Getting Started with Zellij Sessions

Jul 1, 2026

If you are still using tmux or screen, it might be time to take a look at Zellij. Zellij is a modern terminal multiplexer written in Rust that provides a fully out-of-the-box layout system, status bar, and powerful sessions.

Here is a deep-dive guide to mastering Zellij sessions, scripting layouts, and configuring automatic session connections.

What is a Zellij Session?

A session is an isolated workspace running as a background daemon. This means you can launch text editors, servers, or compilers in a session, disconnect from it (detach), close your terminal emulator, and reconnect (attach) later without interrupting any running processes.

1. Starting & Naming Sessions

When you run zellij, it automatically starts a session and assigns it a funny, randomized name (e.g., creative-writer).

To start a session with a custom, recognizable name, use the --session (or -s) flag:

zellij -s web-development

2. Detaching (Leaving a Session Active)

To disconnect from your session and leave it running in the background:

Press Ctrl + o to enter Session Mode.
Press d to detach.

You will be returned to your regular shell prompt, but all processes inside your Zellij session will continue running.

3. Listing and Re-attaching

To view all currently active Zellij sessions:

zellij list-sessions
# or shorthand:
zellij ls

To connect back to a running session:

zellij attach web-development
# or shorthand:
zellij a web-development

Note: If there is only one active session, running zellij attach with no name will automatically reconnect to it.

4. Interactive Session Manager

Zellij includes a powerful built-in UI for managing sessions.

To open it inside a session, press Ctrl + o followed by w.
Inside the manager, you can rename sessions, kill active sessions, and switch between workspaces.

5. Designing Preset Workspaces with Layouts (KDL)

Instead of manually splitting panes and tabs every time you open a session, Zellij uses a declarative configuration format called KDL to define layouts.

Save this file as dev-layout.kdl inside ~/.config/zellij/layouts/:

// ~/.config/zellij/layouts/dev-layout.kdl
layout {
    default_tab_template {
        // Tab header layout
        pane size=1 borderless=true {
            plugin location="zellij:tab-bar"
        }
        children
        // Tab footer layout
        pane size=1 borderless=true {
            plugin location="zellij:status-bar"
        }
    }

    tab name="Code" focus=true {
        pane edit="src/main.rs" // Opens editor directly
    }

    tab name="Servers & Logs" {
        pane split_direction="vertical" {
            pane name="Server" command="cargo" {
                args "run"
            }
            pane name="Build Monitor" command="cargo" {
                args "watch" "-x" "check"
            }
        }
    }
}

Start your session with this pre-defined layout:

zellij --layout dev-layout

6. Auto-Attach Shell Script

If you want your terminal to automatically connect to an existing session (or prompt you to create a new one) whenever you open a new terminal window, append this shell script to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

# Auto-attach or launch Zellij session
if [ -z "$ZELLIJ" ]; then
    # Get active session names
    active_sessions=$(zellij list-sessions 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $1}')
    
    if [ -n "$active_sessions" ]; then
        echo "Active Zellij sessions found:"
        echo "$active_sessions"
        read -p "Enter session name to attach (or Enter to start new): " choice
        if [ -n "$choice" ]; then
            zellij attach "$choice"
        else
            zellij
        fi
    else
        zellij
    fi
fi

This keeps your terminal workspace persistent and unified across multiple windows or reboots.