nix run github:andrewgazelka/tap

Terminal session manager for tiling WM users. Detach and reattach to sessions without the overhead of tmux.

The Problem

If you use a tiling window manager (i3, Sway, Aerospace, yabai), you already have window tiling. Running tmux means two competing systems: tmux tiles inside the terminal, your WM tiles windows. This creates:

• Conflicting keybindings (is Ctrl+b for tmux or your WM?)
• Nested navigation (WM to window, then tmux to pane)
• Redundant concepts (tmux panes vs terminal windows)

But tmux has one killer feature: session persistence. You can detach from a running process and reattach later. That's worth the overhead for some people.

The Solution

tap gives you session persistence without the tiling overhead.

tap                    # start a session
# ... run your dev server ...
# close the terminal (or press Ctrl+\ to detach)

tap attach             # reattach from any terminal

Your window manager handles tiling. tap handles persistence. No conflicts.

Features

• Detach/Attach - Close your terminal, reattach later
• Background sessions - Start processes that outlive your terminal
• Scrollback capture - Access terminal output programmatically
• AI integration - Claude Code can see and control tap sessions
• Zero config - Works out of the box, no .tmux.conf required

Commands

tap                      # start interactive session
tap start htop           # run a command in a new session
tap list                 # list active sessions
tap attach [session]     # reattach to a session
tap detach               # detach from current session (or Ctrl+\)
tap scrollback [session] # get terminal output
tap inject "ls" [session] # type into a session

Shell Integration

Ghostty

Add to ~/.config/ghostty/config:

command = tap

Now every new terminal window is automatically a tap session.

Comparison

Feature	tmux	screen	abduco	tap
Session persistence	yes	yes	yes	yes
Window/pane tiling	yes	yes	no	no
Config complexity	high	medium	low	none
Keybind conflicts with WM	yes	yes	minimal	minimal
Scrollback API	no	no	no	yes
AI tool integration	no	no	no	yes

Architecture

flowchart LR
    subgraph tap
        PTY[PTY Master]
        SB[Scrollback Buffer]
        Sock[Unix Socket]
    end

    Shell[Shell/Command] <-->|stdin/stdout| PTY
    PTY --> SB
    PTY --> Sock

    Client[tap client] <-->|JSON| Sock
    Claude[Claude Code] --> Client

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MIT