Tmux Configuration Readme

This Tmux configuration enhances your terminal multiplexer experience with customized keybindings, improved usability, integration with plugins for added functionality, and a dynamic commands menu inspired by the functionality of Telescope in Neovim and the command palette in VS Code.

Key Features

Original Features

Prefix Key: Set to Ctrl + Space, providing a comfortable alternative to the default Ctrl + b.
Vi-style Pane Selection: Navigate panes using Vi keybindings (k, j, h, l).
Enhanced Window and Pane Management: Includes commands for cycling through windows, improved pane splitting, and indexing windows and panes starting at 1.
Mouse Support: Enables resizing panes, scrolling, and selecting windows/panes with the mouse.
Clipboard Integration for macOS: Utilizes pbcopy for integrating Tmux with the system clipboard on macOS.
Status Bar Customization: Temporarily display pane numbers with bind-key q and customize the status bar's appearance.
Theme and Visual Enhancements: Sets the terminal to xterm-256color for broad color support, with options for further customization.

New Features

Dynamic Commands Menu: Introduces a fuzzy-search enabled commands menu using fzf, allowing quick access to tmux commands and custom scripts. Access this menu by pressing <prefix> + m.
Modular Script Design: Separates menu commands from their execution logic, improving modularity and maintainability.
Helper Scripts: Includes scripts for listing windows and sessions, creating new sessions, and more, enhancing the commands menu functionality.
Ranger Integration: Adds a command to launch Ranger, demonstrating the menu's extensibility. Additionally, integrates ranger-tmux for seamless ranger usage within Tmux.

Plugins

This configuration utilizes the Tmux Plugin Manager (TPM) for managing a selection of plugins aimed at enhancing the overall Tmux experience:

tmux-plugins/tpm: Essential for installing and managing Tmux plugins.
tmux-plugins/tmux-sensible: Provides a set of sensible Tmux settings for an improved default experience.
tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect: Enables saving and restoring of Tmux sessions and windows.
tmux-plugins/tmux-continuum: Automates saving of Tmux environments and restores them on system restart.
tmux-plugins/tmux-pain-control: Offers enhanced pane management capabilities.
tmux-plugins/tmux-logging: Facilitates easy logging and screen capturing.
tmux-plugins/tmux-yank: Allows integration of the system clipboard with Tmux's copy mode.
imomaliev/tmux-keyboard-layout: Automatically switches keyboard layout when entering and leaving Tmux.
nordtheme/tmux: Applies the Nord color scheme to Tmux.
erikw/tmux-powerline: A customizable status line utility.
kiyoon/treemux: Offers Neovim integration, allowing for sidebar file navigation.
christoomey/vim-tmux-navigator: Enables seamless navigation between Tmux panes and Vim splits.

Installation and Usage

# Install Tmux
sudo apt install tmux # For Debian/Ubuntu
brew install tmux # For macOS

# Clone the configuration repository
git clone https://github.com/joshuadanpeterson/tmux-config.git ~/.tmux

# Link the .tmux.conf file to your home directory
ln -s ~/.tmux/.tmux.conf ~/.tmux.conf

# Install TPM
git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm

# Start Tmux and press `prefix + I` to install the plugins

# Install ranger-tmux for enhanced Tmux integration with ranger
pip install ranger-tmux
python -m ranger_tmux install

ranger-tmux Features

Open files from ranger in a new Tmux window or pane.
Sync the current working directory between ranger and other Tmux panes.
Set Tmux window title to show ranger is running.
Drop-down file manager in your Tmux session.
Split a ranger pane to launch a shell in the current folder.

For more detailed usage, please refer to ranger-tmux's GitHub page.

Challenges and Solutions

Overcame challenges in displaying commands without immediate execution and integrating Tmux commands with shell scripts through associative arrays and scripting.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to jdhao's blog post for inspiring the dynamic commands menu's development, and to the creators and contributors of the listed plugins and ranger-tmux for extending Tmux's capabilities.

This enhanced Tmux configuration aims to provide a comprehensive terminal multiplexing experience, combining traditional features with innovative enhancements to cater to developers, system administrators, and terminal enthusiasts alike.

joshuadanpeterson / tmux-config