Make your Tmux beautiful

Install Tmux

Follow https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki to install Tmux in your preferred OS.

Mac os users:

brew install tmux

Ubuntu users:

sudo apt update && sudo apt -y install tmux

Start using tmux

Create a new Tmux session and we will customize it.

tmux new -S <your session name>

# example:
tmux new -S tmux-conf

Create a Tmux configuration file

Create a tmux config file in your root directory ~/.tmux.conf and start adding the following scripts to customize the default Tmux UI and behaviors.

vim ~/.tmux.conf

# ~/.tmux.conf

unbind -r
bind r source-file ~/.tmux.conf

set -g prefix C-b

Here we are telling Tmux set r to reload the Tmux config and apply the changes to the current tmux session. And also we are setting C-b as a prefix key.

So if you do C-b + r your Tmux session should reload and new changes will get applied

Next we will set Vim keybindings to switch between panes

# act like vim
setw -g mode-keys vi
bind-key h select-pane -L
bind-key j select-pane -D
bind-key k select-pane -U
bind-key l select-pane -R

Install Tmux Plugin Manager

Next, lets install Tmux plugin manager https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm.

git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm

Put this at the bottom of ~/.tmux.conf

# ...

# List of plugins
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tpm'
# Navigate tmux panes with `C-hjkl` just like vim.
set -g @plugin 'christoomey/vim-tmux-navigator'
set -g @plugin 'dracula/tmux'

set -g @dracula-show-powerline true
set -g @dracula-fixed-location "<Your city>"
set -g @dracula-show-fahrenheit false
set -g @dracula-plugins "weather"
set -g @dracula-show-flags true
set -g @dracula-show-left-icon session
set -g @dracula-show-empty-plugins false
set -g status-position top

# Initialize TMUX plugin manager (keep this line at the very bottom of tmux.conf)
run '~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm'

Run C-b + I to install all the tmux plugins from your config file anytime you add new plugins

My complete .tmux.conf

###########################
#  Configuration
###########################

# use 256 term for pretty colors
# set -g default-terminal "screen-256color" # making tmux slow
set -g default-terminal "xterm-256color"

# Enable mouse support
set -g mouse on

# increase scroll-back history
set -g history-limit 5000

# use vim key bindings
setw -g mode-keys vi

# decrease command delay (increases vim responsiveness)
set -sg escape-time 1

# increase repeat time for repeatable commands
set -g repeat-time 1000

# start window index at 1
set -g base-index 1

# start pane index at 1
setw -g pane-base-index 1

# highlight window when it has new activity
setw -g monitor-activity on
set -g visual-activity on

# re-number windows when one is closed
set -g renumber-windows on

# Fix nightfly color scheme to display correctly inside tmux
set -ga terminal-overrides ',xterm-256color:Tc'

# enable pbcopy and pbpaste
# https://github.com/ChrisJohnsen/tmux-MacOSX-pasteboard/blob/master/README.md
# set-option -g default-command "reattach-to-user-namespace -l zsh"

###########################
#  Key Bindings
###########################

# tmux prefix
set -g prefix C-b

# paste
unbind C-p
bind C-p paste-buffer

# window splitting
unbind %
bind | split-window -h
unbind '"'
bind - split-window -v -p 20

# quickly switch panes
unbind ^B
bind ^B select-pane -t :.+

# switch panes using Alt-arrow without prefix
bind -n M-h select-pane -L
bind -n M-l select-pane -R
bind -n M-k select-pane -U
bind -n M-j select-pane -D

# swap windows
bind-key -n C-S-Left swap-window -t -1
bind-key -n C-S-Right swap-window -t +1

# Quickly view system & process info in htop
bind-key h split-window -h "htop"
# Quickly edit todo list
bind-key w split-window -h "vim ~/vimwiki/index.md"

# rails specific
bind-key -n M-s split-window -h "bundle exec sidekiq"
bind-key -n M-r split-window -v -p 20 "redis-server"

# force a reload of the config file
unbind r
bind r source-file ~/.tmux.conf \; display "Reloaded!"

###########################
# Status Bar
###########################

# set refresh interval for status bar
set -g status-interval 30

# center the status bar
set -g status-justify left

# show session, window, pane in left status bar
set -g status-left-length 40
set -g status-left '#[fg=green]#S#[fg=blue] #I:#P #[default]'

# show hostname, date, time, and battery in right status bar
set-option -g status-right '#[fg=green]#H#[default] %m/%d/%y %I:%M #[fg=red]#(battery discharging)#[default]#(battery charging)#{net_speed}'

###########################
# Colors
###########################

# color status bar
set -g status-style bg=colour235
set -g status-style fg=white

# highlight current window
set-window-option -g window-status-current-style bg=black
set-window-option -g window-status-current-style fg=green

# set color of active pane
set -g pane-border-style bg=colour235
set -g pane-border-style fg=black
set -g pane-active-border-style bg=green
set -g pane-active-border-style fg=black

# Resize pane
bind-key J resize-pane -D 5
bind-key K resize-pane -U 5
bind-key H resize-pane -L 5
bind-key L resize-pane -R 5

###########################
# Plugins
###########################
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tpm'
set -g @plugin 'christoomey/vim-tmux-navigator'

# Display internet download and upload speed

# Initialize TMUX plugin manager (keep this line at the very bottom of tmux.conf)
run -b '~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm'