What is Zellij?

Zellij is a terminal workspace and multiplexer written in Rust. A modern alternative to tmux and screen, it lets you split your terminal into panes and tabs, save and restore layouts, and extend it with a WebAssembly plugin system — all with discoverable keybindings and a friendly UI that make it easy to pick up.

            🚀 Why Latest Versions Matter: Zellij is actively developed with new layout features, plugin capabilities and performance improvements. Running the latest release gives you the newest workspace features and fixes.
        

⚡ Key Features of Zellij

🪟 Panes & Tabs

Split your terminal into panes and organize work across multiple tabs.

📐 Layouts

Define and restore reproducible workspace layouts for your projects.

🔌 Plugin System

Extend Zellij with WebAssembly plugins for custom functionality.

🧭 Discoverable UI

On-screen hints make keybindings easy to learn and remember.

🎯 Why Zellij?

Beginner friendly: On-screen keybinding hints lower the learning curve
Powerful layouts: Reproducible workspaces defined in config
Extensible: WebAssembly plugin system
Modern: Fast Rust implementation with sane defaults

🆕 Highlights

Multiplexing: Panes and tabs in a single terminal
Session Management: Detach and reattach to running sessions
Layouts: Save and load workspace arrangements
Plugins: WASM-based extensibility

📦 Installation from debian.griffo.io

Step 1: Add Repository

sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://debian.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/keyrings/debian.griffo.io.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/debian.griffo.io.gpg] https://debian.griffo.io/apt $(lsb_release -sc 2>/dev/null) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.griffo.io.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update
                

install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://debian.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/keyrings/debian.griffo.io.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/debian.griffo.io.gpg] https://debian.griffo.io/apt $(lsb_release -sc 2>/dev/null) main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.griffo.io.list > /dev/null
apt update
                

Step 2: Install zellij

# Install latest zellij
sudo apt install zellij

# Verify installation
zellij --version
                

# Install latest zellij
apt install zellij

# Verify installation
zellij --version
                

🎯 Basic Usage Examples

# Show version
zellij --version

# Start a new session
zellij

# Start a named session
zellij --session work

# List active sessions
zellij list-sessions

# Attach to an existing session
zellij attach work
        

🚀 Why Choose debian.griffo.io?

📊 Repository Comparison:

Official Ubuntu: Often months behind, missing latest features
debian.griffo.io: Latest version within hours of release
Manual Installation: Manual downloads and PATH setup required
Our Repository: Pre-built, ready-to-use packages

✅ Latest Features: Get newest Zellij features and improvements immediately
✅ No Manual Setup: Pre-built binaries, installed and updated through apt
✅ Automatic Updates: Packages updated within hours of upstream releases
✅ Proper Dependencies: Correctly packaged with all required libraries
✅ Multi-Distribution: Works on Jammy and Noble
✅ Easy Maintenance: Simple apt commands for updates

📦 Package Build Repository

The Ubuntu packages are automatically built and maintained in this GitHub repository:

📁 zellij-debian - Latest release builds

🔗 Related Packages

Also available from debian.griffo.io:

Starship - Fast, customizable cross-shell prompt
Atuin - Shell history sync, search and stats
Helix Editor - Post-modern modal text editor

            🎯 Perfect for: Terminal power users who want a modern, approachable multiplexer with panes, tabs, saved layouts and plugins as an alternative to tmux.
        

💝 Support This Project

If this repository saves you time and effort, please consider supporting it!

⭐ Star on GitHub 🐦 Share on Twitter

🪟 Install Latest Zellij on Ubuntu