> EDIT: now that i think about it, this could maybe be achieved by keeping the terminal multiplexer's "server", but having the terminal emulator act as a client

> EDIT: now that i think about it, this could maybe be achieved by keeping the terminal multiplexer's "server", but having the terminal emulator act as a client to it This is exactly what iTerm2 tmux integration does. Tmux exposes a "raw" control mode by starting it with the -C flag. iTerm2 uses this to convert tmux windows into native tabs/windows, complete with workspace persistence. AFAIK, iTerm2 is the only terminal emulator to integrate with -C controle mode, which is probably the main thing that keeps me on macOS over Linux.