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¶

mServer::new() selects the default socket. Use mServer::builder().socket_name("work").build()? for a named socket or Server::builder().socket_path(path).build()? for an explicit path.

let named = libtmux::Server::builder().socket_name("work").build()?;

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.is_alive returns a boolean. Use mServer.check_alive when you also need to distinguish a failed check from a server that is not alive.

if server.is_alive().await {
    server.sessions().await?;
}

is_alive() returns a boolean. Use check_alive() when you need failure details.

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().await? and handle a cleanup failure before returning.

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.