Tmux has forever changed the way I write code.

Summary

The video explains how tmux, a terminal multiplexer, has greatly improved the author's workflow for writing code by allowing multiple terminal sessions and pane splits within one view. It provides an overview of basic tmux commands and key bindings for managing sessions, windows, and panes. The author then shares their customized tmux configuration, featuring plugins for navigation, colors, mouse support, and more to create a productive and visually appealing interface. The goal is to demonstrate the power of tmux and inspire viewers to enhance their own configurations.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Tmux significantly enhances coding efficiency by integrating a tiling window manager into the terminal, changing the user's workflow from predominantly IDE-based to terminal-centric.
• 💻 Installing Tmux and the Tmux Package Manager (TPM) is the foundational step towards customizing and enhancing the Tmux environment.
• 🔧 Essential initial configurations include sourcing the TPM package and adding 'sensible' options to fix common quirks, providing a solid base for further customization.
• 📈 Tmux operates with three main objects: sessions, windows, and panes, facilitating complex and efficient terminal management.
• ⬆️ Basic Tmux commands and key bindings enable users to create, navigate, and manage sessions, windows, and panes, including creating new windows, switching between them, and splitting windows into panes.
• 🖌 Vim Tmux Navigator enhances navigation within Tmux and between Tmux and Neovim, offering seamless movement with familiar Vim keybindings.
• 🌎 Changing the default Tmux prefix key to something less commonly used in the terminal (e.g., Control + Space) can avoid conflicts and improve usability.
• 🎲 Color and theme customization, particularly with the Capuchin color scheme for Tmux, provides a visually appealing and consistent coding environment.
• 🖼 Mouse support in Tmux enables more intuitive interaction, such as clicking to select windows or panes and scrolling through buffer history.
• ✂️ The Tmux Yank plugin allows for efficient text copying within Tmux, enhancing productivity with Vim-like selection and yanking commands.

Q & A

What are the main components of tmux?

The main components of tmux are sessions, windows, and panes. Sessions are collections of windows, windows hold panes, and panes represent individual terminal sessions.

How do you create a new window in tmux?

To create a new window in tmux, press the prefix key (default Ctrl+B) followed by the c key. This will create a new window and set it as the active window.

How do you split a tmux window into panes?

To split a tmux window horizontally, use the prefix key followed by the percentage symbol (%). To split vertically, use the prefix key followed by the double quote symbol (").

What is the benefit of using tmux over regular terminal windows?

Tmux provides features like session persistency, pane management, and workspace organization that aren't available in regular terminal windows. This allows for improved productivity when working in the command line.

How do you copy text from the tmux buffer history?

The tmux-yank plugin allows you to copy text from tmux. You enter copy mode with prefix+[, navigate with Vim keys, visually select text, and press y to copy.

How do you fix color scheme issues between tmux and Neovim?

You can fix color issues by setting tmux to use 24-bit color with the 'set-option -g default-terminal "screen-256color"' config option.

What is the benefit of using the Vim tmux Navigator plugin?

The Vim tmux Navigator plugin allows seamless navigation between tmux panes and Neovim windows using Vim-style hjkl keys.

How do you change the prefix key binding in tmux?

You can change the prefix key binding by adding 'set -g prefix C-space' to your tmux configuration file, replacing C-space with your desired key.

Why change the default window indexing from 0 to 1?

Changing the window indexing from 0 to 1 improves usability, as the 1 key is easier to reach than the 0 key on most keyboards.

What configuration sets new panes to open in the same directory?

Adding 'bind \ split-window -v -c #{pane_current_path}' and 'bind % split-window -h -c #{pane_current_path}' to your config opens splits in the current working directory.