Skip to content
Get packs

TPM

A plugin manager that installs and loads plugins for the tmux terminal multiplexer.

GitHub Download source
Stars
15.2k
Forks
503
Licence
MIT
Language
Shell
Last update
6 months ago
Type
Dev tool

What it is

tmux is a program that lets you run several terminal sessions inside one window. TPM (Tmux Plugin Manager) is a helper that installs add-ons for tmux from GitHub or other git repositories and loads them when tmux starts. You list the plugins you want in your tmux config file, then press a key combination to fetch them.

  • Install a set of tmux plugins by adding lines to your tmux config and pressing prefix + I
  • Update installed plugins with prefix + U
  • Remove plugins you no longer list in your config with prefix + alt + u
  • Set up tmux plugins on a new machine by cloning TPM and reloading your config

Great for

  • People who already use tmux and want to add plugins without installing them by hand
  • Users who want a list of plugins kept in their tmux config file
  • Users on Linux, macOS, or Cygwin, the platforms the README says it has been tested on

Not ideal for

  • People who do not use tmux, since TPM only works as a tmux add-on (reason: it has no use outside tmux)
  • Windows users without Cygwin, because the README only lists Linux, OSX, and Cygwin as tested (reason: native Windows support is not mentioned)
  • Users who want a graphical plugin browser, since the README points to tpack for a TUI and plugin browser instead (reason: TPM is a plain command-driven tool)
Step-by-step guide: how to use TPMInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

How to get it

  1. 1

    Clone and build from source

    You'll need: tmux 1.9 or higher · git · bash

    Clone TPM into the plugins directory

    git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm
  2. 2

    Run it

    • Clone TPM to ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm
    • Add set -g @plugin lines and the run '~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm' line to the bottom of ~/.tmux.conf
    • Reload tmux with tmux source ~/.tmux.conf if it is already running
    • Press prefix + I inside tmux to install the listed plugins
  3. 3

    Get the most out of it

    • Browse available plugins in the list repository linked from the README
    • Use the github_username/plugin_name#branch format to pin a plugin to a specific branch
    • Use the git@ format for plugins hosted on other git services such as Bitbucket
    • Read the docs for managing plugins from the command line and changing the install directory
    • Use the automatic TPM installation guide to set up new machines

Downloads

Source code (.zip)master branch · straight from GitHub

Strengths

  • Plugins are declared in one place, the tmux config file, which keeps setup easy to read and copy
  • Installs and removes plugins with a few simple key presses inside tmux
  • Open source under the MIT license with a large following on GitHub

Trade-offs

  • Requires tmux 1.9 or higher, git, and bash, so it will not work on systems missing those tools
  • The README says tests run on Travis CI and need vagrant locally, so contributors face a more involved test setup
  • The README is brief on troubleshooting and points to separate docs for common problems

Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.