M-g display-popup -E "tmux new-session -A -s scratch"

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

tmux popups

2021-07-14T23:51:21Z

https://youtu.be/2I8fB28zfB4

Tmux-popups are a great feature that is relatively new to tmux, many repos such as the standard ubuntu repos do not have it. Popups came in 3.2a, if your package manager does not have it, you can follow the tmux’s install instructions to build from source.

# open a popup scratchpad
bind -n M-g display-popup -E "tmux new-session -A -s scratch"

How I navigate tmux in 2021

for more information on how I navigate tmux, check out this full post

I use popups quite a bit in my workflow to ssh into another machine for a short period, or make a new project with a template.

Copy and Paste on Linux

2021-06-25T20:50:45Z

These are the notes that I used as I set up my first ever ubuntu desktop.

gnome-tweaks #

sudo apt install gnome-tweaks

nordix gtk theme #

I ran this, but have no idea if it had any effect as the theme did not show up until I relogged.

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences theme Nordic

What I think actuagnome terminal showing scrollbar in tmuxlly worked was

emoji support #

One thing that I really missed quite early from windows was the emoji virtual keyboard. I like being able to quickly toss in those emoji that give just a bit of a visual cue 🔥, ⚠️,, 🎉, 🦄, 💜.

installation #

I found an application called emote. that seems to do everything I need it to in the snap store. Installation is a typicall snap install.

sudo snap install emote

default keybinding #

The application came with a default keybinding ctrl+alt+e, but I could never remember it.

ctrl+alt+e

Windows keybinding #

Old habits are hard to break, I opened up the gnome settings and set a hotkey to super+; to run the command emote.

Super+;

How it works #

Get that dock outta here #

I tried to disable the dock and it didn’t immediately work for me, likely because I needed to relog. I really have no use for the dock though as I will always open applications with a hotkey or super + search.

sudo apt remove gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock

Terminal One Dark Theme #

I don’t stress too hard on themes, I just want something halfway consistent and just works. I typically have just used a semi-popular theme “one-dark” everywhere. This was the default theme in GitHub’s Atom text editor that I never used. I only care that it looks good and is popular enought that it just exists everywhere.

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/denysdovhan/gnome-terminal-one/master/one-dark.sh)"

I found these to be ugly ans unnecessary so I turned them off. You can access all the menu items by right clicking on the terminal anyways, so there is no reason to let it take up any screen real estate.

Hiding the scrollbar #

Hiding the menubar #

vim clipboard #

sudo apt install xsel

set clipboard+=unnamedplus

tmux clipboard #

# Copy and Paste on Linux
bind -T copy-mode-vi Enter send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "xclip -i -f -selection primary | xclip -i -selection clipboard"
set-option -s set-clipboard off
bind-key -T copy-mode-vi MouseDragEnd1Pane send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "xclip -selection clipboard -i"

Hotkeys #

Key	Desc
super+j	move to workspace below
super+k	move to workspace above
super+shift+j	move window one workspace down
super+shift+k	move window one workspace up

Key	Command	Desc
Super+e	nautilus	File Browser
Super+Shift+p	Area Screenshot	gnome-screenshot -a
Super+Alt+p	Area Screenshot to clipboard	gnome-screenshot -ac
Super+e	nautilus	File Browser

screenshots #

I am constantly taking screenshots for my daily workflow, on Windows I had it setup to both send to the clipboard and store in a screenshots directory.

# take a screenshot and Store it as a file.
gnome-screenshot -a

# take a screenshot and send it to the clipboard
gnome-screenshot -ac

obs #

As od Jun 2021 the version of obs-studio installed using the instructions in their wiki is out of date. I had success getting the latest version, which supports virtual webcams, using snap.

sudo snap install obs-studio

virtual webcam #

After getting the latest version of obs-studio whixh supports virtual webcam it still did not start. After some searching I found that updating v4l2loopback resolved the issue.

sudo apt purge v4l2loopback-dkms
git clone https://github.com/umlaeute/v4l2loopback.git ~/git/v4l2loopback/
cd ~/git/v4l2loopback/
make
sudo make install

sudo modprobe v4l2loopback devices=1 exclusive_caps=1

sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe v4l2loopback video_nr=10 card_label="OBS Video Source" exclusive_caps=1

i3 #

I decided to give i3 a try, simply apt install it, then it shows up under the gear icon at the login screen after a reboot. At this point I don’t think I am ready for i3. I have just changed a bunch of stuff in my workflow and honestly I got a decent gnome config setup in like 10 minutes.

sudo apt install i3

How I navigate tmux in 2021

2021-05-11T09:14:07Z

In 2021 I changed the way I navigate between tmux sessions big time. Now I can create, kill, switch with ease, and generally keep work separated into logical groups.

Update #

Since making this post, I have made ~20 other posts in short form that all have a YouTube video to go along with them you can find them all on my tmux-playlist.

Chris Toomey’s Tmux Course #

I took Chris’s tmux course in December 2020 and it was fantastic. Even as a seasoned tmux user, I learned quite a bit. Before the course, I was proficient in navigating within each of my tmux sessions but rarely started more than one session. A few months later, I have adopted a lot of what I learned from Chris and made it my own.

I am now keeping projects to their own session and can move between them fluidly with just a few keystrokes. For high-traffic projects, I have them bound to a single keystroke for instant switching. This change has been a game-changer from the mess of windows I used to have and the nightmare it was to find work I was doing and end up duplicating project work in two separate windows.

📝 NOTE: Some of my config comes straight from the course, and some of it has been extended to my liking.

Let’s take a quick look at how I am navigating through tmux on a day-to-day basis.

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

👆 Overview of how I navigate tmux

tmux ls #

Throughout this article, I have several recordings showing how I use manage sessions with my keybindings. I will often run a tmux ls command to highlight running sessions at various points to help guide the viewer.

ta #

my attach/session switch script

At the heart of my tmux navigation is a highly customized version of Chris’s tat script that I renamed ta. Many folks add this to their bashrc alias ta=tmux attach. Simply calling ta will do the same thing as shown below. If you’re in a tmux session, it does nothing, and if you’re not in one, it will attach you to the first one.

get the full script from GitHub.

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

👆 attaching to a session by default

In my ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc I add the ta command to keep myself in a tmux session at all times. Whenever I open my terminal, I am automatically dropped into a tmux session, but if I am opening a split while in tmux it’s smart enough to know not to nest tmux sessions.

ta

Another article can dive into my ta command. This one is more about the methodology, workflow, and keybindings to get me there. It’s available in my script.

but there’s more #

gettin fuzzy

Give it a directory, and a fzy dropdown will let you choose a subdirectory to start your session in, and name the session after that directory.

ta ~/git

🔥 Bonus, use direnv to automatically set settings, echo your git status, activate your environment or whatever else you need.

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

👆 give it a directory, it will ask for input to which project and start a new named session in that directory.

Note that starting from outside currently does not start in a split layout like it does when starting from within tmux. I am still playing with this, but generally, I want my terminal session to be plain when I first start my terminal. I usually am starting work after the first default session.

🤔 I still use both fzy and fzf. It probably doesn’t make sense to use both, but I am currently giving fzy a try.

prefix+w #

tmux choose-tree

By default, tmux comes with a tmux choose-tree command bound to prefix+w, which opens in full screen. The upper section of the screen will show every window opened. While selected, you can show the splits in each window by hitting l, or fold it with h. You can search for a session name by hitting /.

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

# ~/.tmux.conf

# expanded to show all splits
bind s choose-tree
# simpler window to show only sessions
bind S choose-session

Keybindings in choose-tree/choose-session #

The default keybindings of the tmux choose-tree and choose-session that I use are listed below. J/K are very intuitive, but I just learned about h,l,/. When I do use one of these, the / (search) can be super helpful to find sessions/windows faster.

action	key
fold	h
unfold	l
up	k
down	j
search	/

prefix+c-w prefix+c-g #

open a project

I have set up to make it easy to open my non-work projects (in my ~/git directory) and my work projects (in my ~/work directory). I bound prefix+c-g and prefix+c-w to open a new session in their respective directories. I like mapping common prefix commands with control to keep my pinky mashed on that control key.

# ~/.tmux.conf

bind C-w new-window -n "work-session-picker" "ta ~/work"
bind C-g new-window -n "git-session-picker" "ta ~/git"

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

prefix+c-j #

jump to session

Now that I have ta rocking with a good create or attach setup, I am rarely toggling through a list of running sessions, but I am doing it with prefix+c-j when I do it. Keeping my finger on control and pressing <space>+j. This keybinding uses fzf to fuzzy match to an existing session and attach.

bind C-j new-window -n "session-switcher" "tmux list-sessions | sed -E 's/:.*$//' | grep -v \"^$(tmux display-message -p '#S')\$\" | fzf --reverse | xargs tmux switch-client -t"

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

M-N M-P #

next/prev

Next and Previous sessions. This is super handy when working with under 3 sessions to be able to cycle through sessions holding shift+alt and pressing n or p.

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

tkill #

time to clean up

It’s easy to get a long crufty list of sessions running throughout the day. Typically this is not too bad on system resources compared to running vscode in every working project, but it does make it more challenging to manage and wade through the sessions list. I use a handy shell alias that’s been in my zshrc for quite some time.

alias tkill="for s in \$(tmux list-sessions | awk '{print \$1}' | rg ':' -r '' | fzy); do tmux kill-session -t \$s; done;"

I don’t have this one set up with a nice hotkey, but it works for my fingers. I often pop open a lower split(M-s), run tkill, and close (M-x).

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

Last Session #

back

While M-n and M-p work well with a small, focused number of sessions, I often end up with too many sessions open, and it’s not efficient to remember a double M-N followed by a triple M-P to get back and forth. Most often, I want to get between two sessions quickly, no matter what the order is.

bind -n M-B switch-client -l
bind -n M-b switch-client -l

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

Once I get two sessions back to back, I can switch between them with insane speed and precision.

More Precision #

one keystroke

The final layer of precision is for my most current project. I need to get to these with a single keystroke. These are bound to a set of keybindings that were readily available, just above the home row.

bind C-t new-session -A -s todo "cd ~/work/todo && nvim -O backlog.md doing.md done.md"
bind -n M-i new-session -A -s ww3 "cd ~/git/ww3/ && nvim"
bind -n M-o new-session -A -s images_waylonwalker_com "cd ~/git/images.waylonwalker.com/ && nvim"

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

These few directories are always at my fingertips, encouraging me to keep better notes

And yes, I did steal this last one from Harpoon-man By The Way.

Hub and Spoke #

M-i M-b

I have really been digging this hub and spoke workflow where I am rocking away on a project hit M-I, take some notes then hit M-b to get back to where I was.

Model of my current workflow

Example #

Here is an example of how I use the hub and spoke model to get to notes on my blog and back to my project quickly.

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

Example workflow #

open tmux session with ta
prefix+c-g start work in a project using a fuzzy matcher
M-t over to my todo list
M-b back to my project
M-i to my blog to look up notes/make notes
M-b back to my project
prefix+c-g start work in another project using a fuzzy matcher
M-t over to my todo list
M-b back to my project
prefix+c-j fuzzy back to the first project
M-b back to the second project

Please let me know your thoughts. @waylonwalker, this one took me a bit longer to put together with all of the animated gif’s, but I think it helps visually show how I navigate tmux every day.

If you liked it, give it a share and tag me on twitter. I don’t often ask but this article took a bit more to put together than my normal post.

If Tmux

2021-01-09T00:00:00Z

I do much of my work from tmux, I love it so much that I want to setup some functionality that puts me in tmux even if I didn’t ask for it.

Bash Function #

Bash function to check if the shell is in a tmux session.

in_tmux () {
  if [ -n "$TMUX" ]; then
    return 0
  else
    return 1
  fi
  }

Using the bash function #

I often open up vim to do some quite edits, but before I know it I have several splits open and I need access to another shell utility, but I forgot to start in tmux. This function makes sure tht I start in tmux everytime.

Using if_tmux to ensure vim is opened in tmux.

vim () {
  in_tmux \
    && nvim \
    || bash -c "\
    tmux new-session -d;\
    tmux send-keys nvim Space +GFiles C-m;\
    tmux -2 attach-session -d;
    "
  }

I am not quite sure if this is proper use of the && and ||, let me know if you have a better way to do one thing if in_tmux returns true and another if it returns faslse.

Scripting Tmux Layouts

2020-12-13T00:00:00Z

This is how I script a tmux layout

 bash -c "tmux new-session -t 'editor' -d;\
    tmux split-window -v 'zsh';
    tmux send-keys nvim Space /src/ Space +GFiles C-m; \
    tmux rotate-window; \
    tmux select-pane -U; \
    tmux -2 attach-session -d
    "

Keyboard Driven VSCode

2019-07-07T05:00:00Z

Throw that mouse Away its time to setup some keyboard shortcuts.

These sortcuts were the baseline for switching from tmux/vim to vscode. Most folks posts I was able to find gave great tips on replacing vim, but very few have focused on the hackability of tmux. tmux allows me to rapidly fire up a workspace, create new windows and splits. Then When I switch tasks I can leave that workspace open and and jump right back in later exactly where I left off. There is nothing quite like it. The shortcuts listed here make the transition a bit better. The worst thing I found when using vscode at first was no way to switch between the terminal and editor without the mouse. This first set of keybindings solve that issue.

The worst thing I found when using vscode at first was no way to switch between the terminal and editor without the mouse.

!!! see-also I have an updated article in my tmux workflow How I navigate tmux in 2021

Alt+[hjkl] #

navigation

⬅ jump to left split alt+h

⬇ jump to terminal from editor alt+j

⬆ jump to editor from terminal alt+k

➡ jump to right split alt+l

This is by var the most useful set of keybindings that I use in vscode and is directly replicated from my tmux configuration. It allows me to quickly jump up, down, left, right. Do note that if you use vertical splits it does not work as well as tmux 😢.

[
        {
            "key": "alt+j",
            "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focus",
            "when": "editorFocus"
        },

        {
            "key": "alt+k",
            "command": "workbench.action.focusFirstEditorGroup",
            "when": "terminalFocus"
        },
        {
            "key": "alt+k",
            "command": "workbench.action.focusAboveGroup",
            "when": "editorFocus"
        },
        {
            "key": "alt+l",
            "command": "-toggleFindInSelection",
            "when": "editorFocus"
        },
        {
            "key": "alt+l",
            "command": "workbench.action.focusNextGroup",
            "when": "editorFocus"
        },
        {
            "key": "alt+h",
            "command": "workbench.action.focusPreviousGroup",
            "when": "editorFocus"
        },

        {
            "key": "alt+l",
            "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focusNextPane",
            "when": "terminalFocus"
        },
        {
            "key": "alt+h",
            "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focusPreviousPane",
            "when": "terminalFocus"
        },
]

Alt+b #

toggle bloat

Since closing the sidebar is assigned to ctrl+b I thought that it made most sense to simulate the activity bar with alt+b. There are many times when I just want to get as much out of the way as possible and this little bit does help.

[
    {
        "key": "alt+b",
        "command": "workbench.action.toggleActivityBarVisibility",
        "when": "editorFocus"
    },
]

Alt+[svx] #

Split it up

🙌 Split hoizontally alt+s

🍌 Vertically alt+v

💥 Close alt+x

This is another one replicated from tmux for quickly creatiting horizontal (s) and vertical (v) splits. Once I am done with them I can close them with alt+x.

[
    {
        "key": "alt+s",
        "command": "workbench.action.terminal.split",
        "when": "terminalFocus"
    },
    {
        "key": "alt+s",
        "command": "workbench.action.splitEditor",
        "when": "editorFocus"
    },
    {
        "key": "alt+v",
        "command": "workbench.action.splitEditorOrthogonal",
        "when": "editorFocus"
    },
    {
        "key": "alt+x",
        "command": "workbench.action.terminal.kill",
        "when": "terminalFocus"
    },
    {
        "key": "alt+x",
        "command": "workbench.action.closeActiveEditor",
        "when": "editorFocus"
    }
]

Alt+[cnp] #

🤲 Create new workspace alt+c

⏭ jump to next workspace alt+n

⏮ jump to previous workspace alt+p

Sometimes the terminal window gets a bit cramped inside of splits and you need to use different panes. I replicated the cnp pattern from tmux here as well. I can create (c) new panes, then go to the next (n), or previous (p) without leaving the comfort of my keyboard.

I am often using this one when I have a process running that I watch like gatsby, and I need to quickly pop into a new pane to run a git command and back in to gatsby before jumping up to my editor.

[
    {
        "key": "alt+c",
        "command": "workbench.action.terminal.new",
        "when": "terminalFocus"
    },
    {
        "key": "alt+n",
        "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focusNext",
        "when": "terminalFocus"
    },

    {
        "key": "alt+p",
        "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focusPrevious",
        "when": "terminalFocus"
    },
]

Alt+z #

🗻 Zoom into terminal alt+z

This last one doesnt work as well as I would like but it sure does get the job done. It Zooms (z) into the terminal from anywhere in vscode. I can be in my editor and zoom out of the terminal to make more room, or zoom in to see what happened from my last edit.

![](https://images.waylonwalker.com/alt z.gif)

[
    {
        "key": "alt+z",
        "command": "workbench.action.toggleMaximizedPanel",
    },
]

Bonus #

Alt+r #

🖱 right click in place

I recently found this one, and find it quite useful to quickly do things like revert selected range, or extract variable without leaving the keyboard.

[
  {
    "key": "alt+r",
    "command": "editor.action.showContextMenu",
  },
]

Posts tagged: tmux Archive

tmux push/pull panes

Pull a pane from any other session #

Push/Pull from scratch #

How I Present Markdown Slides from the Terminal

Present from the terminal #

reveal.js #

New Slides #

Installation #

From my terminal #

From Neovim #

Open Files with Nvim Remote

Installation #

How I use it #

Open neovim #

Links #

Textual Popup Hack

The Problem #

The Solution #

example #

Links #

A better copy-mode bind for Tmux

Setting copy-mode to enter #

More on copy-mode #

Tmux and Vim Clipboard for Ubuntu

Tmux hotkey for copier templates

Tmux Pop size

Uses

older editions #

Installation #

OS #

Window Manager #

Terminal #

gnome-terminal #

kitty #

Windows Terminal #

Shell #

zsh #

Tmux #

Text Editor #

Presentation / Slides #

Video Recording / Streaming #

Video Editing #

pager #

Image Editor #

Virtual Environments #

node #

Desk #

Monitor #

Keyboard #

Desktop PC #

Keyboard #

Microphone #

Audio Interface #

Headphones #

Chair #

tmux targeted session

tmux detach

tmux attach

attach #

attach to a specific session #

tmux ls

tmux command line

From the command line #

From the tmux command line #

Make it a keybinding #

tmux copy-mode

tmux join-pane

tmux break-pane

tmux zoom

tmux new-window

tmux slect-pane

tmux rotate-window

tmux select-layout

tmux resize-panes

tmux choose-tree

tmux prefix

tmux splitting panes

tmux last session

tmux floating popups