new-pane
Short form: newp
Create a floating pane — a pane that sits above the tiled layout like a popup, but is not modal and behaves like a regular pane (same escape sequence support, appears in pane lists). Added in tmux 3.7 and bound to Prefix + * by default.
How new-pane works
new-pane, added in tmux 3.7, creates a floating pane: a pane that sits on top of your normal tiled layout, like a popup. Unlike display-popup, it is not modal. You can click back into your other panes while it stays open, and it behaves like any other pane, including terminal escape sequences and showing up in pane lists. Press Prefix + * to open one.
With no command, the floating pane runs your shell. Give a command to run something else, such as htop or a test runner. -c sets its working directory. -k keeps the pane open after the command ends until you press a key, and -m does the same with your own message.
This is an early version of the feature. In 3.7, floating panes can only be moved and resized with the mouse, so turn on set -g mouse on. tmux 3.7c also unzooms the window before creating a floating pane, which fixed a crash in earlier 3.7 releases.
Synopsis
tmux new-pane [-bdefhIklPvZ] [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-F format] [-l size] [-m message] [-p percentage] [-s style] [-S active-border-style] [-R inactive-border-style] [-x width] [-y height] [-X x-position] [-Y y-position] [-t target-pane] [shell-command [argument ...]]Options
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
| -d | Don't make the new pane the active pane |
| -c start-directory | Specify starting directory |
| -k | Keep the pane open after shell-command exits until a key is pressed |
| -m message | Like -k, but also sets remain-on-exit-format for this pane |
| -E | Create an empty pane with no command running in it |
| -s style | Set the style for the pane content |
| -S active-border-style | Set the border style when the pane is active |
| -R inactive-border-style | Set the border style when the pane is inactive |
Examples
Open a floating pane above the current layout
tmux new-paneRun htop in a floating pane
tmux newp 'htop'Keep the floating pane open after the command exits, until a key is pressed
tmux new-pane -k 'make test'Open a floating pane in the current directory
tmux new-pane -c '#{pane_current_path}'Run tests in a floating pane and keep it open with your own message when they finish.
tmux new-pane -m 'Tests finished, press a key' 'npm test'In .tmux.conf: Prefix + g opens lazygit in a floating pane in the current folder.
bind g new-pane -c '#{pane_current_path}' lazygitDefault Keybinding
Prefix + *
Default prefix is Ctrl+b
Common Mistakes
- It needs tmux 3.7 or later. On older versions you will see 'unknown command: new-pane'. Check your version with tmux -V.
- In 3.7 you cannot yet swap floating panes, resize them with resize-pane, turn them into tiled panes, or restore them as part of a saved layout.
- Without mouse support there is no way to move or resize a floating pane, so it can end up covering what you need to see.
Pro Tips
- •Floating panes are an early feature in tmux 3.7 — they can only be moved and resized with the mouse
- •Unlike display-popup, a floating pane is not modal: you can keep working in tiled panes while it stays open
- •With a two-line status line (set -g status 2), the default second line shows a list of panes