mcp server

btmux

A terminal emulator with tmux-style UX

buntec/btmuxcommunitylistedunreviewed

Use tool

Set up

Runs on your computer. Pick your agent and operating system.

This project does not publish an install method we can turn into a config. Follow the README instead.

README

synced Oct 25, 2026

btmux

A terminal emulator and tmux-style session manager for the browser and desktop, powered by wterm and libghostty.

Highlights

Familiar tmux concepts and key bindings: sessions, windows, splits, zoom, and preset layouts
Server-side sessions: (re)connect from any number of frontends
Batteries included: file browser, Git mode, process viewer, Neovim GUI, VS Code integration
Coding agent state tracking and notifications
LaTeX rendering overlay
Single self-contained binary
Interactive, composable shader wallpapers
Support for base16/base24 color schemes, dark/light mode
Highly configurable
tmux-style CLI, REST API, MCP server, and an agent skill

Demos

Install

Release builds cover Apple Silicon macOS, x86-64/ARM64 Linux, and x64/ARM64 Windows. Windows support is experimental.

Desktop app:

macOS: brew install --cask buntec/btmux/btmux
Linux: install btmux-desktop-<arch>-unknown-linux-gnu.deb from Releases.
Windows: run btmux-desktop-<arch>-pc-windows-msvc-setup.exe from Releases. It installs for the current user, without admin rights.

The macOS app and Windows installers are unsigned. If macOS blocks the app, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway; if SmartScreen blocks the installer, choose More info → Run anyway. See desktop details.

Browser / CLI on macOS or Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/buntec/btmux/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
# or: brew install buntec/btmux/btmux

Browser / CLI on Windows: download btmux-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.exe or btmux-aarch64-pc-windows-msvc.exe from Releases, rename it to btmux.exe, and put it in a directory on your PATH. For example, in PowerShell:

$arch = if ($env:PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE -eq 'ARM64') { 'aarch64' } else { 'x86_64' }
$dir = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\btmux"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force $dir | Out-Null
Invoke-WebRequest "https://github.com/buntec/btmux/releases/latest/download/btmux-$arch-pc-windows-msvc.exe" -OutFile "$dir\btmux.exe"
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('Path', "$([Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('Path', 'User'));$dir", 'User')

On Windows:

Panes run powershell.exe by default. Set shell in config.toml to use pwsh, cmd.exe, Git Bash, or a WSL distribution (wsl.exe -d Ubuntu).
The config file is %APPDATA%\btmux\config.toml, and the access token is in %LOCALAPPDATA%\btmux\state.token (Get-Content "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\btmux\state.token").
btmux install (background service) and btmux upgrade (in-place upgrade) aren't supported. To update, quit btmux, replace btmux.exe, and start it again.

Homebrew, Windows, background services, and Home Manager are covered in Installation.

Quick start

btmux

This opens http://127.0.0.1:8004. Sign in with username btmux and the access token from the file whose path btmux prints at startup:

cat "${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}/btmux/state.token"

On Windows, in PowerShell:

Get-Content "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\btmux\state.token"

Press <prefix> + ? to see all key bindings, or <prefix> + : to open the command palette.

Editor

<prefix> + e opens the configured editor over the active pane, and the file browser and Git mode open files there:

"neovim": a Neovim GUI drawn by btmux, with its command line, completion menu, messages, LSP signature help, and floating windows rendered as native UI. The default when Neovim 0.12 or newer is on PATH; see Neovim GUI.
"vscode": VS Code in the browser, using btmux's color scheme and font.
"pane": $EDITOR run in the pane's shell. The default without Neovim 0.12.

See Editor for details.

Learn more

Installation: Windows, services, tokens, remote access, and shell completions
In-place upgrades: how btmux upgrade keeps shells running across a new binary
Configuration: ~/.config/btmux/config.toml (%APPDATA%\btmux\config.toml on Windows), themes, editors, and profiles
Shader wallpapers: WebGPU generators, parameters, and randomization
btmux for tmux users: where keys and behavior differ from tmux
Neovim GUI: the Neovim GUI, its plugin, and config tips
Automation and AI agents: tmux-style commands, agent skill, REST API, MCP, and agent notifications

Development

Requires Rust, Bun, and just. On macOS, install Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install): socket enumeration builds generate bindings using the macOS SDK and libclang. If libclang is installed separately, set LIBCLANG_PATH to its library directory. The pinned socket enumeration dependency does not require libclang on Linux. On Windows, install the MSVC build tools Rust needs. just setup and the desktop recipes run in PowerShell; the others need sh, so run them from Git Bash or put C:\Program Files\Git\bin on PATH.

just setup  # install dependencies
just dev    # backend on :8044, frontend on http://localhost:5173
just check  # type-check Rust and TypeScript

Run just to list all recipes. The dev server uses the dev profile and the fixed access token 1234.

License

MIT

btmux

Set up

README

btmux

Highlights

Demos

Sessions, windows, and panes

File browser, Git mode, and process viewer

Neovim GUI

Coding agents

LaTeX overlay

Shader wallpapers

Install

Quick start

Editor

Learn more

Development

License