Tmux for terminal multiplexing

Terminal multiplexer essentials — the session / window / pane model, and keeping tasks alive after SSH disconnects

tmux is a powerful terminal multiplexer that lets you manage multiple sessions, windows, and panes inside a single terminal — your tasks keep running in the background even after SSH disconnects.

Key capabilities:

Session management: create, detach from, and reattach to different tmux sessions. Sessions keep running in the background after SSH disconnects, so you can pick up where you left off.
Windows and panes: each session can hold multiple windows, and each window can be split into multiple panes — driving several programs from a single screen.
Persistence: ideal for long-running tasks (data-processing scripts, server monitoring, etc.); reattach from any device to continue.
Collaboration: multiple users can share the same session in real time, which is great for teamwork.
Keyboard shortcuts: most actions are triggered with the prefix key Ctrl+b.
Configurable: customize keybindings, layouts, and appearance through ~/.tmux.conf.

Installation

Debian / Ubuntu

apt-get update -y
apt-get install tmux

RHEL / CentOS

yum update -y
yum install tmux

Common commands

Session management

Action	Command
Create an unnamed session	`tmux`
Create a named session	`tmux new -s session_name`
List all sessions	`tmux ls`
Reattach to the default session	`tmux attach`
Reattach to a specific session	`tmux attach -t session_name`
Rename a session	`tmux rename-session -t old_name new_name`
Kill a session	`tmux kill-session -t session_name`
Detach from the current session	`tmux detach` or `Ctrl+b d`

After detaching, you can close the terminal window and the session keeps running in the background.

Window management

Action	Command
Create a new window	`tmux new-window` or `Ctrl+b c`
List all windows	`Ctrl+b w`
Rename a window	`Ctrl+b ,` then type a name and press Enter
Switch to a window by index	`Ctrl+b <number>`
Switch to the previous window	`Ctrl+b p`
Switch to the next window	`Ctrl+b n`
Close a window	`exit` or `Ctrl+d`

Pane operations

Action	Command
Split horizontally (top/bottom)	`Ctrl+b "`
Split vertically (left/right)	`Ctrl+b %`
Move the cursor between panes	`Ctrl+b <arrow>`
Cycle the cursor through panes	`Ctrl+b o`
Close the current pane	`exit`