Running Multiple Sessions with tmux¶

tmux lets you run multiple AI coding sessions side-by-side, each in its own terminal. This is useful when working on different parts of a project at the same time (e.g. frontend and backend).

Install tmux¶

brew install tmux

Configure tmux¶

Create ~/.tmux.conf:

# Remap prefix to Ctrl-a
unbind C-b
set -g prefix C-a
bind C-a send-prefix

# Start numbering at 1
set -g base-index 1
setw -g pane-base-index 1

# Create a new named session with Ctrl-a + C
bind C command-prompt -p "New session name:" "new-session -s '%%'"

# Mouse mode
set -g mouse on

# Color support
set -g default-terminal "tmux-256color"
set -as terminal-overrides ",xterm-256color:RGB"

# Scrollback
set -g history-limit 10000

# Status bar
set -g status-style "bg=colour235,fg=colour136"
set -g status-left "#[fg=colour0,bg=colour2] #S "
set -g status-right "#[fg=colour136]%H:%M "

# Low escape delay for snappy input
set -sg escape-time 10

Add Shell Aliases¶

Add the following to your ~/.zshrc (or ~/.bashrc):

# tmux aliases
alias ta='tmux attach -t'
alias tl='tmux list-sessions'
alias tn='tmux new-session -s'

# Start a Claude session in tmux
claude-work() {
  local name="${1:-claude}"
  if [ -n "$TMUX" ]; then
    tmux new-window -n "$name" "claude"
  else
    tmux new-session -s "$name" "claude"
  fi
}

Then reload your shell:

source ~/.zshrc

Quick Start¶

# Start a session named "frontend"
claude-work frontend

# Detach from the session
# Ctrl-a, then d

# Start another session
claude-work backend

Switching Between Sessions¶

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl-a` + `s`	Session picker
`Ctrl-a` + `(`	Previous session
`Ctrl-a` + `)`	Next session
`tl`	List all sessions
`ta backend`	Reattach to a session by name