FAQ

Zellij overrides certain key combinations that I use for other apps, what can I do?

As an "escape hatch" solution, you can lock the interface with Ctrl + g - at this point all keys will be sent to the focused pane.

You could also remap keys to work around this problem.

That being said, the maintainers are aware that this default set of keybindings is not an ideal solution. We tried to find a solution that would both be powerful, allowing few and memorable keypresses to be used for common actions, and also unobtrusive. Finding a solution that would do better in the latter while still maintaining the former is something we're actively thinking about and planning on changing in the future. If you have any thoughts, please do share them in an issue or in one of our chat servers.

The UI takes up too much space, what can I do about it?

You can load the compact layout with zellij --layout compact.

Additionally, you can disable pane frames either at runtime with Ctrl + <p> + <z> or through the config with pane_frames: false.

I see broken characters in the default UI, how can I fix this?

This means your default terminal font doesn't include some special characters used by Zellij. A safe bet would be to install and use a font from nerdfonts.

If you don't want to install a new font, you can also load the simplified UI that doesn't use these characters, with:

zellij options --simplified-ui true

I am a macOS user, how can I use the Alt key?

This depends on which terminal emulator you're using. Here are some links that might be useful:

Copy / Paste isn't working, how can I fix this?

Some terminals don't support the the OSC 52 signal, which is the method Zellij uses by default to copy text to the clipboard. To get around this, you can either switch to a supported terminal (eg. Alacritty or xterm) or configure Zellij to use an external utility when copy pasting (eg. xclip, wl-copy or pbcopy).

To do the latter, add one of the following to your Zellij Config:

copy_command: "xclip -selection clipboard" # x11
copy_command: "wl-copy"                    # wayland
copy_command: "pbcopy"                     # osx

Note that the only method that works when connecting to a remote Zellij session (eg. through SSH) is OSC 52. If you require this functionality, please consider using a terminal that supports it.

How can I use floating panes?

You can toggle showing/hiding floating panes with Ctrl + <p> + <w> (if no floating panes are open, one will be opened when they are shown).

In this mode you can create additional windows as you would normally create panes (eg. with Alt + <n>). Move them with the mouse or the keyboard, and resize them as you would normally resize or move Zellij panes.

You can also embed a floating pane with Ctrl + <p> + <e>, and float an embedded pane in the same way.

How can I switch between sessions or launch a new session from within Zellij?

You can use the built-in session-manager. By default, launch it with Ctrl o + w.

Editing the pane scrollbuffer with `ctrl + <s> + <e>` doesn't work, what's wrong?

By default, Zellij looks for an editor defined in the EDITOR or VISUAL environment variables (in this order). Make sure one is set (eg. export EDITOR=/usr/bin/vim) before Zellij starts. Alternatively, you can set one in the Zellij config using scrollback-editor.

Zellij User Guide