Add a non-disruptive tmux session overview dashboard

[itse4elhaam]

Problem

I often have several long-running tmux sessions and want a temporary dashboard where I can view them side by side without changing, moving, resizing, or otherwise disrupting their existing panes and layouts.

Using join-pane or reorganizing the original windows is not acceptable because the overview should be purely observational and disposable.

Proposed solution

Add a tmux-overview utility that:

• Creates a temporary, separate tmux server for the dashboard.

• Discovers all sessions on the main tmux server, or accepts specific session names as arguments.

• Creates one tiled dashboard pane per selected session.

• Attaches each dashboard pane to its target session using a read-only client:

  tmux attach-session -r -t "$session"

• Uses the read-only client's ignore-size behavior so the dashboard does not resize the actual sessions.

• Gives the temporary dashboard a different prefix, such as Ctrl-a, to avoid nested tmux key conflicts.

• Shows session names in pane borders.

• Cleans up the temporary tmux server when the dashboard closes.

Suggested integration

• Script location: ~/.local/bin/tmux-overview, managed through the dotfiles repository.

• Add a tmux binding to open it as a full-screen popup, for example:

  bind-key O display-popup -E -w 100% -h 100% -T "Session Overview" "$HOME/.local/bin/tmux-overview"

• Support both usages:

  tmux-overview
  tmux-overview peasy samsu anjomazone

Acceptance criteria

• Opening the overview does not alter any original tmux window or pane layout.
• The original sessions are not resized by smaller dashboard panes.
• The dashboard cannot send input to the observed sessions.
• All active sessions can be displayed automatically.
• Specific sessions can be selected through command-line arguments.
• The panes use a tiled layout and display their target session names.
• The overview can be opened from a tmux keybinding.
• Closing the overview removes its temporary tmux server without terminating any observed session.

Limitation

Tmux cannot scale terminal contents into thumbnails. Smaller dashboard panes may display cropped portions of the observed sessions. This is preferable to resizing the real sessions and should be documented.