til/tmux/set-up-forwarding-prefix-for-nested-session.md

Set Up Forwarding Prefix For Nested Session

I use ctrl-z (instead of ctrl-b) for my tmux prefix key. I also have ctrl-z ctrl-z configured to toggle back and forth between the previously visited window.

With that in mind, I needed to set up a specific keybinding to send the prefix key to an inner (nested) tmux session. That's because sometimes, like with a tool such as overmind, you can end up connected to a tmux session while already within a tmux session.

So, I have Ctrl-z a send the prefix key to the inner tmux session. This is what I added to my tmux.conf:

# send prefix to inner tmux session (C-z a)
bind-key a send-prefix

Simply doing Ctrl-z d will detach me from the outer tmux session. If I want to detach from an inner tmux session, I can use my new keybinding -- Ctrl-z a d.