Products · Product
tmux
Raised as a usability problem by 173 people on Hacker News over 18 years (2009–2026), in 98 threads.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Default keybindings are awkward and must be redefinedUnreviewed
20092026- Tmux key bindings feel unintuitive compared to a familiar vim setup2026-10-19
- Tmux needs too many key presses for basic functionality2026-03-01
- Tmux is annoying to use with a mobile keyboard2026-02-25
Mouse scrolling in the terminal doesn't work normally under tmuxUnreviewed
20092026- Tmux scrollback was frustrating enough that the user stopped using it2025-08-28
- Scrolling up unexpectedly navigates terminal command history instead of the screen2025-08-04
- Scrolling doesn't work as expected in tmux, since other terminals allow local scrolling in alternate screen2025-08-01
Scrolling back requires a special shortcut into copy modeUnreviewed
20092026- Must press a shortcut to enter scroll mode, then exit it again2026-04-14
- Mouse wheel doesn't scroll; scrollback shortcuts are hard to remember and reach2026-04-13
- Scroll and copy/paste don't work sanely by default and are hard to configure2023-12-10
Copy-paste is hard to remember and differs outside tmuxUnreviewed
20092026- Tmux breaks scrollback and copy paste even after changing settings2026-07-03
- Copying multiple chunks makes tmux jump to bottom, forcing rescrolling2025-08-01
- Can't copy a column selection out of tmux into other apps2025-08-01
With mouse enabled, selecting to copy and middle-click paste don't work normallyUnreviewed
20092026- Copy and paste is terrible, even with plugins meant to fix it2026-06-30
- With mouse support on, copy-paste stops working, selections don't stay highlighted, and URL clicking breaks2025-08-05
- Can never remember how to copy and paste between windows2025-08-01
Default Ctrl-b prefix clashes with Emacs keys, forcing a rebindUnreviewed
20092026- Default Ctrl-b prefix requires an awkward hand movement, so user remaps it2025-08-04
- Default key bindings differ from screen, so users must remap them to ctrl-a2024-10-02
- Default prefix key C-b clashes with Emacs and terminal shortcuts the user relies on2022-10-28
Moving windows requires remembering many keyboard shortcutsUnreviewed
20092026- Switching between windows requires keyboard shortcuts, which is annoying on a fresh install2024-05-25
- Can't remember the keyboard shortcuts, so rarely uses it2021-04-02
- Basic copy and select features require hard-to-remember keyboard shortcuts2021-04-02
Default keybindings are slower and less convenient than GNU screen'sUnreviewed
20092026- Default keybindings are slower and less convenient than GNU screen's2023-03-05
- No way to chain keys into multi-key sequences like GNU screen's command tables2019-09-24
- Keybindings need a prefix key press, slower than screen's direct chords2016-07-03
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Too many tmux sessions and panes become draining and unmanageable to track2026-10-19
- Tmux key bindings feel unintuitive compared to a familiar vim setup2026-10-19
- Tmux's user experience is much worse than good terminal tabs and panes2026-07-30
- Takes days to learn the keyboard commands needed to get started2026-07-30
- Verbose, hard-to-remember commands and no built-in help2026-07-08
- Tmux breaks scrollback and copy paste even after changing settings2026-07-03
- Copy and paste is terrible, even with plugins meant to fix it2026-06-30
- Must press a shortcut to enter scroll mode, then exit it again2026-04-14
- Heavily customized setup makes it hard to remember commands on a clean install2026-04-13
- Default bright green status bar is ugly and unpleasant to stare at all day2026-04-13
- Mouse wheel doesn't scroll; scrollback shortcuts are hard to remember and reach2026-04-13
- Basic functions need many more key presses than they should2026-03-01
- Tmux needs too many key presses for basic functionality2026-03-01
- Tmux is annoying to use with a mobile keyboard2026-02-25
- Sessions with more than half a dozen windows become hard to navigate and find the right window2025-09-12
- Tmux scrollback was frustrating enough that the user stopped using it2025-08-28
- Prefix-then-command key scheme feels unnatural and hard to remember as a beginner2025-08-05
- With mouse support on, copy-paste stops working, selections don't stay highlighted, and URL clicking breaks2025-08-05
- Keeps confusing horizontal and vertical split shortcuts after years of use2025-08-05
- Mouse text selection picks up extra line breaks from wrapped long lines2025-08-04
- Overwhelmed by poor default interface and too many shortcuts to learn2025-08-04
- Overwhelming default interface and too many shortcuts to learn before being productive2025-08-04
- Scrolling up unexpectedly navigates terminal command history instead of the screen2025-08-04
- Tmux is messier out of the box and has accumulated cruft over time2025-08-04
- Default Ctrl-b prefix requires an awkward hand movement, so user remaps it2025-08-04
- Accidentally hitting default keybindings pulls user out of flow with unknown state2025-08-04
- Split-pane keys " and % are hard to remember and don't match the action2025-08-04
- Multiline copy picks up prompt text, must be stripped manually2025-08-01
- Can never remember how to copy and paste between windows2025-08-01
- Copying multiple chunks makes tmux jump to bottom, forcing rescrolling2025-08-01
- Scrolling doesn't work as expected in tmux, since other terminals allow local scrolling in alternate screen2025-08-01
- Can't copy a column selection out of tmux into other apps2025-08-01
- Color and font problems when running tmux with vim and iTerm22025-08-01
- Scrolling the window requires learning tmux's own way, and it isn't great2025-08-01
- Copying text from the scrollback buffer into the clipboard is weird and awkward2025-08-01
- Trackpad scrolling jumps line by line and flickers, unlike native smooth scrolling2025-03-05
- Scrolling is hard; in-tmux scrollback via Ctrl-b [ is horrendous compared to trackpad scrolling2025-03-05
- Mouse wheel scrolls shell history instead of the tmux pane in Ghostty2025-03-05
- New panes open in the original launch directory instead of the current one, forcing repeated cd commands2025-02-09
- Splitting 'last thing I looked at' into pane vs window forces users to track invisible state2025-01-27
- Scrollback and mouse support are painful compared to native terminal scrollback2024-11-28
- Default key bindings differ from screen, so users must remap them to ctrl-a2024-10-02
- Mouse selection is limited to the active pane and can't reach the OS clipboard2024-08-29
- Default setup is so poor that tmux is useless without a custom config2024-08-28
- Scrolling up then typing doesn't jump back to bottom like native terminals2024-06-13
- Tmux and screen feel clunky when only session persistence is wanted2024-06-13
- Always messes up the TERM variable for the user2024-05-26
- Removed options throw startup errors and changed key bindings break muscle memory2024-05-25
- Arcane configuration semantics make setup a painful, teeth-gritting process2024-05-25
- Ctrl-C is ignored for about 15 seconds when a program floods output2024-05-25