tmux-ide

A tmux plugin that creates a 3-pane IDE layout with a single keybinding. Turns any tmux window into a development workspace with your editor, an AI coding agent, and a terminal.

+----------------------------------------+-------------------+
|                                        |                   |
|   editor (nvim)                        |   agent (opencode)|
|   (top-left)                           |   (right)         |
|                                        |   (full height)   |
|                                        |                   |
|----------------------------------------|                   |
|   terminal (bash)                      |                   |
|   (bottom-left)                        |                   |
+----------------------------------------+-------------------+

Defaults to nvim as the editor and OpenCode as the right-side AI agent, but both are fully configurable. Works with any editor and any terminal-based tool.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/guysoft/tmux-ide ~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-ide
~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-ide/install.sh

Then inside tmux, press prefix + e to create the IDE layout.

Requirements

• tmux >= 2.0
• An editor (default: Neovim)
• An AI agent or tool for the right pane (default: OpenCode)

Installation

One-Line Install

git clone https://github.com/guysoft/tmux-ide ~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-ide && ~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-ide/install.sh

This will:

1. Symlink the plugin into ~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-ide/
2. Create an ide command in ~/.local/bin/ for command-line usage
3. Add the plugin to ~/.tmux.conf (before TPM init if present)
4. Reload your tmux config

With TPM

Add this line to your ~/.tmux.conf, before the TPM init line:

set -g @plugin 'guysoft/tmux-ide'

# Initialize TPM (keep at the very bottom)
run '~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm'

Then press prefix + I to install.

To also get the ide CLI command, run:

~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-ide/install.sh

Manual

Clone the repo and source the plugin:

git clone https://github.com/guysoft/tmux-ide ~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-ide

Add to ~/.tmux.conf:

run-shell ~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-ide/tmux-ide.tmux

Uninstall

~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-ide/install.sh --remove

Usage

Keybinding (inside tmux)

Press prefix + e to transform the current tmux window into an IDE layout.

The layout uses the current pane's working directory as the project root:

• Editor opens in the project directory (nvim with your session auto-loaded if using a session plugin)
• Agent opens in the project directory (opencode continues the last session for that directory)
• Terminal opens in the project directory
• Window is renamed to the project directory name

If the window already has multiple panes, they are replaced.

Command Line

The ide command (installed by install.sh) can be used directly:

# Create IDE layout in current directory
ide

# Create IDE layout for a specific project
ide ~/workspace/myproject

# Skip confirmation when replacing existing panes
ide --force ~/workspace/myproject

Workflow Example

# Open a new tmux window
# Ctrl+a c

# Navigate to your project
cd ~/workspace/myproject

# Press prefix + e to create IDE layout
# Ctrl+a e

# Or from command line:
ide ~/workspace/myproject

Configuration

All options are set in ~/.tmux.conf:

Option	Default	Description
@ide-key	e	Keybinding to trigger the IDE layout
@ide-editor	nvim	Editor command to run in the top-left pane
@ide-agent	opencode -c	Command to run in the right pane
@ide-terminal	(empty)	Command to run in the bottom-left pane (empty = plain shell)
@ide-right-width	30	Right pane width as a percentage
@ide-bottom-height	30	Bottom pane height as a percentage

Example Configurations

Neovim + OpenCode (default)

set -g @plugin 'guysoft/tmux-ide'
# No extra config needed, these are the defaults

Neovim + Claude Code

set -g @plugin 'guysoft/tmux-ide'
set -g @ide-agent "claude"

Vim + Aider

set -g @plugin 'guysoft/tmux-ide'
set -g @ide-editor "vim"
set -g @ide-agent "aider"

Helix + Goose

set -g @plugin 'guysoft/tmux-ide'
set -g @ide-editor "hx"
set -g @ide-agent "goose"

Wider Agent Pane

set -g @plugin 'guysoft/tmux-ide'
set -g @ide-right-width "40"
set -g @ide-bottom-height "25"

Session Restoration

This plugin works well with tmux-resurrect and tmux-continuum. After a tmux restart, the full IDE layout is restored:

Component	How It's Restored
Layout	tmux-resurrect saves and restores pane geometry
Editor	tmux-resurrect restores nvim (in default process list). Use a session plugin like possession.nvim with autoload = 'auto_cwd' to auto-restore editor sessions
Agent	For OpenCode, use tmux-resurrect-opencode-sessions to restore the exact agent session
Terminal	tmux-resurrect restores the shell in the correct directory

Recommended tmux.conf for Full Restoration

# Plugins
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tpm'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-continuum'
set -g @plugin 'guysoft/tmux-resurrect-opencode-sessions'
set -g @plugin 'guysoft/tmux-ide'

# Auto-save and restore
set -g @continuum-restore 'on'

# Initialize TPM
run '~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm'

Related Plugins

• tmux-resurrect-opencode-sessions - Preserves OpenCode sessions across tmux restarts
• tmux-resurrect - Save and restore tmux sessions
• tmux-continuum - Automatic save and restore

License

GPL-3.0. See LICENSE for details.