tmux is a terminal multiplexer. It allows you to have multiple virtual consoles open in a single terminal window. Moreover, you can detatch and attach to a tmux session without ending it, allowing you great flexibility when working on remote servers or machines. In many respects it is just like GNU Screen, but is distributed under a BSD license.
Working from tmux: Productive Mouse Free Development from Pragmatic Press I created my initial .tmux.conf file. Over time I have modified my configuration, most recently to improve the status bar information displayed. What follows is a somewhat annotated listing of my tmux configuration.
# use UTF8
set -g utf8
set-window-option -g utf8 on
# make tmux display things in 256 colors
set -g default-terminal "screen-256color"
# set scrollback history to 10000 (10k)
set -g history-limit 10000
# set Ctrl-a as the default prefix key combination
# and unbind C-b to free it up
set -g prefix C-a
unbind C-b
# use send-prefix to pass C-a through to application
bind C-a send-prefix
# shorten command delay
set -sg escape-time 1
# set window and pane index to 1 (0 by default)
set-option -g base-index 1
setw -g pane-base-index 1
# reload ~/.tmux.conf using PREFIX r
bind r source-file ~/.tmux.conf \; display "Reloaded!"
# use PREFIX | to split window horizontally and PREFIX - to split vertically
bind | split-window -h
bind - split-window -v
# Make the current window the first window
bind T swap-window -t 1
# map Vi movement keys as pane movement keys
bind h select-pane -L
bind j select-pane -D
bind k select-pane -U
bind l select-pane -R
# and use C-h and C-l to cycle thru panes
bind -r C-h select-window -t :-
bind -r C-l select-window -t :+
# resize panes using PREFIX H, J, K, L
bind H resize-pane -L 5
bind J resize-pane -D 5
bind K resize-pane -U 5
bind L resize-pane -R 5
# explicitly disable mouse control
setw -g mode-mouse off
set -g mouse-select-pane off
set -g mouse-resize-pane off
set -g mouse-select-window off
# ---------------------
# Copy & Paste
# ---------------------
# provide access to the clipboard for pbpaste, pbcopy
set-option -g default-command "reattach-to-user-namespace -l zsh"
set-window-option -g automatic-rename on
# use vim keybindings in copy mode
setw -g mode-keys vi
# setup 'v' to begin selection as in Vim
bind-key -t vi-copy v begin-selection
bind-key -t vi-copy y copy-pipe "reattach-to-user-namespace pbcopy"
# update default binding of 'Enter' to also use copy-pipe
unbind -t vi-copy Enter
bind-key -t vi-copy Enter copy-pipe "reattach-to-user-namespace pbcopy"
bind y run 'tmux save-buffer - | reattach-to-user-namespace pbcopy '
bind C-y run 'tmux save-buffer - | reattach-to-user-namespace pbcopy '
# ----------------------
# set some pretty colors
# ----------------------
# set pane colors - hilight the active pane
set-option -g pane-border-fg colour235 #base02
set-option -g pane-active-border-fg colour240 #base01
# colorize messages in the command line
set-option -g message-bg black #base02
set-option -g message-fg brightred #orange
# ----------------------
# Status Bar
# -----------------------
set-option -g status on # turn the status bar on
set -g status-utf8 on # set utf-8 for the status bar
set -g status-interval 5 # set update frequencey (default 15 seconds)
set -g status-justify centre # center window list for clarity
# set-option -g status-position top # position the status bar at top of screen
# visual notification of activity in other windows
setw -g monitor-activity on
set -g visual-activity on
# set color for status bar
set-option -g status-bg colour235 #base02
set-option -g status-fg yellow #yellow
set-option -g status-attr dim
# set window list colors - red for active and cyan for inactive
set-window-option -g window-status-fg brightblue #base0
set-window-option -g window-status-bg colour236
set-window-option -g window-status-attr dim
set-window-option -g window-status-current-fg brightred #orange
set-window-option -g window-status-current-bg colour236
set-window-option -g window-status-current-attr bright
# show host name and IP address on left side of status bar
set -g status-left-length 70
set -g status-left "#[fg=green]: #h : #[fg=brightblue]#(curl icanhazip.com) #[fg=yellow]#(ifconfig en0 | grep 'inet ' | awk '{print \"en0 \" $2}') #(ifconfig en1 | grep 'inet ' | awk '{print \"en1 \" $2}') #[fg=red]#(ifconfig tun0 | grep 'inet ' | awk '{print \"vpn \" $2}') "
# show session name, window & pane number, date and time on right side of
# status bar
set -g status-right-length 60
set -g status-right "#[fg=blue]#S #I:#P #[fg=yellow]:: %d %b %Y #[fg=green]:: %l:%M %p :: #(date -u | awk '{print $4}')::"For a time I used tmux-powerline for my status bar. However this felt like a sledgehammer for peanuts kind of solution. This past weekend I removed tmux-powerline and created the status bar setup shown above. With the potential to show four IP address the left side of the status bar is a bit crowded, but I only ever use tmux in a full screen terminal window so I have real estate to spare.
The right side of the status bar displays the session name, screen and pane numbers, date, and local time, and finally UTC time. The middle of the status bar shows a list of the current windows.
The status bar colors are loosely based on tmux-colors-solarized.
You can see my .tmux.conf, along with my entire dotfiles collection by visiting my dotfiles repository on GitHub.