# Zellij v0.45.0 — Release v0.45.0

- Product: Zellij (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/zellij)
- Vendor: Zellij
- Date: 2026-08-20
- Version: v0.45.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/releases/tag/v0.45.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/zellij/releases/v0.45.0

What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.

Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.

---

- **added** — Nested sessions are now a first-class workflow with options to zoom in or control on focus via the new nested_session_handling config option
- **added** — Kitty graphics protocol support for image rendering in addition to existing Sixel support
- **added** — Shell integration parsing for OSC 133 semantic prompt sequences enabling prompt navigation, command selection, and output copying in scrollback
- **added** — New UI with title frames defaulting to single title line above panes instead of full border
- **added** — Stacked panes now render as list of one-line titles with expanded pane pinned to bottom
- **added** — Mobile web UI with touch interface for pane/tab pickers, on-screen keyboard, panning, and single-pane fullscreen
- **added** — Web client can be installed as a standalone PWA app including behind base_url reverse-proxy prefix
- **added** — Per-client tab sizing where each tab is sized according to viewports of clients currently viewing it
- **added** — Desktop notifications support for OSC99, OSC9, and OSC777 protocols with automatic host protocol detection
- **added** — FocusLastPane action to return focus to previously focused pane
- **added** — ToggleFocusNoUiFullscreen action for zen mode covering entire display including UI bars
- **added** — Floating panes can now be made fullscreen
- **added** — zellij --layout-string option to use raw KDL layout string instead of layout file
- **added** — --no-focus option to open panes, plugins and tabs in background without changing focus
- **added** — --tab-id option to target specific tab on various commands
- **added** — New keybinding actions: set-pane-frame-style, set-dark-theme, set-light-theme, toggle-theme
- **changed** — Word boundaries for double-click selection are now configurable with word_separators
- **changed** — Sixel support is now only advertised to applications when the attached terminal actually supports it
- **added** — Config options mouse_hover_tips and mouse_scroll_resize to opt out of specific mouse behaviors
- **changed** — Release notes screen now detects missing default keybindings and offers to add them with single keypress

This release includes some major long-requested integrations with modern terminals as well as with Zellij itself: nested sessions become a first-class experience, images render through the Kitty graphics protocol, the scrollback understands shell prompts, and the default interface gets a redesign.

Following is a non-exhaustive list of some major and significant changes:

##### Nested Sessions

Running Zellij inside a Zellij pane (eg. after `ssh`-ing to a remote machine) is now a first-class workflow. The inner session announces itself to the outer one, and the outer session reacts when its pane gains focus, providing the user with 2 options:

1. **Zoom in and control the nested session** - the nested session takes up the whole screen until toggled back (`Ctrl o` + `f`, or clicking the session breadcrumbs in the tab-bar)
2. **Control the nested session on focus** - keys and mouse are routed directly to it, with the outer session's chrome dimmed. Ascend back with `Ctrl o` + `]`, descend again with `Ctrl o` + `[`

The behavior is controlled with the new `nested_session_handling` config option (`ask` (default) / `fullscreen` / `descend` / `never`).

##### Kitty Graphics Protocol

Zellij now implements the [Kitty graphics protocol](https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/graphics-protocol/) in addition to the existing Sixel support. Image placements are tracked per pane and behave correctly across resizes, relayouts, scrollback, fullscreen and floating/pinned panes. The host terminal needs to support the protocol as well (queried at startup); the feature can be disabled with `support_kitty_graphics_protocol false`.

Relatedly, Sixel support is now only advertised to applications (through `DA1` / `XTSMGRAPHICS`) when the attached terminal actually supports it.

##### Shell Integration (OSC 133)

Zellij now parses the OSC 133 "semantic prompt" sequences (emitted by `fish` out of the box; `bash`/`zsh` need a shell integration snippet). This enables:

- **Jump between prompts** in the scrollback: `[` / `]` in scroll and search modes
- **Select a command with its whole output**: `m` in scroll mode, or triple-click inside the output (opt-out of triple-click with `osc133_command_selection` in the config)
- **Copy the last command's output** to the clipboard: `c` in scroll mode

Also in the selection department: word boundaries for double-click selection are now configurable with `word_separators`.

More info: [https://zellij.dev/documentation/shell-integration.html](https://zellij.dev/documentation/shell-integration.html)

##### New UI

**Title frames:** pane frames now default to a single title line above each pane instead of a full border. To restore the classic look:

```
pane_frame_style "full"
```

The style can also be changed at runtime with `zellij action set-pane-frame-style` or the new `SetPaneFrameStyle` keybinding action.

**Stacked lists:** stacked panes now render as a list of one-line titles with the expanded pane pinned to the bottom, including exit-status indication in collapsed titles and bulk float/embed operations. To restore the previous in-place rendering:

```
stacked_pane_list false
```

Some mouse behaviors can also now be specifically opted out of in the config: `mouse_hover_tips false` (hover help tips) and `mouse_scroll_resize false` (Ctrl + scroll wheel resizing).

##### Mobile Web UI + PWA

The built-in web client now detects mobile browsers and switches to a dedicated touch interface: pane/tab pickers, an on-screen keyboard, panning and fit toggling, single-pane fullscreen and a light theme. The web client can also be installed as a standalone app (PWA) directly from the browser, including behind a `base_url` reverse-proxy prefix.

##### Per-Client Tab Sizes

Each tab is now sized according to the viewports of only the clients currently viewing it. Clients focused on different tabs no longer force the whole session down to the smallest terminal; clients on the

_[Truncated at 4000 characters — full notes: https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/releases/tag/v0.45.0]_