| name | manage-zellij-installation |
| description | Installs and configures Zellij terminal multiplexer from GitHub releases. Use when setting up Zellij for terminal workspace management. |
Prerequisites
- macOS or Linux
- curl installed
- tar installed
Installation
1. Ensure ~/.local/bin exists and is in PATH
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
Add to ~/.bashrc if not already present:
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
Then reload:
source ~/.bashrc
2. Download and install Zellij binary
Determine OS and architecture, then download the appropriate release from https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/releases
For macOS (Apple Silicon):
curl -L https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/releases/latest/download/zellij-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz -o /tmp/zellij.tar.gz
For macOS (Intel):
curl -L https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/releases/latest/download/zellij-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz -o /tmp/zellij.tar.gz
For Linux (x86_64):
curl -L https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/releases/latest/download/zellij-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz -o /tmp/zellij.tar.gz
For Linux (aarch64):
curl -L https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/releases/latest/download/zellij-aarch64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz -o /tmp/zellij.tar.gz
3. Extract and install
tar -xvf /tmp/zellij.tar.gz -C /tmp
chmod +x /tmp/zellij
mv /tmp/zellij ~/.local/bin/
rm /tmp/zellij.tar.gz
4. Configure Zellij
Create config directory and dump default configuration:
mkdir -p ~/.config/zellij
zellij setup --dump-config > ~/.config/zellij/config.kdl
5. Set locked mode as default
Edit ~/.config/zellij/config.kdl and ensure this line is present (uncommented) near the top:
default_mode "locked"
Verify
zellij --version
Confirm config exists:
cat ~/.config/zellij/config.kdl | grep default_mode
Update
- Download the latest release (repeat step 2 from Installation with the new version)
- Extract and replace the binary:
tar -xvf /tmp/zellij.tar.gz -C /tmp
chmod +x /tmp/zellij
mv /tmp/zellij ~/.local/bin/
rm /tmp/zellij.tar.gz
Check releases at: https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/releases
Uninstall
- Remove the binary:
rm ~/.local/bin/zellij
- Remove configuration:
rm -rf ~/.config/zellij
- Remove cache and data (if any):
rm -rf ~/.cache/zellij
rm -rf ~/.local/share/zellij