Once upon a time, I used GNU screen to provide terminal multiplexing – running multiple terminal sessions in the same terminal process. This allows a number of handy features, including being able to switch between different sessions, keep processes running in the background, and maintain a highly organized command-line environment. GNU screen was the utility to do this.
As with everything else in Linux, GNU screen was supplanted by tmux – usage statistics indicate that tmux is now the most used terminal multiplexer. tmux provides all of the features that screen provided and more. It’s also slightly easier to configure. tmux runs into some of the same problems screen had though, including trying to manage complex tmux sessions.
Enter tmuxinator to provide this functionality. tmuxinator allows a user to easily define session configuration – including setting up tabs, windows and screens – to easily launch and reuse configurations and to make switching between sessions simple. (Well, a little simpler. The readme.md for tmuxinator is needlessly complex and it takes time to learn how to configure settings and how the settings work in tmux.)
I use tmuxinator to launch three sessions on startup: Personal (applications like mutt for email and vimwiki for journaling), Work and writing. Each session is a window, and allows for creating multiple panes for each window, allowing multiple terminals to run at the same time. Once tmuxinator is configured, it will save a lot of time.
If only that readme.md were less complex.
Create and manage tmux sessions easily (github).
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