Naming tmux sessions

Naming tmux sessions | Generated by AI

Home 2026.04

Question: How to create tmux sessions with a name?

Answer:

To create a tmux session with a custom name, use the -s flag with the tmux new-session command (or its shorthand tmux new).

tmux new-session -s session_name

Example:

tmux new-session -s myproject

This creates a new tmux session named “myproject” and attaches to it immediately.

tmux new -s myproject

Start detached (create the session in the background without attaching):
```
tmux new -s myproject -d
```

Specify a working directory:

tmux new -s myproject -c ~/projects/myapp -d

Run a command on session start:

tmux new -s myserver -c ~/projects -d "python run_server.py"

Create and attach:
```
tmux new -s dev
```
Create detached (useful in scripts or when you want to set up multiple sessions first):
```
tmux new -s frontend -d
tmux new -s backend -d
tmux new -s database -d
```
Attach to an existing named session:
```
tmux attach -t myproject
```
List all sessions (to see names):
```
tmux list-sessions
```
or the shorter:
```
tmux ls
```

If you’re already inside tmux and want to create a new named session:

tmux rename-session -t oldname newname

or inside tmux: Ctrl+b then :rename-session newname

Session names should be descriptive but short (e.g., web, api, logs, project-v2).
You can use underscores _ or hyphens - in names.
To kill a session: tmux kill-session -t session_name

This method works on Linux, macOS, and any system with tmux installed.

References:

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