Installation

Build from source today

Tailmux is in early development. The release installer is prepared, but it needs the first published GitHub release before the download command below will work. Until then, use a source build with Go 1.26.6 or later:

 git clone https://github.com/sean-brydon/Tailmux.git
 cd Tailmux
 go build -o bin/tailmux ./cmd/tailmux
 ./bin/tailmux --version

Keep the built binary at a stable path. The daemon and SSH proxy invoke it again later, so go run is not suitable for normal use.

Install a release

Once a release is published, its assets include install.sh, four platform archives, and checksums.txt.

curl -fsSL https://github.com/sean-brydon/Tailmux/releases/latest/download/install.sh -o /tmp/install-tailmux.sh
sh /tmp/install-tailmux.sh

The installer detects your platform, verifies the archive's SHA-256 checksum, and installs tailmux into ~/.local/bin. It does not require sudo or change your shell startup files.

Add that directory to your shell's PATH if it is not already there:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
tailmux --version

Save the export in your shell configuration to make it persistent.

Choose a version or location

sh /tmp/install-tailmux.sh --version v0.1.0
sh /tmp/install-tailmux.sh --bin-dir "$HOME/bin"

v0.1.0 is an example tag, not a claim that this release already exists. You can also set TAILMUX_VERSION and TAILMUX_INSTALL_DIR.

Supported platforms

System	Architecture	Release archive
macOS	Apple silicon	`tailmux_darwin_arm64.tar.gz`
macOS	Intel	`tailmux_darwin_amd64.tar.gz`
Linux	ARM64	`tailmux_linux_arm64.tar.gz`
Linux	x86-64	`tailmux_linux_amd64.tar.gz`

OpenSSH must be installed locally. Tailmux's daemon currently uses Unix sockets; Windows is not supported.

Update without losing identities

Run the installer again. Then stop the old daemon before reconnecting:

tailmux stop
tailmux login personal

The profile's state remains on disk, so an ordinary update reuses its existing Tailscale identity. Stopping the daemon disconnects local SSH transports and stops forwards; remote Herdr and tmux sessions keep running. Recreate forwards after restarting. Reopen tailmux terminal after updating to refresh its generated configuration.

Dependencies by workflow

Workflow	Local requirements	Remote requirements
SSH and forwarding	OpenSSH	SSH access; local forwarding permitted for tunnels
`herdr attach` and `herdr sessions`	OpenSSH	Herdr on the SSH command PATH
`herdr open`	OpenSSH and Herdr	Herdr on the SSH command PATH
`orca`	OpenSSH and Orca CLI	Orca runtime, Xvfb/Electron dependencies, firewall; systemd user unit for `serve`
`terminal`	OpenSSH, fzf, and tmux or Zellij	tmux on the SSH command PATH

Tailmux does not install these dependencies. The terminal integration has been tested with tmux 3.7c, Zellij 0.45.1 and fzf 0.74.3; it uses modern Zellij CLI features. Remote Zellij is not required. No remote Tailmux service is needed for forwarding.

Remote requirements

Each host needs Tailscale connectivity and SSH access for your user. For herdr attach and herdr sessions, install Herdr and make sure it is available to non-interactive SSH shells. See persistent sessions.