7 ms·

Zellij: A terminal workspace with batteries included

66 points by ndr 10mo ago

jauntywundrkind 10mo ago
Fwiw lots of submissions over the years. I thought there was one a couple weeks ago but not seeing it. https://hn.algolia.com/?q=zellij https://hn.algolia.com/?q=zellij
sesm 10mo ago
My dream workspace is a real browser (with all dev tools), with integrated terminal emulator and integrated editor. Editor plugins could be prototyped with web technology and debugged on the fly (like Obsidian plugins). Is there anything like this?
- pomdtr 10mo ago
  I built a project to add a terminal emulator to the browser (using a chrome extension): https://github.com/pomdtr/tweety https://github.com/pomdtr/tweety. I'm working on a `tweety edit` command which open arbitrary files in your $EDITOR of choice in a new tab.
  - sesm 10mo ago
    Looks great, I'll give it a try!
- maccard 10mo ago
  You’ve basically described vscode!
  - sesm 10mo ago
    As far as I understand, VSCode browser can't install browser extensions and doesn't even have Dev Tools. For example, IntelliJ IDEs ship with CEF-based browser that has Chromium Dev Tools, but it still doesn't support browser extensions.
    - williamstein 10mo ago
      Instead you can use https://github.com/coder/code-server https://github.com/coder/code-server, which is really vscode running in your browser. You then get all extensions, etc.
    - maccard 10mo ago
      I was being a little tongue in cheek, and my "basically" was doing a lot of heavy lifting. VSCode is electron based, so under the hood it's already doing the heavy lifting. It's got a first class editor, first class terminal, first class plugins developed using web tech, very easily and readily debuggable. It has a browser built in, which is "just" an iframe, and it definitely doesn't function as a full blown web browser, but it does work for previewing your dev work, and given it's a dev tool it makes sense that the experience would be editor+debugger+tools first, with browser as a second class citizen (rather than chrome with an embedded terminal which would be the other way around).
tdubey 10mo ago
Is there improved guidance on migrating from tmux to zellij? I've attempted to move over a few times, and while this is certainly user skill, it just felt too different from screen/tmux. Perhaps I should bite the bullet and force myself to get used to a new paradigm...
- whimsicalism 10mo ago
  i've switched over and really enjoy it. i feel like it's largely self documenting, what are your biggest hurdles?
- stusmall 10mo ago
  For something as simple as a terminal multiplexer, if you aren't seeing immediate value in a switch maybe its fine if you stick with what you have. You don't always need to be on the newest thing. I prefer zellij over tmux, but it is evolutionary not revolutionary. Instead of forcing yourself, save the effort and focus on something more valuable.
- Enzime 10mo ago
  I recently realized that tmux’s bindings still work inside Zellij so I’ve just been using tmux bindings and haven’t had to adjust at all
- kartoshechka 10mo ago
  I was confused by its plugins. Despite reading docs over a few days I still have no idea what does runtime for plugins look like, does zellij download them once? on each server start? on each plugin call? and since some features like a switching to a session from another session without spawning child zellij process is available only as plugin, that adds up the confusion, like am I hitting github every time when I switch sessions? I didn't manage to find a way to update existing session layout when the layout config changed, only to recreate it, which is super boresome when you tinkering with plugin config that is embedded in layout config. Resurrected sessions needs to be restored manually via somewhat lagging session manager, there's no cli api for that, in general when you need something to be done in another session, you can't. The only good built-in feature I found is stacking layout showing running command in pane, but I delegate it to tabs in niri now. Overall I would say if you're long time tmux user, switching to zellij isn't worth it. If you're new to concept of terminal emulators, zellij is much more friendlier, and I'm sure plugins would mature, docs would improve.
not-so-darkstar 10mo ago
I don't understand the idea to make everything terminal-centric. It should be one component of all the tools available to the programmer. All text editors worth using have a way to open a terminal for that one time you need it, everything else should be a GUI (with all the advantages that come with it).
- hollerith 10mo ago
  I don't even use a terminal to run shell commands.
  - not-so-darkstar 10mo ago
    Another fellow GVim user?
    - hollerith 10mo ago
      Emacs, and as soon as I spawn it, I send the shell process EOF, which is my way of saying, "I'm interested in seeing what you write on your stdout, but have no interest in conducting a dialog with you".
- mistercheph 10mo ago
  Keyboards are higher bandwidth man-machine interfaces than mouse + GUI unless what you're exchanging is spatial information, which is typically not the case for writing software. There is a higher learning curve, and we can argue about the tradeoffs you make, but some powerful tools can be difficult to learn to use. Complexity != bad design; sometimes you're just exposing an underlying problem space that can't be simplified without being cut off from part of the solution space.
  - grepex 10mo ago
    This 100%. For me, the philosophy is not so much a terminal-centric design but a keyboard-centric design. Sure, this could be done in a GUI, but even GUIs with a keyboard-centric design are not as fluid as a TUI. I'll also add that (like the parent comment) I did not get the appeal. Not until I forced myself to use it more and saw the benefits.
dr_kretyn 10mo ago
I'm a terminal person and would love to try new things. But I just spent a few minutes on their page and have no idea why I would try to use it. Can anyone help me learn why this over, say, kitty?
- chrysoprace 10mo ago
  It's not an alternative to kitty; it's an alternative to tmux or GNU screen. I believe it's positioned to be more user-friendly than tmux but I've already got things memorised with tmux and it wasn't bringing anything new to the table, so I didn't try zellij for more than a few days.
  - pletnes 10mo ago
    I like tmux better as well (muscle memory) but AFAIK you need tmuxinator for preconfiguring layouts?
    - atmosx 10mo ago
      You need a session manager like tmuxinator, tmuxp and tmux-sessionx are popular choices.
  - tym0 10mo ago
    I feel the same. If someone would ask me for a recommendation I would point them toward Zellij but if you've been using tmux for years it's probably not worth it. The modal nature of Zellij is nice though.
  - deleted 10mo ago
    [deleted]
Milpotel 10mo ago
2025 and actual devs are still recommending to type "bash <(curl -L ...)" into a terminal...
- Rucadi 10mo ago
  If the source is known, it is not less bad that downloading a program and running it
  - homebrewer 10mo ago
    It is if the script is written badly, gets truncated while it's being downloaded, and fails to account for this possibility. Look into tailscale's installation script, they wrapped everything into a function which is called in the last line — you either download and execute every line, or it does nothing.
    - Analemma_ 10mo ago
      This "what if it gets truncated in the middle of the download, and the half-run script does something really bad" objection gets brought up every time "curl | bash" is mentioned, and it always feels like "what if a cosmic ray flips a bit in your memory which makes the kernel erase your hard drive". Like, yes, it could happen in the same way getting killed by a falling asteroid could happen, but I'm not losing sleep over it.
    - manmal 10mo ago
      Serious question, why or how would a script get truncated when transferred over https?
      - nilamo 10mo ago
        You pull the Ethernet cable out before it finishes. Or your wifi router hiccups
        manmal 10mo ago
mutkach 10mo ago
Does it support sending and executing commands to the panes like tmux does? like this: tmux send-keys -t 0:1.1 "ls" Enter edit: well, yes, you can: zellij action write-chars ls zellij action write 10
- chb 10mo ago
  Ha! I've been using tmux for years and I didn't realize one could do this.
kstrauser 10mo ago
An endorsement: I freaking love Zellij. I mainly use it like one might use Tmux, to keep remote sessions alive so I can reconnect to them from another host than where I began the session: * Ssh in to myserver.cloud from my laptop. Run Zellij. Fire off various long-running processes in multiple tabs. * On my commute home, ssh in from my phone, run `zellij attach`, and check on the status of those processes. * Once home, ssh in from my desktop, run `zellij attach`, and continue where I left off earlier. Tmux is nice, but Zellij fits my brain a lot better. Plus, it has a lot of UI affordances to discover features without me having to memorize keystrokes. I use these kinds of tools often enough to care about them, but not so often or in such depth that I'm any kind of a power user. There are certain things I do so rarely in Tmux that I have to look up the manual every single time I do them. With Zellij, I don't have to.
andyfleming 10mo ago
I like Zellij, but one point of friction I ran into was it not loading profile configurations like .zprofile. https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/issues/1434 https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/issues/1434
mixmastamyk 10mo ago
Neat. Any idea how well it runs on the linux console, or fbterm perhaps? Maybe there is a better fbterm by now, remember it being a bit lacking as well.
mhitza 10mo ago
The landing page does a bad job at explaining what it is, same with the first page of the documentation. I get it from the other comments that it's a terminal multiplexer, and considered an alternative to tmux. But tmux and screen are well established, and should take the opportunity to explain in what way it is different from those.
_lvbh 10mo ago
Most of the time, my need for terminal multiplexers are accommodated by tiling window managers and workspaces. When I do use Zellij, it's when I'm on my laptop and no sockets are nearby. Then I boot onto console and use Zellij for the scroll, split panes, and session management. A replacement for the desktop if you will. Quite handy.
welcome_dragon 10mo ago
This is finally a terminal that gets panels and tabs right. Gonna try it without tmux
Escapade5160 10mo ago
Went to the homepage, had no idea what it was. Read the about page, I still don't know that it does. Can anyone tell me what this is and why it might be useful?
- nurettin 10mo ago
  The about page says that it is a terminal multiplexer. Like gnu screen and that hipster version called tmux.
- SAI_Peregrinus 10mo ago
  It's a terminal multiplexer. A bit like tmux, but with a better (IMO) UI.

66 points by ndr 10mo ago

Fwiw lots of submissions over the years. I thought there was one a couple weeks ago but not seeing it. https://hn.algolia.com/?q=zellij https://hn.algolia.com/?q=zellij

sesm 10mo ago

My dream workspace is a real browser (with all dev tools), with integrated terminal emulator and integrated editor. Editor plugins could be prototyped with web technology and debugged on the fly (like Obsidian plugins). Is there anything like this?

pomdtr 10mo ago
I built a project to add a terminal emulator to the browser (using a chrome extension): https://github.com/pomdtr/tweety https://github.com/pomdtr/tweety. I'm working on a `tweety edit` command which open arbitrary files in your $EDITOR of choice in a new tab.
- sesm 10mo ago
  Looks great, I'll give it a try!
maccard 10mo ago
You’ve basically described vscode!
- sesm 10mo ago
  As far as I understand, VSCode browser can't install browser extensions and doesn't even have Dev Tools. For example, IntelliJ IDEs ship with CEF-based browser that has Chromium Dev Tools, but it still doesn't support browser extensions.
  - williamstein 10mo ago
    Instead you can use https://github.com/coder/code-server https://github.com/coder/code-server, which is really vscode running in your browser. You then get all extensions, etc.
  - maccard 10mo ago
    I was being a little tongue in cheek, and my "basically" was doing a lot of heavy lifting. VSCode is electron based, so under the hood it's already doing the heavy lifting. It's got a first class editor, first class terminal, first class plugins developed using web tech, very easily and readily debuggable. It has a browser built in, which is "just" an iframe, and it definitely doesn't function as a full blown web browser, but it does work for previewing your dev work, and given it's a dev tool it makes sense that the experience would be editor+debugger+tools first, with browser as a second class citizen (rather than chrome with an embedded terminal which would be the other way around).

tdubey 10mo ago

Is there improved guidance on migrating from tmux to zellij? I've attempted to move over a few times, and while this is certainly user skill, it just felt too different from screen/tmux. Perhaps I should bite the bullet and force myself to get used to a new paradigm...

whimsicalism 10mo ago
i've switched over and really enjoy it. i feel like it's largely self documenting, what are your biggest hurdles?
stusmall 10mo ago
For something as simple as a terminal multiplexer, if you aren't seeing immediate value in a switch maybe its fine if you stick with what you have. You don't always need to be on the newest thing. I prefer zellij over tmux, but it is evolutionary not revolutionary. Instead of forcing yourself, save the effort and focus on something more valuable.
Enzime 10mo ago
I recently realized that tmux’s bindings still work inside Zellij so I’ve just been using tmux bindings and haven’t had to adjust at all
kartoshechka 10mo ago
I was confused by its plugins. Despite reading docs over a few days I still have no idea what does runtime for plugins look like, does zellij download them once? on each server start? on each plugin call? and since some features like a switching to a session from another session without spawning child zellij process is available only as plugin, that adds up the confusion, like am I hitting github every time when I switch sessions? I didn't manage to find a way to update existing session layout when the layout config changed, only to recreate it, which is super boresome when you tinkering with plugin config that is embedded in layout config. Resurrected sessions needs to be restored manually via somewhat lagging session manager, there's no cli api for that, in general when you need something to be done in another session, you can't. The only good built-in feature I found is stacking layout showing running command in pane, but I delegate it to tabs in niri now. Overall I would say if you're long time tmux user, switching to zellij isn't worth it. If you're new to concept of terminal emulators, zellij is much more friendlier, and I'm sure plugins would mature, docs would improve.

not-so-darkstar 10mo ago

I don't understand the idea to make everything terminal-centric. It should be one component of all the tools available to the programmer. All text editors worth using have a way to open a terminal for that one time you need it, everything else should be a GUI (with all the advantages that come with it).

hollerith 10mo ago
I don't even use a terminal to run shell commands.
- not-so-darkstar 10mo ago
  Another fellow GVim user?
  - hollerith 10mo ago
    Emacs, and as soon as I spawn it, I send the shell process EOF, which is my way of saying, "I'm interested in seeing what you write on your stdout, but have no interest in conducting a dialog with you".
mistercheph 10mo ago
Keyboards are higher bandwidth man-machine interfaces than mouse + GUI unless what you're exchanging is spatial information, which is typically not the case for writing software. There is a higher learning curve, and we can argue about the tradeoffs you make, but some powerful tools can be difficult to learn to use. Complexity != bad design; sometimes you're just exposing an underlying problem space that can't be simplified without being cut off from part of the solution space.
- grepex 10mo ago
  This 100%. For me, the philosophy is not so much a terminal-centric design but a keyboard-centric design. Sure, this could be done in a GUI, but even GUIs with a keyboard-centric design are not as fluid as a TUI. I'll also add that (like the parent comment) I did not get the appeal. Not until I forced myself to use it more and saw the benefits.

dr_kretyn 10mo ago

I'm a terminal person and would love to try new things. But I just spent a few minutes on their page and have no idea why I would try to use it. Can anyone help me learn why this over, say, kitty?

chrysoprace 10mo ago
It's not an alternative to kitty; it's an alternative to tmux or GNU screen. I believe it's positioned to be more user-friendly than tmux but I've already got things memorised with tmux and it wasn't bringing anything new to the table, so I didn't try zellij for more than a few days.
- pletnes 10mo ago
  I like tmux better as well (muscle memory) but AFAIK you need tmuxinator for preconfiguring layouts?
  - atmosx 10mo ago
    You need a session manager like tmuxinator, tmuxp and tmux-sessionx are popular choices.
- tym0 10mo ago
  I feel the same. If someone would ask me for a recommendation I would point them toward Zellij but if you've been using tmux for years it's probably not worth it. The modal nature of Zellij is nice though.
- deleted 10mo ago
  [deleted]

Milpotel 10mo ago

2025 and actual devs are still recommending to type "bash <(curl -L ...)" into a terminal...

Rucadi 10mo ago
If the source is known, it is not less bad that downloading a program and running it
- homebrewer 10mo ago
  It is if the script is written badly, gets truncated while it's being downloaded, and fails to account for this possibility. Look into tailscale's installation script, they wrapped everything into a function which is called in the last line — you either download and execute every line, or it does nothing.
  - Analemma_ 10mo ago
    This "what if it gets truncated in the middle of the download, and the half-run script does something really bad" objection gets brought up every time "curl | bash" is mentioned, and it always feels like "what if a cosmic ray flips a bit in your memory which makes the kernel erase your hard drive". Like, yes, it could happen in the same way getting killed by a falling asteroid could happen, but I'm not losing sleep over it.
  - manmal 10mo ago
    Serious question, why or how would a script get truncated when transferred over https?
    - nilamo 10mo ago
      You pull the Ethernet cable out before it finishes. Or your wifi router hiccups
      - manmal 10mo ago

mutkach 10mo ago

Does it support sending and executing commands to the panes like tmux does? like this: tmux send-keys -t 0:1.1 "ls" Enter edit: well, yes, you can: zellij action write-chars ls zellij action write 10

chb 10mo ago
Ha! I've been using tmux for years and I didn't realize one could do this.

kstrauser 10mo ago

An endorsement: I freaking love Zellij. I mainly use it like one might use Tmux, to keep remote sessions alive so I can reconnect to them from another host than where I began the session: * Ssh in to myserver.cloud from my laptop. Run Zellij. Fire off various long-running processes in multiple tabs. * On my commute home, ssh in from my phone, run `zellij attach`, and check on the status of those processes. * Once home, ssh in from my desktop, run `zellij attach`, and continue where I left off earlier. Tmux is nice, but Zellij fits my brain a lot better. Plus, it has a lot of UI affordances to discover features without me having to memorize keystrokes. I use these kinds of tools often enough to care about them, but not so often or in such depth that I'm any kind of a power user. There are certain things I do so rarely in Tmux that I have to look up the manual every single time I do them. With Zellij, I don't have to.

andyfleming 10mo ago

I like Zellij, but one point of friction I ran into was it not loading profile configurations like .zprofile. https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/issues/1434 https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/issues/1434

mixmastamyk 10mo ago

Neat. Any idea how well it runs on the linux console, or fbterm perhaps? Maybe there is a better fbterm by now, remember it being a bit lacking as well.

mhitza 10mo ago

The landing page does a bad job at explaining what it is, same with the first page of the documentation. I get it from the other comments that it's a terminal multiplexer, and considered an alternative to tmux. But tmux and screen are well established, and should take the opportunity to explain in what way it is different from those.

_lvbh 10mo ago

Most of the time, my need for terminal multiplexers are accommodated by tiling window managers and workspaces. When I do use Zellij, it's when I'm on my laptop and no sockets are nearby. Then I boot onto console and use Zellij for the scroll, split panes, and session management. A replacement for the desktop if you will. Quite handy.

welcome_dragon 10mo ago

This is finally a terminal that gets panels and tabs right. Gonna try it without tmux

Escapade5160 10mo ago

Went to the homepage, had no idea what it was. Read the about page, I still don't know that it does. Can anyone tell me what this is and why it might be useful?

nurettin 10mo ago
The about page says that it is a terminal multiplexer. Like gnu screen and that hipster version called tmux.
SAI_Peregrinus 10mo ago
It's a terminal multiplexer. A bit like tmux, but with a better (IMO) UI.