tmux splits one machine.
this shares it.
tmux and zellij are great at splitting one box into panes. partyline does the other job people bolt tmate on for: sharing one live terminal with someone on a different machine. One command, one link, end-to-end encrypted, no shared server to SSH into.
$ ptln start$ brew install partyline-sh/tap/partylinefree command-line tool — no account needed to start a session.
how it works
run ptln start
Your $SHELL starts as a shared session and prints a join link — no separate server, no tmate, no SSH config.
send the link
They join from their own machine, macOS or Linux, no account to watch. The key rides the link fragment, never a server.
grant the keyboard
Everyone starts view-only. Hand typing to whoever should drive — across machines, and you decide who.
what you're wondering
is this a tmux replacement?
No — and it's not trying to be. tmux splits one terminal on one machine and is excellent at it. partyline does the part tmux is awkward at: sharing across computers. Keep tmux for panes; run it inside a shared session and everyone sees them.
vs tmux + tmate?
tmate assumes a tmux setup and a relay that can see your traffic. partyline needs no tmux and no account to join, and its relay is blind — it forwards ciphertext it can't read.
who can type?
Only whoever the host grants. Guests are view-only by default — finer-grained than a shared tmux socket where anyone attached can type.
share a terminal without the tmux + tmate setup.
$ brew install partyline-sh/tap/partylinethere’s more here than sharing — see the whole system →