Skip to main content

Color Schemes and Themes

Tmux supports 256 colors and true color (24-bit). You can apply themes manually via config or use community theme plugins.

Core Idea

A consistent, readable color scheme reduces visual fatigue and makes it easier to distinguish active panes, windows, and alert states at a glance.

Enabling True Color​

~/.tmux.conf
# Use true color (24-bit) if your terminal supports it
set -g default-terminal "tmux-256color"
set -ga terminal-overrides ",*256col*:Tc"

Color Reference​

Tmux supports:

  • Named colors: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white
  • 256-color codes: colour0 to colour255
  • Hex colors (true color): #1e1e2e

Use an online 256-color chart or:

# print all 256 colors
for i in {0..255}; do printf "\e[38;5;${i}m colour%-5s\e[0m" $i; done | column

Dark Theme (Tokyo Night style)​

~/.tmux.conf
# Dark Tokyo Night theme
set -g status-bg "#1a1b26"
set -g status-fg "#c0caf5"

set -g status-left "#[fg=#7aa2f7,bold] [#{session_name}] "
set -g status-right "#[fg=#9ece6a] #{user}@#{host} #[fg=#7aa2f7] %H:%M %d-%b"

setw -g window-status-current-format "#[fg=#1a1b26,bg=#7aa2f7,bold] #I:#W "
setw -g window-status-format "#[fg=#565f89] #I:#W "
setw -g window-status-separator ""

set -g pane-active-border-style "fg=#7aa2f7"
set -g pane-border-style "fg=#3b4261"

set -g message-style "fg=#c0caf5,bg=#1a1b26"

Nord Theme​

~/.tmux.conf
# Nord color palette
set -g status-bg "#2e3440"
set -g status-fg "#d8dee9"

set -g status-left "#[fg=#88c0d0,bold] [#{session_name}] "
set -g status-right "#[fg=#81a1c1] #{user}@#{host} | %H:%M "

setw -g window-status-current-format "#[fg=#2e3440,bg=#88c0d0,bold] #W "
setw -g window-status-format "#[fg=#616e88] #W "

set -g pane-active-border-style "fg=#88c0d0"
set -g pane-border-style "fg=#4c566a"

Using Community Themes via TPM​

The cleanest way to manage themes is via the Tmux Plugin Manager (TPM). See Plugins for setup.

Popular themes:

~/.tmux.conf (with TPM)
# Catppuccin (modern, popular)
set -g @plugin 'catppuccin/tmux'
set -g @catppuccin_flavor 'mocha'

# Dracula
set -g @plugin 'dracula/tmux'

# Nord
set -g @plugin 'nordtheme/tmux'
tip

Start with a manual theme to understand what each setting does. Move to TPM-managed themes once you understand the config file structure.

What's Next​