https://nick-liu.com/tags/tmux/ Recent content in Tmux on Nick Liu - Software Engineer Hugo -- gohugo.io en nickboy@users.noreply.github.com (Nick Liu) nickboy@users.noreply.github.com (Nick Liu) 2026 Nick Liu Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:05:23 -0700 https://nick-liu.com/posts/tmux-window-titles/ Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 nickboy@users.noreply.github.com (Nick Liu) https://nick-liu.com/posts/tmux-window-titles/ <div class="lead text-neutral-500 dark:text-neutral-400 !mb-9 text-xl"> If you use tmux, you've hit this: ten windows open and they're all named `zsh` or `node`. Which one had your AI agent running? No idea. Let's make tmux label windows usefully. </div> <nav class="series-progress" aria-label="Series progress"> <span class="series-progress-label">Taming Claude Code Sessions · Part 3 of 4</span> <ol class="series-progress-dots"><li class="series-progress-dot is-done"> <a href="https://nick-liu.com/posts/find-claude-code-sessions/" title="Stop Losing Your Claude Code Conversations">1</a> </li><li class="series-progress-dot is-done"> <a href="https://nick-liu.com/posts/first-claude-code-hook/" title="Your First Claude Code Hook: Auto-Name Every Session">2</a> </li><li class="series-progress-dot is-current"> <a href="https://nick-liu.com/posts/tmux-window-titles/" title="Make tmux Show What Each Window Is Doing" aria-current="step">3</a> </li><li class="series-progress-dot"> <a href="https://nick-liu.com/posts/managing-many-ai-agents/" title="Running Several AI Coding Agents Without Losing Track">4</a> </li></ol> </nav> <div class="tested-with" role="note"> <span class="tested-with-icon" aria-hidden="true">🧪</span> <span>Tested with <strong>Claude Code</strong> <code>2.1.x</code> · macOS / Linux</span> </div> <div class="flex px-4 py-3 rounded-md shadow bg-primary-100 dark:bg-primary-900" > <span class="text-primary-400 pe-3 flex items-center" > <span class="relative block icon"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512"><path fill="currentColor" d="M256 0C114.6 0 0 114.6 0 256s114.6 256 256 256s256-114.6 256-256S397.4 0 256 0zM256 128c17.67 0 32 14.33 32 32c0 17.67-14.33 32-32 32S224 177.7 224 160C224 142.3 238.3 128 256 128zM296 384h-80C202.8 384 192 373.3 192 360s10.75-24 24-24h16v-64H224c-13.25 0-24-10.75-24-24S210.8 224 224 224h32c13.25 0 24 10.75 24 24v88h16c13.25 0 24 10.75 24 24S309.3 384 296 384z"/></svg> </span> </span> <span class="dark:text-neutral-300" ><strong>New to tmux?</strong> It&rsquo;s a &ldquo;terminal multiplexer&rdquo;: it splits one terminal into many windows and panes that survive disconnects. The only vocabulary you need here: a <strong>window</strong> is like a browser tab inside tmux; the bar at the bottom lists them. The <strong>prefix</strong> is the key you press before a tmux command, commonly <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>b</kbd> (mine is <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>a</kbd>).</span> </div> <h2 class="relative group">Why everything is named <code>zsh</code> <div id="why-everything-is-named-zsh" class="anchor"></div> <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"> <a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#why-everything-is-named-zsh" aria-label="Anchor">#</a> </span> </h2> <p>By default tmux has a setting called <strong><code>automatic-rename</code></strong> turned on. It renames each window after whatever program is running in it. A shell? <code>zsh</code>. A Node program (like Claude Code)? <code>node</code>. Helpful in theory, useless when everything collapses to the same word.</p> https://nick-liu.com/posts/managing-many-ai-agents/ Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 nickboy@users.noreply.github.com (Nick Liu) https://nick-liu.com/posts/managing-many-ai-agents/ <div class="lead text-neutral-500 dark:text-neutral-400 !mb-9 text-xl"> Once you're comfortable with AI coding agents, you start running several at once: one refactoring here, one writing tests there, one stuck waiting for your approval. Keeping them straight is its own little skill. </div> <nav class="series-progress" aria-label="Series progress"> <span class="series-progress-label">Taming Claude Code Sessions · Part 4 of 4</span> <ol class="series-progress-dots"><li class="series-progress-dot is-done"> <a href="https://nick-liu.com/posts/find-claude-code-sessions/" title="Stop Losing Your Claude Code Conversations">1</a> </li><li class="series-progress-dot is-done"> <a href="https://nick-liu.com/posts/first-claude-code-hook/" title="Your First Claude Code Hook: Auto-Name Every Session">2</a> </li><li class="series-progress-dot is-done"> <a href="https://nick-liu.com/posts/tmux-window-titles/" title="Make tmux Show What Each Window Is Doing">3</a> </li><li class="series-progress-dot is-current"> <a href="https://nick-liu.com/posts/managing-many-ai-agents/" title="Running Several AI Coding Agents Without Losing Track" aria-current="step">4</a> </li></ol> </nav> <div class="tested-with" role="note"> <span class="tested-with-icon" aria-hidden="true">🧪</span> <span>Tested with <strong>Claude Code</strong> <code>2.1.x</code> · macOS / Linux</span> </div> <p>Here are two ways to do it: a lightweight tmux plugin, and (briefly) dedicated &ldquo;AI terminal&rdquo; apps.</p> https://nick-liu.com/posts/my-terminal-setup-2026/ Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 nickboy@users.noreply.github.com (Nick Liu) https://nick-liu.com/posts/my-terminal-setup-2026/ <div class="lead text-neutral-500 dark:text-neutral-400 !mb-9 text-xl"> After years of refining my terminal workflow, I've landed on a stack I genuinely enjoy using every day: **Ghostty** as the terminal emulator, **tmux** with **sesh** for session management, and **Neovim** with **LazyVim** for editing. </div> <p>Everything runs on macOS (Apple Silicon) with a consistent <span class="flex cursor-pointer"> <span class="rounded-md border border-primary-400 px-1 py-[1px] text-xs font-normal text-primary-700 dark:border-primary-600 dark:text-primary-400"> Catppuccin Mocha </span> </span> theme across all tools.</p>