5 Best Productivity Plugins for Tmux

Tmux is a great terminal multiplexer that can consolidate and manage different console sessions. While its core features cover almost every use case, it also has a plugin framework that allows you to shape the program to your needs. This article will introduce some of the best plugins for Tmux that can help optimize your Terminal workflow.

• 5 Beautiful Themes to Make Your Tmux Sessions More Fun

1. tmux-menus

If you're new to Tmux, learning all the keyboard shortcuts can be difficult and frustrating. With unintuitive keyboard combinations, it's easy to forget the shortcuts you need to use lesser-known Tmux features like copy mode and pane marking.

Tmux-menus is a simple plugin that solves this problem. It provides a clean and intuitive TUI-based menu that you can access by pressing Ctrl + \ . Inside, it comes with every Tmux feature, allowing you to intuitively select what you need instead of memorizing their shortcuts.

2. tmux-resurrect

One of the biggest drawbacks to Tmux is that it is a stateless program. This means that it doesn’t remember anything about your session after you close it. This is annoying because it forces you to recreate your Tmux layout every time you restart your computer.

Tmux-resurrect is a tool that can help with this. It's a no-frills plugin that preserves the entire Tmux environment, including window order and frame layout. It also stores session snapshots, meaning you can "go back in time" and load different versions of your Tmux setup.

3. tmux-notify

Keeping track of background programs can be difficult if you're dealing with multiple Tmux panes and sessions. In my experience, this leads to times when you forget you have a command running in the background and accidentally close Tmux.

Tmux-notify is a plugin that sends notifications when it detects a process has completed. It works by checking for any active Tmux panes that have just switched to a Bash shell prompt. The plugin then sends a libnotify notification, which can be a visual terminal sound or an audible ping.

4. tmux-jump

Buffer navigation is arguably one of the most awkward parts of Tmux. The multiplexer offers no built-in keyboard shortcuts for moving outside of copy mode and window focus. If you’re someone who uses Tmux for everyday productivity tasks, you’ll find this odd quirk both tedious and annoying, especially for long terminal sessions.

Tmux-jump solves this problem by making navigating the Tmux pane both easy and intuitive. Inspired by Vimium, it uses keyword suggestions to create “jump points” within your Tmux windows. These points allow you to quickly move around within Tmux without relying on its complex keyboard shortcuts.

5. treemux

Treemux is a powerful plugin that seamlessly integrates Neovim's tree-based file browser with Tmux. It can navigate directories, open files, and even display the current working directory. This makes it an invaluable plugin if you want to build a Neovim-based IDE inside Tmux.

The Treemux developers also designed this plugin to be as unobtrusive as possible. It is invisible by default and resizes depending on the pane it is attached to. So, Treemux is a great plugin if you prefer a terminal with minimal distractions.