a tmux alternative with the multiplexer built into the terminal
tmux earned its place: panes, sessions, and persistence on any box you can SSH into. But if you run it locally just to get splits and session restore, you're maintaining a second program — prefix chords, a config file, plugins — to give your terminal features a terminal can simply have. korren builds the multiplexer in.
##why people go looking
Most searches for a tmux alternative aren't about tmux being bad — they're about the seams you feel when it's your daily local driver:
- The prefix tax. Every split, jump, and resize starts with ctrl+b. It's muscle memory eventually, but it's a layer of indirection all day, every day.
- Config as a hobby. Sane status bars, truecolor, mouse mode, and clipboard all live in
.tmux.conf— and session restore needs tmux-resurrect plus tmux-continuum on top. - Copy-mode friction. Selecting text inside panes fights the terminal's own selection; scrollback is modal.
- A second renderer. tmux redraws your terminal inside your terminal. On fast, GPU-rendered emulators, it becomes the throughput and latency bottleneck.
##what korren does instead
korren is a GPU-rendered terminal for Linux and macOS where the things you'd reach for tmux to do are native:
- Panes, tabs, and workspaces — first-class, driven by mouse or keyboard, no prefix chord. A workspace per project, tabs per task, splits per pane.
- Persistence without plugins. Layouts autosave continuously and restore on launch: workspaces, tabs, split geometry, each pane's working directory, and recent command scrollback. Close your laptop mid-work; reopen your work, not a blank prompt.
- Running commands come back. A pane that was in
lazygitor a Claude Code session restores by re-running it — Claude even resumes the exact conversation via its session id. - Native selection and scrollback. No copy-mode: it's your terminal's own text, with command blocks marking each run's output.
- Per-project time tracking — because workspaces map to projects, korren can tell you where your hours went, locally, with no timer to start.
Quiet by default: korren is open source (Apache-2.0 / MIT), needs no account, and sends no telemetry. Nothing leaves your machine.
##korren vs tmux, honestly
| capability | tmux | korren |
|---|---|---|
| panes / splits | ✓ prefix chords | ✓ native, mouse + keyboard |
| session persistence | ~ via resurrect + continuum plugins | ✓ built in, continuous autosave |
| restore running programs | ~ plugin, best-effort | ✓ re-runs command; resumes Claude sessions exactly |
| configuration | ~ .tmux.conf required for comfort | ✓ zero-config; TOML if you want it |
| rendering | ~ redraws inside your emulator | ✓ GPU (wgpu), one renderer |
| works on a headless server | ✓ its home turf | ✗ korren is a desktop app |
| detached remote sessions | ✓ attach from anywhere | ~ korren attaches tmux over SSH for you |
| scriptability | ✓ send-keys, scripting, automation | ✗ not a scripting surface today |
| price / license | ✓ free, ISC | ✓ free, Apache-2.0 / MIT |
##when tmux is still the right tool
An honest alternatives page says this part out loud. Keep tmux when:
- The work lives on a server. Long-running jobs on remote hosts want a detached session that survives your disconnect. Nothing beats tmux there.
- You script your sessions.
tmux send-keysand windowing automation are a real API; korren doesn't try to be one. - There's no GUI at all. tmux runs where a desktop terminal can't.
korren's position is that these are different jobs: local multiplexing belongs in the terminal, remote persistence belongs in tmux. That's why korren's SSH integration will attach to or create a tmux session on the remote host — a dropped connection doesn't kill remote work, and you never configured a thing.
##frequently asked
is korren a full tmux replacement?
For local work, yes — panes, tabs, workspaces, and persistence are native. For detached sessions on remote servers, tmux remains the right tool, and korren integrates it over SSH rather than pretending to replace it.
do i lose session persistence without tmux?
You gain it by default. korren restores workspaces, tabs, split layouts, working directories, and recent scrollback on every launch — no resurrect/continuum setup. Panes that were running a program restore by re-running it.
does korren need a config file like .tmux.conf?
No. Everything works out of the box with mouse and keyboard. Remaps and theming are simple TOML files if you want them, and on Linux korren follows your omarchy system theme automatically.
can korren attach to tmux on a server?
Yes — the SSH integration attaches to or creates a remote tmux session so disconnects don't kill your work.
what platforms does korren run on?
Linux (X11 and Wayland) and macOS 11+. GPU-rendered, open source, no account, no telemetry.
put the multiplexer where it belongs.
free · open source · linux + macos · no account