Splits and panes
Divide a tab into panes, move between them, resize them, and zoom one to full size.
Any tab can be split into panes. A pane usually holds a terminal, but it can also hold a file, diff, or browser—which is the point: the thing you are reading sits beside the shell that produced it.
Splitting
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Split right | Cmd+D |
| Split down | Cmd+Shift+D |
| Split left | — |
| Split up | — |
Splitting left and up have no default shortcut; run them from the Tabs menu, the command palette (Cmd+P), or the pane's own context menu. The new pane inherits the focused pane's working directory.
Splitting always divides the focused pane, even inside a nested layout. It does not resize an unrelated neighbor. Every pane gets a small live title and split controls in its header so its local context stays visible.
Already-open panes can be rearranged: grab the thin strip along the top of a pane and drag it onto the edge of another one. The target pane shows which half it will land on before you let go.
You can turn a whole tab into a pane too. Drag its tab from the top strip onto the left, right, top, or bottom edge of the current tab's content. The drop preview shows the resulting split before you release it.
Moving between panes
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Focus the pane left / right / up / down | Opt+Cmd+arrows |
| Cycle focus backward / forward | Cmd+[ / Cmd+] |
Zoom and resize
Cmd+Shift+Return zooms the focused pane to fill the tab and again to restore it. The tab header shows a button while a pane is zoomed, so you always have a way out that isn't a shortcut.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Toggle pane zoom | Cmd+Shift+Return |
| Grow the pane in a direction | Ctrl+Cmd+arrows |
| Equalize all panes | Ctrl+Cmd+= |
Dividers between panes are draggable too.
Closing
Cmd+W closes the focused pane. Closing the last pane in a tab closes the tab as well.
Closing a terminal pane terminates the shell running in it, along with anything it started. Zshell doesn't ask first — it's the same as closing a terminal anywhere else.