Zellij

What hackers pick instead

• tmuxA long-proven terminal multiplexer for persistent remote sessions, panes and scripting, now popular for running AI agents, though copying text and scrollback can be awkward.411recommend
• HerdrA terminal multiplexer for running many coding agents, with status indicators, notifications, remote sessions and worktree support; some worry about its VC backing and future lock-in.232recommend
• GNU ScreenLong-standing terminal multiplexer for keeping sessions alive across disconnects, with a well-written man page and simple key bindings. Critics call it old, with weak UTF-8 support.33recommend
• zmxPeople recommend zmx for simple session persistence that keeps terminal state and scrollback, with remote reattach and minimal features. Critics say it can be buggy with screen repainting.23recommend
• Rex by SuperlogicalPeople praise its polished look, fast performance and remote access, and say it keeps services running and restarts them. Critics note it lacks Headscale support and quick select.21recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 145 comments. Each links to the original.

1. Just even for how tab and panes are setup, and how it's good for scrolling and text selection with your mouse for copy pasting.

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable”

2. The sessions are still native windows/panes inside the terminal/multiplexer that I configured and polished for years.

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Show HN: Saggar, a Mac terminal that keeps sessions and your attention organized”

3. With the one caveat that it does not (yet) support copy/paste buffers or copying from the scroll back buffer.

   Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “SpaceX to buy Cursor AI coding agent operator Anysphere for $60B”

4. I can mouse over a pane in zellij and use two-finger scrolling to scroll only that pane without any problem.

   Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “Mitchellh starts a new company: Superlogical”

5. I can SSH into my desktop from my laptop remotely to continue my dev session exactly where I left off.

   Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “A terminal weather app with ASCII animations driven by real-time weather data”

6. Zellij is a lot smoother and nicer looking out the box, and its key shortcuts are pretty intuitive.

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Ghostty – Terminal Emulator”

7. The ability to instantly spin up my entire dev environment with everything just where I like it

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Zellij 0.45.0: nested sessions, Kitty graphics, a fresh UI”

8. how tab and panes are setup, and how it's good for scrolling and text selection with your mouse

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable”

9. Zellij fits my brain a lot better. Plus, it has a lot of UI affordances to discover features

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Zellij: A terminal workspace with batteries included”

10. one point of friction I ran into was it not loading profile configurations like .zprofile

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “Zellij: A terminal workspace with batteries included”

11. With its significantly better UI and overall user experience, I was instantly convinced.

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable”

12. I like the scroll info, the default bindings, and the fact it plays nicely with my setup

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable”

13. selection and copying and pasting which made me abandon it as I was getting frustrated

    Mixed · Oct 2026 · in “Herdr has released native app”

14. Zellij is a pretty good tmux alternative, with a UI that feels a lot friendlier.

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “SpaceX to buy Cursor AI coding agent operator Anysphere for $60B”

15. On reboot it remembers my tabs and panels and even commands that ran inside last

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Ghostty – Terminal Emulator”

16. Zellij can do things like floating windows, contextual keybinding guidance

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Atuin v18.13 – better search, a PTY proxy, and AI for your shell”

17. a number of corner cases I depend on in tmux simply don’t work

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable”

18. You can't rebind plugin maps, so the session picker uses my preferred unlock chord to create a session. Dev had no interest in changing that.

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable”

19. I wanted to believe, but wasn't able to get most of my config working the same in zellij since it has fewer configuration knobs.

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Claude Chill: Fix Claude Code's Flickering in Terminal”

20. The landing page does a bad job at explaining what it is, same with the first page of the documentation.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Zellij: A terminal workspace with batteries included”

21. This is also the dealbreaker for me, I use copy / paste from the scrollback buffer all the time.

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable”

22. horrible design fails on the first page supposed to introduce the software

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable”

23. because of some bad incompatibility with Codex I had to go back to tmux

    Criticizes · Oct 2026 · in “Tmux and Claude Code: Sessions, Send-Keys, and the Ceiling”

24. instead I use zellij (tmux would suffice as well) and have a corner for btop, and shells in the rest of the space.

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Zellij 0.45.0: nested sessions, Kitty graphics, a fresh UI”

25. tmux’s bindings still work inside Zellij so I’ve just been using tmux bindings and haven’t had to adjust at all

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Zellij: A terminal workspace with batteries included”

26. for some reason it's just feels "super-sensible", comfortable, and allows a lot of flexibility.

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “It's time to talk about my writerdeck”

27. I tried zellij a couple of years ago when it first got popular and it didn't click for me.

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable”

28. Why not just have multiple instances of pi inside one of the many multiplexers out there?

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “I Built a Telegram Client for Pi”

29. One big zellij session connected to multiple terminal emulators is probably the best way

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “Why TUIs Are Back”

30. I for one have used Zellij every day for years and would struggle to get by without it!

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Zellij 0.45.0: nested sessions, Kitty graphics, a fresh UI”

31. For my agent management scripts I use zellij since it is more ergonomic than tmux.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Show HN: Dwm.tmux – a dwm-inspired window manager for tmux”

32. Almost all of the release notes for this one left me saying, "Yes, I want that."

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Zellij 0.44.0: Remote Sessions, Windows Support, CLI Automation”

33. Zellij is nice, it's as close to a window manager in a terminal as I ever got.

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “A native graphical shell for SSH”

34. Zellij is a breath of fresh air in the terminal and my daily driver for years.

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Zellij 0.45.0: nested sessions, Kitty graphics, a fresh UI”

35. When I do use Zellij, it's when I'm on my laptop and no sockets are nearby.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Zellij: A terminal workspace with batteries included”

36. If you don't like how tmux works, there are alternatives. I prefer Zellij

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Claude Code Remote Control”

37. it's actually stuck quite nicely and has become a staple in my workflow

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Zellij 0.45.0: nested sessions, Kitty graphics, a fresh UI”

38. Zellij is great on your local machine where you control the environment

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Make Tmux Pretty and Usable”

39. Personally I use Zellij, because tmux feels like learning another vim.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Mitchellh starts a new company: Superlogical”

40. Having them is your toolbet helps me and my agents build better tools.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Agents.md speaks Unix, and you should too”