Layouts automatically arrange panes in a window according to a preset pattern. Cycle through layouts with Ctrl+B Space to find one that fits your workflow.
Built-in layouts:
even-horizontal panes arranged side-by-side, equal width even-vertical panes stacked vertically, equal height main-horizontal large main pane on top, smaller panes below main-vertical large main pane on left, smaller panes on right tiled fill window evenly, like a grid
Apply a layout:
$ tmux select-layout -t session:window layout-name
Cycle through layouts in the current window:
Ctrl+B Space cycle to next layout
After manually arranging panes, apply a layout to lock the arrangement. For example, if you have 3 panes and apply main-vertical, the leftmost pane will be large and the two on the right will split the remaining space. When you resize the window, the layout proportions are maintained.
Switch layouts when you need a different pane arrangement without manually splitting or killing panes. Layouts are per-window—each window remembers its last-used layout.
Example: create a development layout with a main pane for editing and a pane below for the build output:
$ tmux new-window -n dev $ tmux split-window -v -t dev -p 30 # bottom pane is 30% of height $ tmux select-layout -t dev main-horizontal # lock the layout
The main-horizontal layout will maintain the main pane on top and the split pane below, even if you resize the terminal.