tmux-backspin

Provides a proper back button and saves a log of window navigation history.

Why is this necessary?

If you don't navigate between sessions in tmux then it's not. Just bind something to tmux last-window and you're set.

If you use a more advanced window navigation technique (something like tmux-teleport) then you will have noticed that last-window only works within the current session. Sure you can use switch-client -l to switch back to the last session, but now you need to remember if the window you want to return to is in the current session or not... and to maintain and remember two separate bindings.

Backspin avoids all that and takes you back to the window you were previously looking at, regardless of where it is.

Default bindings

• alt-b = back
• prefix-backspace = back

How it works

The plugin uses tmux-hooks to keep a log of all window navigations under /tmp/tmux-back/. This is so we can support going back more than one window in the future. For now it can be useful to tail as a live log of what you have been working on.

Run ~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-backspin/scripts/tail-history.sh for the live formatted log:

$ ./tail-history.sh
15:48  1-main > bacKspin
15:48  1-main > Propane
15:48  1-main > bacKspin
15:48  0-help > good-bash
15:48  1-main > bacKspin
15:48  1-main > Propane
15:48  1-main > bacKspin
15:52  1-main > tmuX
15:53  0-help > good-bash
15:53  1-main > tmuX

Installation

Installation with Tmux Plugin Manager (recommended)

Add plugin to the list of TPM plugins in .tmux.conf:

set -g @plugin 'sturob/tmux-backspin'

Hit prefix + I to fetch the plugin and source it. You should now be able to use the plugin.

Manual Installation

Clone the repo:

$ git clone https://github.com/sturob/tmux-backsping ~/clone/path

Add this line to the bottom of .tmux.conf:

run-shell ~/clone/path/backspin.tmux

Reload TMUX environment with: $ tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf. You should now be able to use the plugin.

Not yet supported

• linked windows