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Floating panes

Floating panes sit above the split panes in one internal bmux window. Use a float for a temporary reference; use a split when pages should remain visible without overlap. A float is not a separate operating-system window.

Open and arrange #

  • Right-click a link and choose Open Link in Floating Pane.
  • Right-click a pane's page or address bar and choose Float Pane.
  • In Click Mode, double-tap Option, press f, then type the link hint. Choose h or l instead for a left or right split.
  • Drag the floating header to move it. Drag an edge or corner to resize it.
  • Select a float to bring it in front of other floats.

Floats belong to their internal window. Switching windows changes which floats are visible. Positions, dimensions, and stacking order are persisted.

Dock or move #

Right-click the floating header and choose Return to Split. The former split position is restored when available. Move to Window moves the pane to another internal window. These operations preserve the pane, its fixed profile, and live pages. A browser restart reloads pages and cannot restore arbitrary JavaScript state or unsaved forms.

The command prompt (Control+B, then :) accepts:

new-pane
break-pane
break-pane -W
join-pane

new-pane creates a float; break-pane moves the selected pane into a new internal window; break-pane -W floats it; and join-pane docks it. Scripts use explicit source pane IDs:

bmux move-pane -t PANE_ID --x 100 --y 80
bmux resize-pane -t PANE_ID --width 640 --height 480
bmux move-pane -t PANE_ID --window WINDOW_ID

Coordinates are pixels inside the workspace, excluding the status bar. -t remains the source pane. Replace the IDs with real IDs from your workspace.

The tmux-style aliases use -s for the source and -t for the destination. For example, movep -t work: joins the selected window in the work session, movep -t :1 joins window 1 in the current session, and movep -s PANE_ID -t work:1.0 joins an explicit pane in another session. joinp uses the same destination rules. Moving the only pane out of a window removes the empty source window. bmux resolves an unqualified destination as a pane, then a window in the current session, then a session. Session and window IDs, names, and one-based indices are accepted. Use SESSION:WINDOW to select a specific existing window. Use :WINDOW to target a window in the current session. For example, joinp -t :1 joins window 1 there, even when another session has a window 1 or a matching session index or name. Use SESSION: for a session-only target. Unique session and window name prefixes are accepted; ambiguous targets require a full name, ID, or index. The command popup suggests sessions and windows while you type movep -t. Tab or a click fills a target; Enter runs the filled command. Use breakp -t work: to move the pane into a new window in that session.

See moving panes and windows for source coordinates, background moves, swapping, rotation, and window transfers between sessions.

Close a float #

Use its close button or the close-pane action. To make Command+W close a selected float while retaining internal-window closing for a tiled pane, merge this into the existing configuration:

keyboard:
  shortcuts:
    Cmd+W: close-pane-or-window

This is optional. The default Command+W action closes an internal window.

The context menu resolves X post detail links, including JavaScript-driven cards. Other applications can expose context URLs through a userscript hook.

See the illustrated floating panes versus splits guide.

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