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Using tmux to Improve Your Terminal Experience

by André BrandãoJune 5th, 2021

Too Long; Didn't Read

We will be setting this up with Oh My Zsh, OhMy Zsh and Tmux. The following steps are done in Ubuntu. The same result can be achieved in MacOS with iTerm2 as the terminal. The next section will be installing the tmux with Dracula Theme. The guide is aimed at creating a beautiful and functional environment for the Zsh shell. For other platforms, please check this guide. OhMyZsh is a framework to manage your Zsh configuration, themes and plugins.

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featured image - Using tmux to Improve Your Terminal Experience

I have just recently improved my terminal setup after learning how to use Tmux. It gave me a way to move faster between projects and even kept my session saved after machine shutdowns. My goal here is to help you configure an environment that will be both beautiful and functional. Let's get to it.

What we will set up

Guake: a top-down terminal that can be instantaneously opened with a keystroke.
Zsh: an extended Bourne Shell (sh) with many improvements, powerful command-line editing options, and support for plugins and themes.
Oh-My-Zsh: an open-source, community-driven framework for managing your Zsh configuration.
Powerlevel10k: a theme for Zsh with interface helpers, such as git current branch and execution time.
Tmux: an open-source terminal multiplexer for Unix-like operating systems. It allows multiple terminal sessions to be accessed simultaneously in a single window.
Dracula Theme: a famous dark theme created by Zeno Rocha, a Brazilian developer.

Note: the following steps are done in Ubuntu. The same result can be achieved in MacOS with iTerm2 as the terminal.

Install Guake

When I worked with MacOS, I used iTerm2, but now on Linux I am using Guake as my default terminal. What I look for is to be able to open the command line in any monitor with a simple

CTRL + SPACE

shortcut.

So if you're on Ubuntu, just install it with

apt

sudo apt install guake

Choose your shortcut

Go to Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts and choose your key to Toggle Guake Visibility.

Change your theme to Dracula

Dracula is one of the most famous themes out there. I use it both my terminal and VSCode. Guake already comes with it pre-installed, so go to Preferences → Appearance and choose Dracula as a Built-in scheme.

Other configs

You might also want to change the transparency and height of the window. Check out their documentation for more.

Zsh & Oh My Zsh

Now, let's install Z shell in Ubuntu.

sudo apt install zsh

For other platforms, please check this guide.

Set it as your default shell.

chsh -s $(which zsh)

You will have to logout for the changes to take effect.

Again, in Guake go to Preferences → Shell and set your default interpreter to

/usr/bin/zsh

. Restart it and you should see the message below.

Choose option 0. We will be setting this up with Oh My Zsh.

Installing Oh My Zsh

Oh My Zsh is a framework to manage your Zsh configuration, themes, plugins, and much more.

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

After the successful installation, you should see the screen below.

You are now ready to install autocomplete and multiple plugins that will make your life easier. Check out the available plugins in the documentation.

I suggest you start with the following:

```
zsh-autosuggestions:
```
makes suggestions based on commands you have already made.
```
zsh-syntax-highlighting:
```
enables highlighting of commands while they are typed.

Clone both plugins to your OhMyZsh custom folder.

cd ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions.git
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git

Now, edit your

~/.zshrc

file to include them.

plugins=(
	git
	zsh-autosuggestions
	zsh-syntax-highlighting
)

Restart your Zsh with

source ~/.zshrc

Now, if you start typing, you will see the suggestions and can press the

right arrow key

to quickly autocomplete.

Powerlevel10k

Powerlevel10k is a theme for Zsh. It emphasizes speed, flexibility, and out-of-the-box experience.

Install the required fonts

Configure Guake by opening Preferences → Apperance. Then, uncheck "Use the system fixed width font" and select MesloLGS NF Regular. For more details check their guide here.

Clone the repository

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

Then, add powerlevel10k to

~/.zshrc

ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"

Restart Zsh with

source ~/.zshrc

and follow the configuration wizard.

Choose your preferred style on the following screens.

Apply the changes to your

zshrc

and you're done.

You will end up with a result like the one below.

Tmux & Dracula Theme

In this last section, we will be installing Tmux with Dracula Theme.

sudo apt install tmux

For other platforms, check this guide.

Then run it.

tmux new

You will notice that we have lost the colors we had before. Let's bring them back with the next configs.

Install tpm to handle tmux plugins.

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

Edit

~/.tmux.conf

and put this at the bottom.

# List of plugins
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tpm'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-sensible'

# Other examples:
# set -g @plugin 'github_username/plugin_name'
# set -g @plugin '[email protected]:user/plugin'
# set -g @plugin '[email protected]:user/plugin'

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

Reload tmux environment

# type this in terminal if tmux is already running
tmux source ~/.tmux.conf

Now, let's install Dracula Theme as a tpm plugin. Add the following to your

~/.tmux.conf

file.

set -g @plugin 'dracula/tmux'

# Set 256 colors
set -s default-terminal 'tmux-256color'

Press

<prefix> + I

(capital i) to install it. The default prefix is

ctrl + b

You can now quit tmux by typing

exit

and then create a new session with

tmux new

. You should now have Powerlevel10k running with Tmux and Dracula Theme.

As an extra, install the following plugins to save and restore your tmux sessions at any time.

set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-continuum'

And now you should be ready to go!

Quick commands:

Split panes by pressing
```
prefix + %
```
and
```
prefix + "
```
.
Kill panes by pressing
```
prefix + x
```
.
Switch panes with
```
prefix + arrow
```
.
Create new windows by pressing
```
prefix + c
```
.
Switch windows by pressing
```
prefix + number
```
.
Rename windows with
```
prefix + ,
```
Zoom in and out a pane with
```
prefix + z
```
Detach with
```
prefix + d
```
and reattach with
```
tmux
```
.

You can check out my configurations at:

Please, leave a comment telling me what you think about this setup and if you know other ways I can improve it. :)

Resources

Guake: http://guake-project.org/
Oh My Zsh: https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh
Powerlevel10k: https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k
Tmux: https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki
Dracula Theme: https://draculatheme.com/tmux

Previously published at https://andrebrandao.me/articles/terminal-setup-with-zsh-tmux-dracula-theme/

Disclaimer: The author provides this code and software “AS IS”, without
warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. In no event shall the
author be liable for any claim, damages or other liability in connection with the software or code provided here