tmux Cheatsheet for DevOps and Cloud Engineers (2025)

🧰 Basic Session Commands

Action	Command
Start new tmux session	`tmux`
Create named session	`tmux new -s [name]`
Detach from session	`Ctrl + B`, then `D`
Attach to last session	`tmux a`
Attach to specific session	`tmux a -t [name/id]`
List sessions	`tmux ls`
Kill current session	`tmux kill-session`
Kill specific session	`tmux kill-session -t [name/id]`

🪟 Window Management

Action	Key Combo
New window	`Ctrl + B`, then `C`
Next window	`Ctrl + B`, then `N`
Rename window	`Ctrl + B`, then `,`
List windows	`Ctrl + B`, then `W`
Kill window	`Ctrl + B`, then `&`

🧱 Pane Management (Splits)

Action	Key Combo
Split pane vertically	`Ctrl + B`, then `"`
Split pane horizontally	`Ctrl + B`, then `%`
Switch panes	`Ctrl + B`, then Arrow keys
Show pane numbers	`Ctrl + B`, then `q`
Jump to pane by index	`Ctrl + B`, then `q` + number
Resize pane	`Ctrl + B` + `Ctrl/Alt` + Arrow keys

🎛️ Layout Presets

Preset	Key Combo
Even vertical layout	`Ctrl + B`, then `Alt + 1`
Even horizontal layout	`Ctrl + B`, then `Alt + 2`
Main-horizontal layout	`Ctrl + B`, then `Alt + 3`
Tiled (4 corners)	`Ctrl + B`, then `Alt + 4`
Custom layout	`Ctrl + B`, then `Alt + 5`

🔁 Persistence & Plugins

tmux-resurrect – Save and restore tmux sessions
tmux-continuum – Auto-save + auto-launch
tmux-yank – Improved clipboard support
tmux-sensible – Saner defaults

🧙 Scripting Sessions

#!/bin/bash
tmux new-session -d -s dev

tmux split-window -h
tmux send-keys -t 0 'htop' C-m
tmux send-keys -t 1 'docker ps' C-m

tmux attach-session -t dev

📦 YAML Workflows

Use Tmuxinator or Teamocil for YAML-based tmux project layouts.

📝 Sample .tmux.conf

# Vi-style keys
setw -g mode-keys vi

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

🔐 SSH Multiplexing + tmux = DevOps Heaven 💍

This combo ensures your SSH sessions are fast, stable, and tmux survives disconnections.

Step 1: Edit `~/.ssh/config`

Host your-server.com
  HostName your-server.com
  User your_username
  ControlMaster auto
  ControlPath ~/.ssh/cm-%r@%h:%p
  ControlPersist 10m

Usage:

ssh your-server.com

Now tmux will stay up, even if SSH disconnects. Reconnect anytime and pick up where you left off.

🔌 Install & Use `tpm` (tmux plugin manager)

Step 1: Clone TPM

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

Step 2: Add plugins to `~/.tmux.conf`

set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tpm'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-sensible'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-continuum'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-yank'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-prefix-highlight'

run '~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm'

Step 3: Install Plugins

Reload config: Ctrl + B, then : → source-file ~/.tmux.conf
Install: Ctrl + B, then I (capital i)

Optional: Auto Restore Sessions

set -g @continuum-restore 'on'
set -g @resurrect-capture-pane-contents 'on'

Save session: Ctrl + B, then Ctrl + S
Restore session: Ctrl + B, then Ctrl + R

Crafted with ❤️ by Sreeju — for terminal pros who live on the edge.