Linux is the native home of tmux. Every major Linux distribution includes tmux in its official package repositories. Choose your package manager below — or build the absolute latest version from source to access every new feature the moment it ships.
Select your Linux distribution for the exact package manager command.
The easiest way for Ubuntu/Debian users. Note: The apt version may be one or two releases behind the latest upstream tmux release.
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install tmux
$ tmux -V
Snap installs the latest tmux version available, bypassing the potentially older distribution repository version. Works on Ubuntu 16.04+ and any distro with snapd.
$ sudo snap install tmux --classic
$ tmux -V
# Fedora
$ sudo dnf install tmux
# RHEL / CentOS (enable EPEL first if needed)
$ sudo yum install epel-release
$ sudo yum install tmux
$ tmux -V
Arch mirrors typically carry the latest stable tmux release almost immediately after it's published.
$ sudo pacman -S tmux
$ tmux -V
Lightweight and fast — common in Docker containers and minimal server environments.
$ apk add tmux
$ tmux -V
tmux requires libevent, ncurses, bison, and build tools:
$ sudo apt install libevent-dev libncurses-dev build-essential bison pkg-config automake
$ git clone https://github.com/tmux/tmux.git
$ cd tmux
$ sh autogen.sh
$ ./configure && make
$ sudo make install
$ tmux -V
Which version of tmux ships by default with each Ubuntu LTS release via apt.
| Ubuntu LTS | Released | tmux via apt | Latest tmux | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble) | Apr 2024 | 3.3a |
3.6a | Use snap or build from source for latest |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy) | Apr 2022 | 3.2a |
3.6a | Build from source for latest features |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal) | Apr 2020 | 3.0a |
3.6a | Strongly recommend build from source |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic) | Apr 2018 | 2.6 |
3.6a | EOL — upgrade OS or build from source |
Ensure your tmux server launches automatically upon system boot and persists across SSH disconnections.
Create ~/.config/systemd/user/tmux.service with the following daemon specification:
[Unit]
Description=tmux background daemon
[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/usr/bin/tmux new-session -s default -d
ExecStop=/usr/bin/tmux kill-server
Restart=on-failure
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
Enable user lingering so the daemon runs even when no interactive user sessions are logged in:
$ loginctl enable-linger $USER
$ systemctl --user daemon-reload
$ systemctl --user enable --now tmux
Whenever you log in over SSH, simply attach to the running daemon without restarting processes:
tmux attach-session -t default
Configure seamless copy-paste between tmux copy mode and your Linux desktop environment.
On modern Ubuntu 22.04+ and Fedora (GNOME/KDE Wayland sessions), install wl-clipboard:
sudo apt install wl-clipboard
Add to ~/.tmux.conf:
bind -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "wl-copy"
On traditional X11 desktop sessions, install xclip:
sudo apt install xclip
Add to ~/.tmux.conf:
bind -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "xclip -in -selection clipboard"
When connecting to a remote Linux server from your laptop, enable ANSI OSC 52 clipboard escape sequences:
set -s set-clipboard on
Resolutions for permissions, locale, and outdated package repositories.
sudo privileges. If you're on a shared server without sudo, build tmux from source into a local directory: pass ./configure --prefix=$HOME/.local during the build, then add $HOME/.local/bin to your PATH.
snap install tmux --classic for a more current version, (2) Build from source using the steps in the "Source" tab above, or (3) Wait for a backport. Building from source is the only guaranteed way to get the absolute latest version.
locale to check your current settings. Configure with sudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8 and sudo update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8. Also add export LANG=en_US.UTF-8 to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc.
~/.tmux.conf: set -g default-terminal "tmux-256color" and set -ga terminal-overrides ",*256col*:Tc". Also ensure your SSH connection or terminal emulator is passing through TERM=xterm-256color.
./configure --prefix=$HOME/.local && make && make install, then configure tmux with PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$HOME/.local/lib/pkgconfig ./configure --prefix=$HOME/.local.