tmux Pane Labels
I have a tmux session running on a VPS which contains a bunch of panes, each running a specialized fornax gemini server (with a different game each). As these run, they spit out a bunch of diagnostic information, which scrolls. After a while it's impossible to tell which pane contains which server.
It was surprisingly difficult to figure out how to identify each pane. Here is a quick recipe for showing the name of the selected pane on the status line:
In .tmux.conf:
In each pane,
Obviously, replace <name> with something meaningful and different, and don't forget the trailing space.
If you want to make it more visible, you can set a different color in .tmux.conf:
Use whatever colors work for you, of course.
2025-12-20 · 5 months ago · 👍 wasolili, fab
3 Comments ↓
🐦 roughnecks · Dec 20 at 18:55:
can't you just `ctrl-b` : `rename-window <name>` and save/restore your session with a plugin?
🚀 stack [OP] · Dec 20 at 19:20:
@roughnecks: that renames the entire window... I have many panes inside it, and I need for each one to be identifiable...
I am surprized that it's not an automatic feature -- I always thought systadmins have tons of these split and open to track things...
🐦 roughnecks · Dec 20 at 22:06:
oh, right.