Zellij

Zellij is a modern terminal multiplexer written in Rust, designed as a more user-friendly alternative to tmux and screen with sensible defaults that require zero configuration out of the box. Created by Aram Drevekenin and the Zellij team, it provides terminal workspace management with features including: session management (detach and reattach to running sessions, persist across SSH disconnects), tab and pane splitting (horizontal and vertical splits with keyboard-driven layouts), floating panes that can overlap the main layout, a built-in layout system (KDL-based configuration for defining named layouts with pre-configured pane arrangements), and a plugin system using WebAssembly (WASM) modules that run sandboxed with access to terminal APIs. The most notable feature is the built-in mode system with on-screen keyboard hints: Zellij displays available shortcuts at the bottom of the screen, showing what keys are available in the current context (Tab mode, Pane mode, Resize mode, Move mode, Search mode), eliminating the need to memorize obscure keybindings. Additional features include: scrollback buffer search with regex, copy/paste integration with system clipboard, 24-bit true color support, mouse integration (click to select panes, drag to resize, scroll to navigate scrollback), session resurrection, and integration with tools like vim, emacs, and lazygit. As of 2026, version 0.42+ has over 22,800 stars.