Glossary

attach — connect your terminal to a tmux session so you can see and interact with it. Opposite of detach.

client — the terminal you're looking at. In tmux's architecture, the client is disposable: it only displays what the server holds.

copy mode — tmux's scrollback viewer (Ctrl-b [). Lets you scroll, search, and copy text from a pane's history.

detach — disconnect your terminal from a session without stopping anything. The session keeps running on the server.

layout — an arrangement of panes within a window (even-horizontal, tiled, etc.). Cycle with Ctrl-b Space.

multiplexer — a program that manages multiple terminal sessions inside one. tmux and GNU screen are the two you'll meet.

pane — one terminal within a window. A window split in two shows two panes, both live at once.

prefix — the key sequence (Ctrl-b by default) that tells tmux "the next key is for you, not the program."

server — the background tmux process that owns all sessions, windows, and panes. It survives closed terminals and dropped SSH connections. It does not survive a reboot.

session — a named workspace: a set of windows (and their panes) you can detach from and reattach to as a unit.

status bar — the line at the bottom of a tmux terminal showing session name, window list, and host/time. Its presence is the visual proof you're inside tmux.

target (-t) — which session/window/pane a command acts on, written session:window.pane (e.g. duels:0.1).

window — like a tab: one session holds many windows, and you view one at a time. Distinct from a pane (splits are simultaneous; windows are switched between).