Ghostty is only a [tmux](/terminal/tmux) client. tmux owns tabs (windows), splits (panes), sessions, and persistence. Ghostty draws the text and handles the clipboard and font size.
Ghostty reads both `config` and `config.ghostty`. `config` holds all settings; `config.ghostty` contains a single line, `theme = cyberdream`, which selects the active theme.
Every Ghostty window gets its own tmux session; no two windows mirror the same one. `~/.local/bin/ghostty-tmux` (source `dot_local/bin/executable_ghostty-tmux`) runs for each new window:
1. If a detached session exists (left by a closed window, or restored by continuum after a reboot), it attaches to the oldest one.
2. Otherwise it starts a new session.
Ghostty's colors match tmux's tab bar because both use the fixed cyberdream palette: Ghostty's background `#16181a` is tmux's `@tab-bg`.
Closing a window only detaches its session; the shells keep running in the tmux server. In tmux, `detach-on-destroy no-detached` means killing a session moves the window to a *detached* session, or closes the window if there is none, so it never lands on another window's session. Across reboots, tmux-continuum saves every 10 minutes. The first Ghostty window starts the server, and that triggers continuum's restore. See [tmux](/terminal/tmux#persistence).
`keybind = clear` comes first and drops every Ghostty default: tabs, splits, `alt+N` goto_tab, and `ctrl+alt+arrow` goto_split. Those chords then reach tmux, which binds `alt+1…9` and `ctrl+alt+arrows` itself. `ctrl+h/j/k/l` also pass straight through to tmux's vim-aware pane navigation, which hands off to and from nvim's splits (see [tmux](/terminal/tmux#keybindings)). Each `ctrl+shift` chord sends tmux's second prefix, `ctrl+b` (`\x02`), followed by a key.
| `cyberdream` | Active. Upstream `extras/ghostty/cyberdream` from [cyberdream.nvim](https://github.com/scottmckendry/cyberdream.nvim), the palette shared with tmux, nvim, yazi, and television. |
