How to detach, list, and re-attach a tmux session?
Short answer
tmux ls # list running sessions
tmux attach -t projet # re-attach to one (short: tmux a -t projet)From inside a session, press prefix d to detach: tmux disappears but the session keeps running
in the background. prefix s opens an interactive session picker.
Details
The whole point of tmux is that a session outlives the terminal attached to it. Three operations cover the daily loop.
Detach with prefix d, which runs detach-client. Your shells, running processes, and layout
stay alive in the background; you just stop viewing them. Closing the terminal window does the
same thing.
List with tmux ls (short for list-sessions). It prints one line per session with its name and
window count:
tmux ls
# alpha: 1 windows (created Mon Jun 8 08:13:49 2026)
# beta: 1 windows (created Mon Jun 8 08:13:49 2026)Re-attach with tmux attach -t name (or tmux a -t name). Without -t, tmux attaches to the
most recently used session.
If you would rather pick from a list than type a name, prefix s runs choose-tree -Zs: an
interactive tree of sessions, where -Z opens it zoomed to full screen. Move with the arrow keys
and press Enter to switch.
Verified on tmux 3.2a.