tmux-continuum

Features:

• continuous saving of tmux environment
• automatic tmux start when computer/server is turned on
• automatic restore when tmux is started

Together these features enable uninterrupted tmux usage. No matter the computer or server restarts, if the machine is on, tmux will be there how you left it off the last time it was used.

Continuous saving

Tmux environment will be saved at the interval of 15 minutes. All the saving happens in the background without the impact to your workflow.

This action starts automatically when the plugin is installed.

Automatic tmux start

Tmux is automatically started after the computer/server is turned on.

See the instructions how to enable this for your system.

Automatic restore

Last saved environment is automatically restored when tmux is started.

Put set -g @continuum-restore 'on' in tmux.conf to enable this.

Note: automatic restore happens exclusively on tmux server start. No other action (e.g. sourcing tmux.conf) triggers this.

Dependencies

tmux 1.9 or higher, bash, tmux-resurrect plugin.

Installation with Tmux Plugin Manager (recommended)

Please make sure you have the latest version of tmux-resurrect installed (as of Feb 2015).

Add plugin to the list of TPM plugins in .tmux.conf:

set -g @tpm_plugins '            \
  tmux-plugins/tpm               \
  tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect    \
  tmux-plugins/tmux-continuum    \
'

Hit prefix + I to fetch the plugin and source it. The plugin will automatically start "working" in the background, no action required.

Manual Installation

Please make sure you have the latest version of tmux-resurrect installed (as of Feb 2015).

Clone the repo:

$ git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tmux-continuum ~/clone/path

Add this line to the bottom of .tmux.conf:

run-shell ~/clone/path/continuum.tmux

Reload TMUX environment:

# type this in terminal
$ tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

The plugin will automatically start "working" in the background, no action required.

FAQ

Will a previous save be overwritten immediately after I start tmux?

No, first automatic save starts 15 minutes after tmux is started. If automatic restore is not enabled, that gives you enough time to manually restore from a previous save.

I want to make a restore to a previous point in time, but it seems that save is now overwritten?

None of the previous saves are deleted (unless you explicitly do that). All save files are kept in ~/.tmux/resurrect/ directory.
Here are the steps to restore to a previous point in time:

• make sure you start this with a "fresh" tmux instance
• $ cd ~/.tmux/resurrect/
• locate the save file you'd like to use for restore (file names have a timestamp)
• symlink the last file to the desired save file: $ ln -sf <file_name> last
• do a restore with tmux-resurrect key: prefix + Ctrl-r

You should now be restored to the time when <file_name> save happened.

Will this plugin fill my hard disk?

Most likely no. A regular save file is in the range of 5Kb. That said, it would be good to clean out old save files from ~/.tmux/resurrect/ dir from time to time.

How do I change the save interval to i.e. 1 hour?

The interval is always measured in minutes. So setting the interval to 60 (minutes) will do the trick. Put this in .tmux.conf:

set -g @continuum-save-interval '60'

and then source tmux.conf by executing this command in the shell $ tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf.

How do I stop automatic saving?

Just set the save interval to 0. Put this in .tmux.conf

set -g @continuum-save-interval '0'

and then source tmux.conf by executing this command in the shell $ tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf.

I had automatic restore turned on, how do I disable it now?

Just remove set -g @continuum-restore 'on' from tmux.conf.

To be absolutely sure automatic restore doesn't happen, create a tmux_no_auto_restore file in your home directory (command: $ touch ~/tmux_no_auto_restore). Automatic restore won't happen if this file exists.

Behavior when running multiple tmux servers

(This is safe to skip if you're always running a single tmux server.)

If you're an advanced tmux user, you might be running multiple tmux servers at the same time. Maybe you start the first tmux server with $ tmux and then later another one with e.g. $ tmux -S/tmp/foo.

You probably don't want to "auto restore" the same environment in the second tmux that uses /tmp/foo socket. You also probably don't want two tmux environments both having "auto save" feature on (think about overwrites).

This plugin handles multi-server scenario by giving precedence to the tmux server that was first started.

In the above example, the server started with $ tmux will do "auto restore" (if enabled) and will start "auto saving". "Auto restore" or "auto saving" will not happen for the second server that was started later with the $ tmux -S/tmp/foo command. The plugin will detect the presence of another server ($ tmux) and give it precedence.

Other goodies

• tmux-copycat - a plugin for regex searches in tmux and fast match selection
• tmux-yank - enables copying highlighted text to system clipboard
• tmux-open - a plugin for quickly opening highlighted file or a url

You might want to follow @brunosutic on twitter if you want to hear about new tmux plugins or feature updates.

Reporting bugs and contributing

Both contributing and bug reports are welcome. Please check out contributing guidelines.

License

MIT