Frequently Asked Questions

What is Zellij?

Zellij is a terminal workspace aimed at developers, ops-oriented people, and anyone who loves the terminal. It’s sometimes called a “terminal multiplexer” - a tool that allows you to manage multiple terminal sessions, panes, and tabs from a single interface without tying you to a specific terminal emulator.

Zellij is designed around the philosophy that you shouldn’t have to sacrifice simplicity for power. It provides an excellent out-of-the-box experience while offering advanced features like floating panes, stacked panes, layouts, session resurrection, plugins, and session management.

How is Zellij different from a regular terminal?

A regular terminal emulator (like Alacritty, iTerm2, or GNOME Terminal) provides a single shell session. Zellij runs inside your terminal and provides:

  • Multiple panes: Split your terminal into multiple sections, each running different commands
  • Tabs: Organize related panes into tabs for different projects or tasks
  • Sessions: Create named sessions that persist even if you close your terminal
  • Layouts: Automate your workspace setup with pre-configured commands and pane arrangements
  • Plugins: Extend functionality with WebAssembly plugins

While some terminals provide a limited amount of these features on their own, Zellij is terminal agnostic - allowing you to choose a terminal based on its own strengths (font and ligature rendering, GPU acceleration, integration with your desktop environment, etc.) rather than its pane/tab management features.

Think of Zellij as adding a powerful workspace layer on top of your existing terminal.

Do I need to learn new keyboard shortcuts?

Zellij comes out-of-the-box with mneumonic shortcuts, designed to be easy to remember. The status-bar also displays the available shortcuts on-screen, so you don’t need to remember anything. After using Zellij for only a few days, users usually get used to them and don’t want to change anything.

That being said, all shortcuts are configurable and can be tailored to your needs. See keybindings configuration for more info.

Some users, especially those who use terminal editors such as vim might encounter keybind collisions, for those Zellij provides a non-colliding, unlock first keybinding preset.

Can I use Zellij with my existing terminal setup?

Yes! Zellij works with any terminal emulator and doesn’t require changing your existing setup:

  • Use your favorite terminal emulator (Alacritty, iTerm2, Konsole, etc.)
  • Keep your existing shell (bash, zsh, fish)
  • Use your configured $EDITOR (vim, neovim, emacs, helix)
  • Maintain your dotfiles and shell customizations

Run zellij in your terminal to start and that’s it. You can even configure your terminal to launch Zellij automatically. See our session management tutorial for integration examples.

What are layouts and why should I use them?

Layouts are configuration files (written in KDL) that describe your workspace structure:

  • Define which panes to open and where
  • Specify commands to run in each pane
  • Open files in your editor automatically
  • Configure tabs for different aspects of your project
  • Include plugins like tab bars and status bars

Use cases:

  • Start a development environment with editor, test runner, and logs
  • Create project-specific layouts for different repositories
  • Share workspace configurations with team members
  • Automate repetitive setup tasks

Layouts can dramatically reduce the time spent setting up your workspace each time you start working. Learn how to create them in our layouts tutorial.

Can I use Zellij in the browser?

Yes! Zellij includes a built-in web server:

  • Access Zellij sessions from any modern browser
  • No terminal emulator required
  • Share sessions with teammates via URL
  • Built-in authentication for security
  • Seamlessly switch between terminal and browser

The web client makes Zellij accessible anywhere, perfect for:

  • Remote access to your development environment
  • Pair programming and collaboration
  • Using Zellij on devices without a terminal emulator

See our web client tutorial for setup instructions.

The web server must be explicitly started and configured with an HTTPS certificate and token authentication. For those who don’t want it at all, Zellij also provides a pre-compiled version without the web server capability.

How do plugins work?

Zellij’s plugin system uses WebAssembly (WASM), allowing plugins written in any language that compiles to WASM:

Built-in plugins:

  • Tab bar and status bar (the Zellij UI)
  • Strider (filepicker)
  • Session manager
  • Multiple-pane selection interface
  • Configuration screen

Custom plugins:

  • Write plugins in Rust, Go, AssemblyScript, or other WASM-compatible languages
  • Access Zellij state and events
  • Render custom UIs
  • Respond to user input
  • Distribute via GitHub or other hosting as single .wasm files

Rust has first-class support with official SDK and scaffolding tools. Check out our plugin development tutorial to get started.

Is Zellij actively maintained?

Yes! Zellij is actively developed full-time by Aram Drevekenin with support from the community and sponsors:

  • Regular releases with new features
  • Responsive bug fixes and support
  • Active community on GitHub and social media
  • Comprehensive documentation and tutorials

Zellij will always remain free and open-source. If you find it valuable, consider supporting the Zellij developer to help maintain this full-time effort.

How do I handle keyboard shortcut conflicts?

If Zellij shortcuts conflict with applications running inside (like vim), use the “Unlock-First (non-colliding)” preset:

  1. Press Ctrl o to enter Session mode
  2. Press c to open the Configuration screen
  3. Press Tab to navigate to “Change Mode Behavior”
  4. Select “Unlock-First (non-colliding)” and press Enter

This preset requires unlocking the interface before accessing Zellij modes, preventing conflicts. See our detailed colliding keybindings tutorial.

Can I customize the appearance?

Yes, Zellij supports theming and configuration:

  • Choose from built-in color themes
  • Create custom themes
  • Configure UI components (tab bar, status bar)
  • Adjust frame colors and borders
  • Control UI visibility and layout

Configuration is stored in ~/.config/zellij/config.kdl using the KDL format. See the theme documentation for details.

How does Zellij compare to tmux or screen?

Zellij offers similar workspace management capabilities as tmux and screen but with modern design choices:

Key differences:

  • UI: Zellij provides an intuitive UI with status bar and visual feedback
  • Floating and stackd panes: First-class support for multiple floating windows and vertically stacked panes
  • Layouts: More powerful automation with command panes and templates, built-in
  • Plugins: Extensible via WebAssembly, does not rely on locally installed scripts
  • Web client: Built-in browser access
  • True Multiplayer: Allows multiple users to connect to the same session, each getting their own colored cursor
  • Beginner-friendly: Works great out of the box

Zellij aims to provide power without sacrificing simplicity. See features for a non-exhaustive list of unique features.

That being said, Zellij does not consider itself a tmux or screen replacement. Read more about its mission here.

What operating systems does Zellij support?

Zellij supports:

  • Linux: All major distributions
  • macOS: Intel and Apple Silicon
  • Windows: Via WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

Pre-built binaries are available for most platforms. See the installation documentation for details.

How do I get help or report issues?

The Zellij community is friendly and responsive to questions and feedback.

Can I contribute to Zellij?

Absolutely! Contributions are welcome in many forms:

  • Code contributions: Submit pull requests on GitHub
  • Documentation: Improve guides and tutorials
  • Bug reports: Help identify and fix issues
  • Feature requests: Share ideas for improvements
  • Community support: Answer questions in discussions
  • Financial support: supporting the Zellij developer

Check the contributing guidelines to get started.

Is there a quick way to try Zellij without installing?

Yes! You can try Zellij directly in your browser without any installation:

Visit zellij.dev/documentation/installation.html#try-zellij-without-installing for instructions on accessing the demo instance.

For local installation, you can also use:

bash <(curl -L zellij.dev/launch)

This downloads and runs Zellij temporarily without permanent installation.