Tmux is a tool that I have been using on a daily basis for the last 7+ years. It is a terminal multiplexer that allows me to have more than one terminal session in a single terminal window. This is very much in alignment with my workflow, as I like to have a terminal window open for each project that I'm working on. It also allows me to disconnect from a session and reconnect later. Since its discovery, I have never used a shell without tmux. This is what a terminal split looks like in Ghossty:

But let's start at the beginning. Late last year, I discovered Ghostty. It was publicly released in december 2024, but I somehow managed to get access to the closed beta in november. I wasn't really searching for a new terminal emulator, as I was happy with Kitty, but nevertheless I gave it a try anyways. The first thing that I noticed was the snapppy performance and the very clean configuration file. I was aware of Kitty's support for tabs and multiplexing, but I had never used them. While I was changing my terminal emulator, I thought about trying to replace tmux with it as well.

In the following you can see my whole configuration file:

shell-integration = zsh
font-family = JetBrains Mono
theme = Dracula
mouse-hide-while-typing = true
scrollback-limit = 1000000

keybind = ctrl+n=new_window

keybind = ctrl+h=goto_split:left
keybind = ctrl+j=goto_split:bottom
keybind = ctrl+k=goto_split:top
keybind = ctrl+l=goto_split:right

keybind = ctrl+a>h=new_split:left
keybind = ctrl+a>j=new_split:down
keybind = ctrl+a>k=new_split:up
keybind = ctrl+a>l=new_split:right
keybind = ctrl+a>f=toggle_split_zoom

keybind = ctrl+a>n=next_tab
keybind = ctrl+a>p=previous_tab

keybind = super+r=reload_config

window-save-state = always

I tried to fully replicate all the shortcuts that I'm used to from using tmux. So I have the same keybindings for creating new splits and navigating between them. My modifier key is ctrl+a which was my default in tmux. I also like Ghostty's window state saving feature, something I never tried in tmux.

Overall, I'm very happy with my new setup and look forward to seeing what Ghostty will bring in the future. I'm also thinking about updating my most used tools and seeing if there are any modern alternatives I could use instead.