tmux Troubleshooting and Debugging/Set a modern default terminal

Use a terminal definition with 256-color/feature support.

Section: Common problems and fixes

Set a modern default terminal

tmux
tmux
set -g default-terminal "tmux-256color"
Explanation

Terminal capability mismatches are a common reason for broken colors or key behavior.

Learn the surrounding workflow

Compare similar commands or jump into common fixes when this command is part of a bigger troubleshooting path.

Related commands

Same sheet · prioritizing Common problems and fixes
Preserve selected environment variables
Update tmux with variables from the client environment.
OpenIn sheettmuxsame section
Restart the tmux server
Terminate the tmux server entirely.
OpenIn sheetbashsame section
Reload config with shell tracing
Verify config sourcing from a shell wrapper.
OpenIn sheetbashsame section
Show global options
Inspect current global configuration.
OpenIn sheetbash1 tag match
Show window options
Inspect per-window settings.
OpenIn sheetbash1 tag match
List key bindings
Dump the default and custom key tables.
OpenIn sheetbash1 tag match