Zellij

Zellij is a terminal workspace and multiplexer built in Rust, developed full-time by Aram Drevekenin and maintained as a free, open-source project under the MIT license. It runs inside any existing terminal emulator on Linux, macOS, and Windows, adding a powerful workspace layer without requiring users to change their shell or editor setup. The GitHub repository reports over 33,700 stars as of mid-2026, and the project sees regular releases with the latest being v0.44.3 published in May 2026.

What It Is

Zellij is a "terminal multiplexer" — a program that runs inside your terminal and lets you manage multiple panes, tabs, and sessions from a single interface. Unlike traditional multiplexers such as tmux or screen, Zellij is designed around the philosophy that power should not come at the cost of simplicity. It ships with an on-screen status bar showing available shortcuts, so new users can get productive immediately, while advanced users can unlock deep customization through KDL-based configuration files, layouts, and a WebAssembly plugin system.

Core Pane and Layout Features

Zellij treats panes as first-class citizens with several distinct modes:

• Floating panes can be toggled on and off (Alt f), moved, resized, and pinned always-on-top; they persist in the background while hidden.
• Stacked panes layer multiple panes vertically, useful for keeping editor buffers or monitoring commands without consuming horizontal space.
• Command panes display exit codes, allow single-keypress re-runs, and can be started suspended for on-demand execution — ideal for build commands and test runners.
• Layouts are KDL configuration files that define entire workspace structures: which panes to open, which commands to run, which files to open in the editor, and how tabs are organized. Layouts are version-controllable and shareable with teams.
• Multiple pane select lets users bulk-close, stack, or move groups of panes using Alt + left-click.

Plugin System and Extensibility

Zellij's UI is itself composed of plugins — the tab bar, status bar, session manager, welcome screen, and filepicker (Strider) are all WebAssembly plugins. Developers can write custom plugins in any language that compiles to WebAssembly; Rust has first-class support with an official SDK and scaffolding tools. Plugins are distributed as single .wasm files that require no local installation beyond placing the file in a reachable path.

Advanced scriptability is also available through the CLI: zellij subscribe streams live pane output to stdout, list-panes --json and list-tabs --json return structured session state, and blocking pane primitives (--block-until-exit-success) enable CI-like pipeline scripts with interactive retry on failure.

Web Client and Remote Access

Zellij includes a built-in web server that serves sessions directly in a browser, making a terminal emulator optional. Sessions can be bookmarked by URL (e.g., http://localhost:8082/my-project), shared with teammates for pair programming, and accessed with read-only tokens for observers. Remote terminal attachment is also supported: zellij attach https://my-server:8082/my-session connects from another terminal without SSH tunnels. The web server must be explicitly started and configured with HTTPS and token authentication; a pre-compiled variant without the web server is also available for users who prefer not to include it.

Update: v0.44.3

The latest release is v0.44.3, published on 2026-05-13, according to the GitHub releases page. The repository was last pushed to on 2026-06-16, indicating active ongoing development. The project roadmap, linked from the README and website, outlines planned near-future features. The FAQ confirms Zellij is actively developed full-time by its primary maintainer with community and sponsor support, and states it will always remain free and open source.