Socket and servers

A tmux server is selected by its Unix-domain socket. Use different sockets for independent servers, such as a development session and an isolated test server. Choose the default socket, a named socket (-L), or an explicit path (-S).

Naming a server¶

mServerEndpoint.defaultSocket() selects the default socket. mServerEndpoint.namedSocket("work") selects a named socket, and mServerEndpoint.socketPath(path) selects an explicit path.

ServerConfig config = ServerConfig.builder()
        .endpoint(ServerEndpoint.namedSocket("work"))
        .build();
Server named = Server.open(config);

Choose either a socket name or a socket path. tmux uses TMUX_TMPDIR to resolve the directory for default and named sockets.

Is the server actually there?¶

A server handle does not prove that the target server is running. Use a liveness check when your program needs to distinguish a live server from an unavailable socket:

mServer.isAlive returns a boolean.

if (server.isAlive()) {
    server.sessions();
}

Killing a server, and telling two apart¶

Killing a server ends all its sessions. Use this only for a server your program owns; for narrower cleanup, kill the session or pane you created.

Call mserver.killServer() to stop tmux. mServer.close() releases the local connection and leaves tmux running; see Ownership and cleanup.

A restarted server can reuse a socket path while having different state. Do not treat a matching path as proof that a cached object still exists.