Zellij Has a Free Terminal Multiplexer: The Modern tmux Alternative With Built-In Layouts, Plugin System, and Session Management

You've tried to learn tmux three times. Each time you gave up after memorizing Ctrl-b then trying to remember if it's % or | for vertical split. tmux is powerful but hostile to newcomers. Zellij is a terminal multiplexer that shows you the keybindings on screen, has sane defaults, and adds features tmux never had — like a WebAssembly plugin system. What Zellij Actually Does Zellij is a terminal workspace manager written in Rust. Like tmux, it lets you split your terminal into panes, create tabs, and keep sessions alive when you disconnect. Unlike tmux, Zellij is designed to be discoverable: a status bar shows available keybindings in each mode, so you never need to memorize shortcuts. Zellij introduces features tmux doesn't have: a WASM plugin system (extend Zellij with Rust, Go, or any language that compiles to WASM), built-in floating panes, and a layout system that defines your workspace as code. Open-source under MIT license. Single binary, zero configuration needed to start. Quick