Hide, Restore, and Labels

This module covers the daily pane-stashing workflow.

Hide Versus Restore

Action	Binding	Result
Hide	prefix + H	Prompts for label, then moves the focused pane to storage
Choose a pane	prefix + h	Opens the fzf-tmux popup
Restore latest / hide current	prefix + T	Quick last-in, first-out toggle

H is uppercase. h is lowercase. If the picker says no hidden panes, no pane has been hidden yet.

Labels

The hide prompt stores a label with the pane.

hide pane label: logs

The next time the same pane is hidden, its previous label is prefilled.

Goal	What To Do
Reuse the label	Press Enter at the prefilled prompt
Rename the label	Edit the prefilled text, then press Enter
Use default label on first hide	Submit an empty prompt

The default label is:

window-name [session-name]

Picker Workflow

Press prefix + h to open a popup similar to the session/window fuzzy picker. Each entry includes the label and original location.

The right-side information panel reports:

• Label
• Original session and window
• Time hidden
• Current command
• Working directory
• Current pane size
• Pane ID

Use standard fzf controls:

Key	Action
Arrow keys or Ctrl+j / Ctrl+k	Move selection
Type text	Filter entries
Enter	Restore selected pane
Esc	Cancel

Quick Toggle

prefix + T is intentionally optimized for a single temporary pane.

Use prefix + T for a recurring helper pane such as an AI agent, log tail, or file manager. Use prefix + h when several hidden panes exist and you need to choose one.

Hiding the Final Pane

tmux destroys a window when it has zero panes. To avoid losing the original window, hiding its last pane triggers a warning:

WARNING: last pane. tmux normally deletes zero-pane windows;
use a temporary placeholder? (y/n)

Choose y to keep the window. The plugin creates a temporary placeholder shell, hides the original pane, and removes the placeholder automatically when

warning

Choose n if you do not want to hide the final pane. Do not manually kill the placeholder pane while its hidden pane still needs to return to that exact window.

Common Workflows

Hide a monitor while editing

1. Split an editor and btop side by side.
2. Focus btop.
3. Press prefix + H, label it monitor.
4. Continue editing in the now-expanded workspace.
5. Press prefix + T to bring the monitor back quickly.

Keep an SSH session alive without showing it

1. Focus the SSH pane.
2. Press prefix + H, label it with the host name.
3. Work in other windows.
4. Use prefix + h, filter by the host name, and restore when needed.

Temporarily remove an AI agent pane

1. Hide the agent with prefix + H.
2. Keep working in your editor pane.
3. Restore it with prefix + T when you need the result.

Next Step

Continue with Layout Restoration and Status.