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¶

CServer() selects the default socket. Pass socket_name="work" to select a named socket, or socket_path="/tmp/tmux-1000/work" for an explicit path.

default_server = libtmux.Server()
named = libtmux.Server(socket_name="work")

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

Server(socket_name_factory=...) accepts a callable that generates socket names. Use a unique name for each isolated test server.

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.is_alive returns a boolean indicating whether the server responds.

if server.is_alive():
    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.kill_server(). mServer.__eq__ compares asocket_name and #socket_path when deciding whether two handles select the same endpoint.

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.