Zellij Review (2026)

Zellij is a modern terminal multiplexer written in Rust. It aims to replace tmux with better UX, discoverable keybindings, and a plugin system.

What I Like

1. Discoverable keybindings. The status bar shows available shortcuts for the current mode. No memorizing — just look at the bottom of the screen. This alone makes it worth trying.

2. Floating panes. Open a pane that floats on top of your layout. Perfect for quick commands without rearranging your workspace.

3. Layouts in config. Define your workspace layout in a KDL file and load it instantly.

layout {
    pane split_direction="vertical" {
        pane command="nvim" { args "."; }
        pane split_direction="horizontal" {
            pane command="cargo" { args "watch" "-x" "test"; }
            pane
        }
    }
}

4. Session management. Built-in session handling. zellij attach, zellij list-sessions, zellij kill-session.

5. WASM plugins. Extensible with WebAssembly plugins. Community plugins for status bar, file manager, etc.

What I Don't Like

1. Slightly heavier than tmux. ~30MB RSS vs tmux's ~5MB. Negligible on modern hardware, but noticeable on constrained servers.

2. Different keybindings. Coming from tmux, the mode-based system (Ctrl+p for pane, Ctrl+t for tab) requires retraining.

3. Not pre-installed anywhere. tmux is available on most servers. Zellij needs to be installed.

4. Fewer guides online. tmux has decades of blog posts. Zellij's community is growing but smaller.

Verdict

8/10. Zellij is the best terminal multiplexer for new users and anyone frustrated with tmux's learning curve. The discoverable UI is genuinely helpful. For servers where you SSH frequently, tmux's ubiquity still wins. For local development, Zellij is the better choice.