Zellij

Zellij is a terminal workspace, the kind of program usually called a multiplexer. It takes aim at the standard complaint about that category, that power costs you simplicity, by being pleasant with no configuration at all while still putting deep customization within reach.

Sessions are described in layouts, files that arrange tabs and panes so a project environment comes back the same way every time. The pane model goes past a plain grid, and a plugin system accepts anything that compiles to WebAssembly, which keeps extensions from being tied to one language.

The features that separate it from older multiplexers are worth listing.

• Layouts: reproducible tab and pane arrangements that amount to personal automation.
• Floating and stacked panes: window shapes a tiling grid cannot express.
• Multiplayer collaboration: several people genuinely sharing one session.
• WebAssembly plugins: written in any language that compiles to Wasm.
• Built-in web client: sessions reachable from a browser, which makes a terminal emulator optional.

Install it from a package for your operating system, drop a prebuilt binary into your path, or build it with cargo. A launch script lets you try it without installing anything first. Development happens on the main branch, which the maintainers advise against running, since it may corrupt the cache used by released versions. The name comes from a style of hand-chiseled Islamic mosaic tilework, and the project is MIT licensed.