Multiplayer Sessions

Each client controls its own terminal focus. Clicking a session in the sidebar switches only the clicking client’s terminal pane. The other clients are unaffected.

This applies to both mouse clicks and keyboard selection (Enter in navigate mode). Each sidebar sends a focus report to the controller for activity tracking, but the focus change itself is handled locally by the client’s own plugin instance.

When two or more clients are connected, the sidebar shows colored blocks on session lines indicating which sessions other clients are focused on. The blocks appear right-aligned on the session name line.

The colors come from Zellij’s multiplayer user colors palette, the same colors used in the tab bar for client cursor indicators. Up to five indicators are shown per session line.

If no other clients are connected, no indicators appear. If Zellij has not yet delivered the color palette (rare timing edge case), indicators are suppressed until the palette arrives.

Each client maintains its own session ordering in the sidebar. When you switch between sessions, the most recently focused session moves to the top of your sidebar. This reordering does not affect other clients' sidebars.

The local ordering is transient. It resets to the controller’s global order when the client disconnects and reattaches.

Keyboard shortcuts (Alt+s, Alt+a, Alt+w and their Shift variants) work for the primary client only. Other clients use mouse clicks on the sidebar for session navigation.

This limitation exists because Zellij pipe messages do not carry client identity. The controller receives the keybinding press but cannot determine which client triggered it.

To share a Zellij session with a colleague:

Both clients see the cc-deck sidebar. Clicking sessions switches focus independently. Colored indicators show where the other client is focused.