Over a year after the 3.5 release, Tmux 3.6, a terminal multiplexer that lets you split your terminal into panes, manage multiple sessions, and keep them running in the background, is now available, bringing a wide range of improvements and a few standout additions.
One of the most noticeable additions is the added native scrollbar support. The new pane-scrollbars option enables scrollbars directly inside panes.
The update also introduces support for the Mode 2031 theme, automatically reporting the dark or light theme. Alongside this, format operators receive several enhancements, including improved boolean expressions, new loop sorting behavior, and a broader set of variables that expose buffer, session, and cursor-style information.
Moreover, the new version enhances copy mode and popup behavior: it adds a new selection-mode command to control selection mode in copy mode explicitly, supports saving and restoring images when switching to the alternate screen, and improves clipboard handling by detecting support for OSC 52.
Regarding encoding support, Tmux 3.6 provides better Unicode handling, including proper treatment of regional indicator symbols and emoji modifiers, and ignores Hangul filler characters when rendering.
Lastly, this update strengthens how it queries and reports terminal details. The release adds the ability to send pixel-size queries, improves forwarding of OSC 4 palette requests, and includes more comprehensive reporting of cursor, mouse, paste, and focus states. Clipboard support detection is also expanded, improving compatibility with modern terminal emulators and remote workflows.
For more information, see the announcement or refer to the full changelog.
