How the Tmux Cheat Sheet Is Organized for Finding Commands Quickly

Updated

The Tmux Cheat Sheet & Quick Reference (tmuxcheatsheet.com) organizes commands into five main sections — Sessions, Windows, Panes, Copy Mode, and Misc — and pairs each task with both the command-line form and the default Ctrl+b prefix shortcut. To find a command fast, use the Ctrl+K search, or jump straight to the section matching the scope you're working in: sessions for whole workspaces, windows for tabs inside a session, panes for splits inside a window.

The five main sections

Each section follows the same pattern: a short task description, the shell command (marked with $ or : for the tmux command prompt), and the key binding where one exists.

Section Covers Example entries from the page
Sessions Starting, naming, attaching, detaching, listing, killing tmux new -s mysession, tmux ls, Ctrl+b d, Ctrl+b s
Windows Creating, renaming, closing, switching, reordering Ctrl+b c, Ctrl+b ,, Ctrl+b 0…9, swap-window -s 2 -t 1
Panes Splitting, toggling, joining, rearranging Ctrl+b %, Ctrl+b ", Ctrl+b ;, join-pane -s 2 -t 1
Copy Mode Scrollback and text selection Listed as its own section on the page
Misc Remaining commands not tied to one scope Listed as its own section on the page

How to locate a command in under a minute

  1. Know your scope first. If the thing you want to control is the whole workspace, look in Sessions; a tab-like view, Windows; a split, Panes.
  2. Try Ctrl+K. The page exposes a search shortcut (Ctrl + K) for jumping to an entry without scrolling.
  3. Scan for the key binding column. Bindings are written as Ctrl + b followed by the key, so Ctrl+b % and Ctrl+b " sit next to their split-window command equivalents.
  4. Use the top navigation for non-command topics. Install, Theming & Customizing, Plugins & Tools, and the OpenClaw + Tmux and Claude Code pages are separate from the command sections.

Reading the entries correctly

The page distinguishes three input styles, and mixing them up is the most common source of confusion:

  • $ tmux … — run in your normal shell, outside or alongside tmux.
  • : command — typed at the tmux command prompt (open it with Ctrl+b :).
  • Ctrl+b key — pressed inside a tmux session.

For example, starting a named session appears as $ tmux new -s mysession and : new -s mysession — same result, two entry points. Likewise, killing a session shows $ tmux kill-session -t mysession alongside the in-session : kill-session.

Where the site is strongest — and where to look elsewhere

The sheet is dense on lifecycle and layout operations: creating and naming sessions, attaching with tmux a -t mysession, detaching others via : attach -d, reordering windows with swap-window and move-window, and merging windows into panes with join-pane. If your task is "get back to where I was" or "rearrange my layout," the Sessions, Windows, and Panes sections will almost always have the answer.

For configuration, status-bar theming, and plugin setup, switch to the Theming & Customizing and Plugins & Tools pages rather than hunting through the command sections. The page also offers a language switcher (English, German, Chinese, French, Spanish, Korean, Dutch, Russian) if you prefer reading the reference in another language.

A practical lookup example

Suppose you want to detach from a session but keep it running. Under Sessions you'll find Ctrl+b d for "Detach from session," plus : attach -d for detaching other clients while you stay attached — a distinction worth noting, since the two are easy to conflate. If instead you want to return later, the same section lists tmux a, tmux at, tmux attach, and tmux attach-session as equivalent forms, with -t mysession to target a specific one.

Quick decision guide

  • Need a key binding? Scan the Ctrl+b entries in the section for your scope.
  • Need the scriptable form? Use the $ tmux … line, which works in scripts and outside a session.
  • Need to change settings or add plugins? Go to Theming & Customizing or Plugins & Tools, not the command sections.
  • Can't find it by browsing? Ctrl+K and type the task name.