Introduction

koshi is a terminal multiplexer. It runs several shells and programs inside one terminal window and handles pane layouts, tabs, terminal emulation, scrollback, keyboard shortcuts, mouse input, and process cleanup.

Each pane holds its own process, its own terminal screen, and its own scrollback. Tabs hold layouts of panes. A session holds tabs.

The session outlives the terminal

A session runs in its own process. Your terminal is a client attached to it. Close the terminal, lose the SSH link, or press the quit shortcut, and the session keeps running with every pane alive.

koshi                  # start a session and attach this terminal to it
koshi detach           # leave it running
koshi attach           # come back to it

Several terminals can watch one session at once, each with its own focused pane, its own tab, and its own colours.

What is built in

Panes, tabs, layouts, keybindings, themes, and saved layouts ship with the program. There is no plugin to install before koshi becomes useful.

• Sessions — run in their own process, survive the terminal, and take several attached clients at once.
• Panes — split left, right, up, or down; stack several in one slot; fullscreen one and restore the layout afterwards.
• Tabs — create, close, move, and switch.
• Keyboard — multi-key shortcuts, a leader you choose, on-screen hints, and conflict checks.
• Mouse — focus panes, drag borders, scroll, select text, copy through OSC 52 even over SSH.
• Config — four optional KDL files for settings, colours, keys, and saved layouts, read per terminal.
• Control from a shell — open panes, move tabs, send input, and inspect a running session from outside it.

Requirements

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