tmux: How to automatically open sessions, windows, and panes

Question

I'm new to tmux and would like to configure it such that when I run tmux, my customized windows/panes are immediately accessible.

For example, here's a basic ~/.tmux.conf:

new -s main -n workspace
neww

When I run tmux, I get dumped into a plain old session. When I do a list-sessions, I can see the workspace session specified in the conf file, but in order to use it, I have to switch to it.

How can I just go ahead and make the "workspace" session the session I'm dumped into when I open tmux so that I don't have to switch to it every time?

See [my answer here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5609192/how-to-set-up-tmux-so-that-it-starts-up-with-specified-windows-opened/5753059#5753059) — jasonwryan, Oct 24 '13 at 19:49
I saw it; however, it doesn't answer my question because to activate your session, I have to bind it to a key. I want mine to automatically open and drop me into my custom session. — doremi, Oct 24 '13 at 19:50
How about this [approach?](https://stackoverflow.com/a/40125397/1592039) — danbruegge, Jun 08 '17 at 05:46

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 11 '14 at 17:52

3

Not sure I understood the question, but I use tmuxinator to quickly launch sessions pre-populated with windows, panes and processes.

answered May 11 '14 at 17:52

Thomas Ferris Nicolaisen

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score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 06 '16 at 04:17

1

You can attach to the last used session (which will be the one your conf file created if applicable) by running tmux attach instead of just tmux.

If you have more than one session setup in your config, you can choose which one you land on by using the session name target flag like: tmux attach -t <session_name>.

edited Sep 06 '16 at 04:17

Olathe

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answered May 26 '14 at 14:59

Caleb

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sensorario · Answer 3 · 2015-04-17T01:44:41.507

I've create this script. It does not need tmuxinator, ruby or others. It is just a bash script, configurable:

A file named config should contains something like this:

combo=()
combo+=('logs' 'cd /var/log; clear; pwd')
combo+=('home' 'cd ~; clear; pwd')

and the bash code should be:

#!/bin/bash

if [ -r config ]; then
    echo ""
    echo "Loading custom file"
    . config
else
    . config.dist
fi

tmux start-server

window=0
windownumber=-1

for i in "${combo[@]}"; do

    if [ $((window%2)) == 0 ]; then
        name=${i}
        ((windownumber++))
    else
        command=${i}
    fi

    if [ ${combo[0]} == "${i}" ]; then
        tmux new-session -d -s StarTmux -n "${name}"
    else
        if [ $((window%2)) == 0 ]; then
            tmux new-window -tStarTmux:$windownumber -n "${name}"
        fi
    fi

    if [ $((window%2)) == 1 ]; then
        tmux send-keys -tStarTmux:$windownumber "${command}" C-m
    fi

    ((window++))
done

tmux select-window -tStarTmux:0
tmux attach-session -d -tStarTmux

Hi sensario, while this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. Please take a look here: [Why and how are some answers deleted?](http://stackoverflow.com/help/deleted-answers) — bummi, Apr 16 '15 at 22:19

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 24 '13 at 20:59

0

You create a session in your .tmux.conf file, but you never attach to it. When you just run

tmux

there is no command specified, so it defaults to running new-session and attaching to the resulting session.

It's a little cleaner to limit your .tmux.conf file to various settings, and reserve session creation and management to a separate script.

#!/bin/bash

tmux new -s main -n workspace
tmux neww  # Creates a 2nd window, in addition to the new session's first window
tmux attach -t main

answered Oct 24 '13 at 20:59

chepner

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I like this, but is it a best practice? I only ask because [this comment](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5609192/how-to-set-up-tmux-so-that-it-starts-up-with-specified-windows-opened/5753059#comment6585934_5752901) on a related question shows a differing opinion. – doremi Oct 24 '13 at 21:36
Actually, everything works if I just, like you said, attach to the session when I start tmux ala `tmux attach-session main`. And I could add an alias to my .bash_profile to shorten that down to an alias. – doremi Oct 24 '13 at 21:50
3

`tmux a` will launch and attach to the default session, ie., the one specified in your `.tmux.conf` @doremi – jasonwryan Oct 25 '13 at 00:39

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 29 '15 at 21:45

Use my script. IniTmux. You can easyly describe you sessions, windows and panes with simple YAML files.

---
name: AK-Math 
root: /i/project/LibAK/feature/Math
windows:
- Matrix  : feature
- Vector  : feature
- Number  : feature
- Complex : feature
- Real    : feature
- Integer : feature
- Bool    : feature

- Math:
    layout : tiled
    dir    : branch
    panes  :
    - 'ranger'
    - ''

models:
    feature:
        layout: "40fd,113x31,0,0[113x22,0,0{22x22,0,0,0,90x22,23,0,1},113x9,0,23,2]"
        dir: <WName>
        panes:
        - loop "tree obj" 0.5
        - vim -c VWSLoadWorkSpace
        - ''

tmux: How to automatically open sessions, windows, and panes

5 Answers5