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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, tabs, 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 -W
join-pane

new-pane creates a float; break-pane -W floats the selected pane; 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.

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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