What’s tmate?#
On *nix systems, sometimes we need support. And geeks don’t like GUI apps just
to have your system in front of them, at least I don’t like that.
tmate is terminal sharing software you can use it to
connect with your friends and you both work from there.
It’s available in many distributions repos and in case you aren’t lucky
enough, you can compile it from source or there are pre-compiled binaries
there in their Github page.
Configuration#
By default, tmate loads the system configuration file from
/etc/tmux.conf, if present, then looks for a user configuration file at ~/.tmux.conf and
~/.tmate.conf.
Keybindings#
Just like tmux, tmate uses C-b as prefix.
The default command key bindings are:
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C-b Send the prefix key (C-b) through to the application.
C-o Rotate the panes in the current window forwards.
C-z Suspend the tmate client.
! Break the current pane out of the window.
" Split the current pane into two, top and bottom.
# List all paste buffers.
$ Rename the current session.
% Split the current pane into two, left and right.
& Kill the current window.
' Prompt for a window index to select.
( Switch the attached client to the previous session.
) Switch the attached client to the next session.
, Rename the current window.
- Delete the most recently copied buffer of text.
. Prompt for an index to move the current window.
0 to 9 Select windows 0 to 9.
: Enter the tmate command prompt.
; Move to the previously active pane.
= Choose which buffer to paste interactively from a list.
? List all key bindings.
D Choose a client to detach.
L Switch the attached client back to the last session.
[ Enter copy mode to copy text or view the history.
] Paste the most recently copied buffer of text.
c Create a new window.
d Detach the current client.
f Prompt to search for text in open windows.
i Display some information about the current window.
l Move to the previously selected window.
n Change to the next window.
o Select the next pane in the current window.
p Change to the previous window.
q Briefly display pane indexes.
r Force redraw of the attached client.
m Mark the current pane (see select-pane -m).
M Clear the marked pane.
s Select a new session for the attached client interactively.
t Show the time.
w Choose the current window interactively.
x Kill the current pane.
z Toggle zoom state of the current pane.
{ Swap the current pane with the previous pane.
} Swap the current pane with the next pane.
~ Show previous messages from tmate, if any.
Page Up Enter copy mode and scroll one page up.
Up, Down
Left, Right
Change to the pane above, below, to the left, or to the right of the current pane.
M-1 to M-5 Arrange panes in one of the five preset layouts: even-horizontal, even-vertical, main-horizontal,
main-vertical, or tiled.
Space Arrange the current window in the next preset layout.
M-n Move to the next window with a bell or activity marker.
M-o Rotate the panes in the current window backwards.
M-p Move to the previous window with a bell or activity marker.
C-Up, C-Down
C-Left, C-Right
Resize the current pane in steps of one cell.
M-Up, M-Down
M-Left, M-Right
Resize the current pane in steps of five cells.
Key bindings may be changed with the bind-key and unbind-key commands.
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How to use?#
Once installed, just invoke tmate from command line.
tmate needs an ssh key so in case you don’t have an ssh key, generate one.
Once ready, invoke tmate. It will start connecting to its server and show you
in status bar once connected.
You can now show the URIs by show-messages command.
It will provide you both [web, ssh] priviliged and non-privileged links.
Share with your friends how you like.
Enjoy!