home / skills / trentshaines / dotfiles / trent-cleanup-panes

trent-cleanup-panes skill

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/dot_claude/skills/trent-cleanup-panes

This skill closes all tmux panes in the current window, keeping your active pane intact and restoring a clean layout.

npx playbooks add skill trentshaines/dotfiles --skill trent-cleanup-panes

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

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SKILL.md

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---
name: trent-cleanup-panes
description: Clean up tmux panes. Use when user wants to close/kill all other panes, clean up tmux window, or reset pane layout.
---

# Cleanup Panes Skill

## Overview

Closes all tmux panes in the current window except the one you're in.

## Trigger

User invokes `/cleanup-panes` or asks to clean up/close other panes.

## Instructions

Execute this bash script:

```bash
#!/bin/bash
ORIGINAL_PANE=$(tmux display-message -p '#{pane_id}')
echo "Keeping pane: $ORIGINAL_PANE"

# Get all panes except original, then kill each
PANES_TO_KILL=$(tmux list-panes -F '#{pane_id}' | grep -v "^${ORIGINAL_PANE}$")

if [ -z "$PANES_TO_KILL" ]; then
    echo "No other panes to close."
else
    COUNT=0
    while IFS= read -r PANE; do
        if [ -n "$PANE" ]; then
            tmux kill-pane -t "$PANE" 2>/dev/null && ((COUNT++))
        fi
    done <<< "$PANES_TO_KILL"
    echo "Closed $COUNT panes. Only current pane remains."
fi
```

## Important Notes

- Only affects the current tmux window
- Preserves the pane you're currently in
- Safe to run even if there are no other panes

Overview

This skill cleans up tmux panes in the current window by closing every pane except the one you're actively using. It provides a quick way to reset a tmux window to a single pane without affecting other windows or sessions. The operation is safe to run when there are no other panes and reports how many panes were closed.

How this skill works

The skill identifies the current pane, lists all panes in the current window, filters out the active pane, and kills each remaining pane. It counts successful kills and prints a summary. Only panes in the same tmux window are affected; the active pane is preserved and the rest are closed quietly.

When to use it

You want to focus on a single pane and close clutter from other panes in the same tmux window.
After experimenting with multiple split panes and you want to reset the layout quickly.
Before running a screen-recording or demo and you need a clean terminal view.
When a script or workflow spawned extra panes and you want to tidy up.
To recover from accidental pane spawns without touching other windows or sessions.

Best practices

Run the command from inside the tmux window you want to clean; it only affects the current window.
Check background processes in other panes before closing if they run important jobs.
Use tmux session/window naming or persistent layouts if you frequently need to restore complex setups.
Test once in a non-critical environment so you understand the effect before using in production.

Example use cases

Close all helper panes after combining outputs into a single pane for a demo.
Reset a window after running parallel tests that spawned many panes.
Quickly remove abandoned panes left open during pair programming.
Streamline a workspace before starting a focused coding session.
Clean up panes created by temporary scripts or automation tasks.

FAQ

Will this close panes in other tmux windows or sessions?

No. The skill only targets panes within the current tmux window.

What happens if there are no other panes?

It reports that no other panes exist and leaves the current pane untouched.

Can I accidentally kill the active pane?

No. The active pane is detected and explicitly preserved by the operation.