tmux

name	tmux
description	Use when setting up tmux on a new machine, looking up key bindings, debugging terminal colors, or restoring tmux dotfiles. Triggers: "tmux", "terminal multiplexer", "tmux.conf", "pane", "window split", "copy mode", "prefix key"

Tmux Configuration

Personal tmux dotfiles for a consistent terminal environment across machines (Snellius, LUMI, personal).

When to Use

• Setting up tmux on a new machine or server
• Restoring tmux configuration after a reinstall
• Looking up tmux key bindings or copy-mode commands
• Debugging terminal color or clipboard issues

Quick Reference

Fact	Value
Repo	[e-mail]:dongzhuoyao/tao-tmux-zsh.git
Prefix	C-b (default) + C-a (secondary, Screen-compatible)
Theme	Gruvbox dark (self-contained, no TPM needed)
Config size	~200 lines of pure tmux config
Scrollback	50,000 lines
True color	Yes (24-bit)
Mouse	Toggleable with prefix + m
tmux required	2.6+

Installation

# Clone
git clone [e-mail]:dongzhuoyao/tao-tmux-zsh.git ~/tao-tmux-zsh

# Backup existing config
[ -f ~/.tmux.conf ] && mv ~/.tmux.conf ~/.tmux.conf.bak

# Symlink
ln -sf ~/tao-tmux-zsh/tmux.conf ~/.tmux.conf

# Reload (if tmux is already running)
tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

Key Bindings

All bindings use the prefix key (C-b or C-a) unless noted.

Navigation

Binding	Action
h / j / k / l	Pane navigation (vim-style)
Tab	Switch to last active window
C-h / C-l	Previous / next window

Panes and Windows

Binding	Action
-	Split horizontal (retains current path)
_	Split vertical (retains current path)
H / J / K / L	Resize pane
c	New window (retains current path)
m	Toggle mouse on/off
r	Reload tmux config

Copy Mode

Binding	Action
Enter	Enter copy mode
v	Begin selection
C-v	Toggle rectangle selection
y	Yank (copy) selection

macOS clipboard integration available via prefix + y.

Features

• Gruvbox dark theme: Self-contained color scheme, no plugin manager (TPM) needed
• Mouse support: Toggle with prefix + m — useful for scrolling and pane selection
• Focused pane highlighting: Active pane visually distinct from inactive ones
• True color (24-bit): Proper color rendering for modern terminals
• 50K scrollback: Large history buffer for log inspection
• Status bar: Session name (left), prefix indicator + time + date + user@host (right)

Common Tasks

Reload config after edits

# Inside tmux: prefix + r
# Or from shell:
tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

Update dotfiles

cd ~/tao-tmux-zsh && git pull
tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Colors look wrong	Ensure terminal supports true color; check echo $TERM shows xterm-256color or similar
Clipboard not working (macOS)	Install reattach-to-user-namespace: brew install reattach-to-user-namespace
Tmux config not loading	Verify symlink: ls -la ~/.tmux.conf should point to ~/tao-tmux-zsh/tmux.conf

Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern	What goes wrong	Fix
Installing TPM and adding many plugins	Slow startup, fails on remote servers without internet	This config is self-contained — no TPM needed
Leaving TERM=xterm on a remote server	Colors mangled, key bindings break, copy-mode glitches	Set TERM=xterm-256color (in zshrc or ~/.ssh/config via SetEnv)
Editing ~/.tmux.conf directly after symlinking	Edits get lost on next git pull of the dotfiles repo	Edit ~/tao-tmux-zsh/tmux.conf and re-source
Patching pbcopy into Linux server config	Errors — pbcopy is macOS only	Let the config branch by OS; do not patch in pbcopy on Linux
Starting multiple tmux servers per user	Sessions diverge across servers; confusing reattach	Use tmux a to attach to the existing server
Forgetting to reload after editing config	Changes don't take effect until restart	prefix + r or tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

See Also

• zsh — Companion zsh configuration from the same dotfiles repo