The Ultimate tmux Cheat Sheet & Shortcuts
A comprehensive visual guide to all tmux shortcuts and commands. Organized by category for speed, every key binding dynamically updates to match your preferred prefix modifier.
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Currently displaying shortcuts with prefix: Ctrl+b. Click any option above to dynamically update the entire reference.
tmux keyboard shortcuts
Every binding below updates to match the prefix key you selected above.
📁 Sessions
🪟 Windows
⬛ Panes
📋 Copy Mode (Scroll)
Keys shown are tmux's vi defaults. tmux uses emacs keys unless $EDITOR or $VISUAL contains “vi”, so add set -g mode-keys vi to be sure.
⌨️ Command Mode
🔧 Miscellaneous
System Clipboard & Remote OSC 52 Integration
Seamlessly copy text from remote SSH tmux sessions straight into your local OS clipboard.
1. Vi Copy Mode Setup
Enable native Vim-style visual selection (v to begin selection, y to yank/copy):
setw -g mode-keys vi
bind -T copy-mode-vi v send -X begin-selection
bind -T copy-mode-vi y send -X copy-selection-and-cancel2. Remote SSH OSC 52 (No X11 Needed)
Copy text from cloud virtual machines into your local macOS/Windows clipboard using ANSI escape sequences:
# Enable OSC 52 clipboard pass-through
set -s set-clipboard on
set -as terminal-features ',xterm-256color:clipboard'3. Seamless Neovim Pane Navigation
Navigate effortlessly between Neovim splits and tmux panes using identical Ctrl+h/j/k/l shortcuts:
# Smart pane switching with awareness of Vim splits
vim_pattern='(\S+/)?g?\.?(view|l?n?vim?x?|fzf)(diff)?(-wrapped)?'
is_vim="ps -o state= -o comm= -t '#{pane_tty}' \
| grep -iqE '^[^TXZ ]+ +${vim_pattern}$'"
bind-key -n 'C-h' if-shell "$is_vim" 'send-keys C-h' 'select-pane -L'
bind-key -n 'C-j' if-shell "$is_vim" 'send-keys C-j' 'select-pane -D'
bind-key -n 'C-k' if-shell "$is_vim" 'send-keys C-k' 'select-pane -U'
bind-key -n 'C-l' if-shell "$is_vim" 'send-keys C-l' 'select-pane -R'Need full command explanations with flags and examples?
The /commands/ page goes deep: every command documented with all options, use cases, and copy-ready examples.