Dynamic Tmux Window Titles with SSH and Hostname

soban — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 14:55:56 +0000

Want your Tmux window titles to automatically show the hostname you connect to via SSH — and restore the local name after you disconnect? This guide will walk you through setting that up step by step.

1. Tmux configuration – ~/.tmux.conf

In your Tmux configuration file, set the default shell command to a custom Bash init file (.bash_tmux) that will handle window title updates.

set-option -g default-command 'bash --rcfile ~/.bash_tmux'

2. Bash init script – ~/.bash_tmux

This file runs at shell startup inside Tmux. It sets the window name to your local hostname and overrides the ssh command to change the window title dynamically.

#!/bin/bash
# ~/.bash_tmux
# Custom Bash init file for Tmux sessions with dynamic tab naming

# Override the default ssh command to dynamically rename the Tmux window
ssh() {
  if [ -n "$TMUX" ]; then
    # Loop through arguments to find the target host (first non-flag argument)
    for arg in "$@"; do
      if [[ "$arg" != -* ]]; then
        if [[ "$arg" == *@* ]]; then
          host="${arg#*@}"  # extract host from user@host
        else
          host="$arg"
        fi
        break
      fi
    done

    # Strip any trailing junk or whitespace
    host="$(echo "$host" | cut -d' ' -f1)"

    # Rename the Tmux window to the SSH target
    [ -n "$host" ] && tmux rename-window "$host"

    # Save the local hostname to restore later
    local_host="$(hostname -s)"

    # Run the actual SSH command
    command ssh "$@"

    # Restore the original window name after logout
    tmux rename-window "$local_host"
  else
    # Not in Tmux — just run ssh normally
    command ssh "$@"
  fi
}

# Load the user's regular bash configuration
source ~/.bashrc

# On shell start, if in Tmux, set the window name to the current hostname
if [ -n "$TMUX" ]; then
  tmux rename-window "$(hostname -s)"
fi

3. Reload Tmux config without restarting

To apply the changes without restarting the Tmux session, run the following:

tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

To manually reload the current shell with the new .bash_tmux configuration:

exec bash --rcfile ~/.bash_tmux

4. Final result

New Tmux windows automatically show the local hostname
When connecting via SSH, the window is renamed to the remote host
When disconnecting, the original local name is restored

Clean, readable, and perfect for sysadmins, devops engineers, and Tmux lovers who appreciate automatic order in their terminal tabs 💪

Artykuł Dynamic Tmux Window Titles with SSH and Hostname pochodzi z serwisu soban.

Archiwa tmux - soban

Dynamic Tmux Window Titles with SSH and Hostname

1. Tmux configuration – ~/.tmux.conf

2. Bash init script – ~/.bash_tmux

3. Reload Tmux config without restarting

4. Final result