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URL: https://dev.to/javiersalcedopuyo/neovim-is-my-terminal-multiplexer-30il

⇱ Neovim is my terminal multiplexer - DEV Community

Article first posted here on 27/Apr/2026

👁 Example of my Neovim setup

:term can do 90% of what I need from a terminal with a handful of lines of Lua and no plugins required.
The last 10% being covered by my terminal emulator of choice: Ghostty.

The use case

I don't need session persistence, nor I use any scripting (although I could probably just use Lua for that too if I did), so real multiplexers like tmux are overkill for me.

The good

  • Consistent and easy to remember key bindings, with the exception of the annoying default "exit to normal mode".
  • Vim motions allow for easy copy pasting.
  • Easy to search.
  • Consistent theming out of the box.
  • If you run Neovim with a GUI you get those nice things on the terminal for free.
  • If you run Neovim on a terminal emulator you can always fallback to it for anything Neovim falls short of.

The bad

  • You can't edit the command inline, you have to move the cursor in insert mode for that.
  • Working with different projects at once is akward, so I normally just use Ghostty's tabs to get independent Neovim instances.

The config 

-- Exit terminal mode by tapping Esc twice
vim.keymap.set('t', '<Esc><Esc>', '<C-\\><C-n>', { desc = 'Exit terminal mode' })

-- Don't display the line numbers in terminal mode
vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd(
 'TermOpen',
 {
 desc = 'Hide the line numbers in terminal mode.',
 group = vim.api.nvim_create_augroup( 'custom_term_open', { clear = true } ),
 callback = function ()
 vim.opt_local.number = false
 vim.opt_local.relativenumber = false
 end
 } )

-- Open a terminal in a new tab
vim.keymap.set(
 'n',
 '<Leader>tt',
 function()
 vim.cmd.tabnew()
 vim.cmd.term()
 end,
 {desc = "[T]erminal in new [T]ab"})

-- Open a terminal in a bottom split
vim.keymap.set(
 'n',
 '<Leader>tj',
 function()
 vim.cmd.new()
 vim.cmd.term()
 vim.cmd.wincmd("J") -- Move the new split to the bottom
 vim.api.nvim_win_set_height(0, 15)
 end,
 {desc = 'Open a [T]erminal bellow'})

-- Open a terminal in a split to the left
vim.keymap.set(
 'n',
 '<Leader>th',
 function()
 vim.cmd.new()
 vim.cmd.term()
 vim.cmd.wincmd("H") -- Move the new split to the left
 end,
 {desc = "Open [T]erminal to the left"})

-- Open a terminal in a split to the right
vim.keymap.set(
 'n',
 '<Leader>tl',
 function()
 vim.cmd.new()
 vim.cmd.term()
 vim.cmd.wincmd("L") -- Move the new split to the right
 end,
 {desc = "Open [T]erminal to the right"})


-- Open a terminal in a top split
vim.keymap.set(
 'n',
 '<Leader>tk',
 function()
 vim.cmd.new()
 vim.cmd.term()
 vim.cmd.wincmd("K") -- Move the new split to the top
 vim.api.nvim_win_set_height(0, 15)
 end,
 {desc = 'Open a [T]erminal above'})