MY TMUX SETUP

+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| tl;dr                                                            |
|                                                                  |
| tmux gives me a persistent terminal workspace inside xterm.      |
| The menu starts or reuses the main session and opens three       |
| windows for shells, editors, and terminal tools.                 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+


OVERVIEW

I use tmux as the session manager for my terminal workflow.

The session runs inside xterm and remains available when the
terminal window is closed or the connection is detached. This lets
me keep shells, nvi, and long-running commands in one place.

My basic setup is:

    xterm + tmux + nvi + coreutils

The shell remains the workspace while tmux provides persistent
windows, panes, and session management.


STARTING TMUX FROM THE MENU

The `termtmux` entry in ~/.bin/menu opens tmux inside xterm.

It uses a session named:

    main

If the session does not exist, the menu creates it and adds two
additional windows. The result is a persistent session with three
windows:

    main:0
    main:1
    main:2

The menu then selects the first window and attaches to the session.
If `main` already exists, it is reused instead of creating a new
session.

The menu's startup sequence is conceptually:

    if session "main" does not exist:
        create session "main" in the background
        create window 1 in session "main"
        create window 2 in session "main"
    select window 0 in session "main"
    attach to session "main"

In the actual shell script, `tmux has-session -t main` performs the
check. The commands that create the session and windows run only when
that check fails. The final attach command runs every time.

This makes the menu a convenient entry point without requiring a
separate startup script for each terminal window.


SESSION WORKFLOW

The main session is useful for keeping a stable terminal environment:

    - window 0: primary shell or nvi
    - window 1: another shell, logs, or monitoring commands
    - window 2: Git, builds, or administrative commands

The exact purpose of each window can change during the day. The
important part is that the session and its processes remain alive
while xterm is closed or tmux is detached.

Attach to the existing session manually with:

    tmux attach-session -t main

List available sessions with:

    tmux list-sessions

Detach without stopping the session with:

    Ctrl-b d


DEFAULT KEY BINDINGS

This configuration keeps tmux's default prefix:

    Ctrl-b

Common commands:

    Ctrl-b c       create a new window
    Ctrl-b n       next window
    Ctrl-b p       previous window
    Ctrl-b 0       select window 0
    Ctrl-b 1       select window 1
    Ctrl-b 2       select window 2
    Ctrl-b %       split vertically
    Ctrl-b "       split horizontally
    Ctrl-b Arrow   move between panes
    Ctrl-b d       detach from the session
    Ctrl-b [       enter copy mode

The local configuration rebinds `Ctrl-b p` to paste from the X11
clipboard. Use the window number or another window command when
switching to a previous window.

Window names and numbers are shown in the status bar at the bottom
of the terminal.


TMUX CONFIGURATION

The configuration file is:

    ~/.tmux.conf

The main choices are:

    - tmux-256color as the default terminal type
    - truecolor support for xterm, st, and alacritty
    - Sixel support for xterm
    - a 20,000-line scrollback history
    - mouse support for scrolling, selection, and pane resizing
    - vi keys in copy mode
    - system clipboard integration through xclip
    - a minimal black status bar with date and time

The configuration also enables tmux clipboard support and provides
mouse selection and explicit copy/paste bindings through xclip.

Reload the configuration without leaving the session:

    Ctrl-b r

The reload binding displays a confirmation message in the status bar.


COPY AND SCROLLBACK

Mouse support makes ordinary scrolling and selection work naturally.
Copy mode uses vi-style keys, matching the rest of my keyboard-driven
workflow.

The `y` binding copies the current selection to the X11 clipboard:

    Ctrl-b [
    movement keys
    y

The `p` binding pastes from the X11 clipboard:

    Ctrl-b p

The system clipboard integration depends on `xclip` being available.


WHY TMUX

tmux fits this workflow better than opening many independent xterm
windows:

    - sessions persist independently of the terminal window
    - windows organize different activities
    - panes allow related commands to remain visible together
    - the same environment works locally and over SSH
    - the configuration is kept in one readable file

The goal is not to turn the terminal into a full IDE. tmux provides
just the session and layout management needed by the shell-centered
workflow.


CONCLUSION

My current terminal workflow is centered on:

    xterm
    tmux
    bash
    nvi
    coreutils

The menu provides a consistent way to enter the persistent `main`
session, while tmux keeps the shell, editor, and command-line tools
organized in one terminal environment.


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Last Modified: 2026-09-23