tmate Not Working? Share a Linux Terminal with tmux Instead

Updated: 4 November 2026 · Applies to: tmate 2.4.0 and Teleconsole (both without their public servers); tmux 3.2a to 3.6a, tested on Debian 13 (tmux 3.5a), AlmaLinux 9 (3.2a), Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04, Fedora 44

Short answer: the two popular “share my terminal with a link” tools no longer work out of the box. Teleconsole was shut down and its repository was archived in April 2021. The public tmate servers (ssh.tmate.io) were shut down in July 2025, according to the tmate project, so running tmate today only retries a lookup that fails. The reliable way to share a Linux terminal on your server is a shared tmux session: both people log in over SSH and attach to the same session, and see and type in the same terminal.

What happens when you run tmate now

The tmate package is still in the repositories (2.4.0 on Debian 13, Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04, Fedora 44 and EPEL 9; we did not find it in EPEL 10 for AlmaLinux 10). Installing it works, but the session never gets a share link. Lab output from a Debian 13 test container (repeated lines removed):

$ tmate -V
tmate 2.4.0
$ tmate -F
To connect to the session locally, run: tmate -S /tmp/tmate-0/aR7hA0 attach
ssh.tmate.io lookup failure. Retrying in 2 seconds (nodename nor servname provided, or not known)
ssh.tmate.io lookup failure. Retrying in 2 seconds (nodename nor servname provided, or not known)
...

Scripts that wait with tmate wait tmate-ready hang, because the session never becomes ready. The tmate project says you can run your own tmate-ssh-server and point the client at it with the tmate-server-* options; a rewrite of the server and the return of a hosted service are tracked in the project’s issue 336. We have not tested a self-hosted tmate server.

Teleconsole is in the same state: its install command (curl https://www.teleconsole.com/get.sh | sh) now only gets a redirect to another website, so do not pipe it into a shell.

Method 1: share a tmux session (same user account)

This is the quickest way for two people who can both log in to the server as the same user, for example you and a colleague helping you.

1. Install tmux if it is missing: sudo apt install tmux (Debian, Ubuntu) or sudo dnf install tmux (AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, Fedora).
2. You start a named session: tmux new -s support
3. The other person connects over SSH as the same user and joins: tmux attach -t support
4. Both of you now see the same screen, and both can type. tmux ls lists the sessions.
5. To leave without ending it, press Ctrl+B then D (detach). To end it, type exit in the last shell or run tmux kill-session -t support.

In our Debian 13 lab, text typed by one client appeared in the shared pane for the other:

$ tmux list-clients -t support
/dev/pts/1: support [80x24 xterm] (attached,focused)
$ tmux capture-pane -p -t support
alice@vps:~$ echo typed by first client
typed by first client

If the other person should only watch, they can attach read-only with tmux attach -r -t support (the client then shows the read-only flag). This is voluntary: with the same account they could also attach without -r. To enforce read-only access, use separate accounts (method 2).

Method 2: separate accounts, with access control (tmux 3.3 and later)

Since tmux 3.3 the server keeps an access list. File permissions on the socket are needed as well, and by default tmux creates its socket so that only the owner and root can use it. The server-access command decides who may connect and whether they are read-only. In this example alice owns the session and bob joins.

1. Create a group for both users (as root): groupadd pair, then usermod -aG pair alice and usermod -aG pair bob. Both must log in again for the new group to apply.
2. Alice starts a session on a socket in a shared place:

   tmux -S /tmp/pair.sock new -s support

3. Alice opens the socket to the group (from inside the session or another shell):

   chgrp pair /tmp/pair.sock
   chmod g+rw /tmp/pair.sock

4. Alice allows Bob: tmux -S /tmp/pair.sock server-access -a bob (add tmux -S /tmp/pair.sock server-access -r bob to make him read-only).
5. Bob joins: tmux -S /tmp/pair.sock attach -t support
6. When you are done, remove him with server-access -d bob (this also detaches his clients) or end the session.

Lab output (Debian 13, tmux 3.5a):

$ ls -l /tmp/pair.sock                       # after chgrp and chmod
srw-rw---- 1 alice pair 0 Oct 10 15:25 /tmp/pair.sock
$ tmux -S /tmp/pair.sock ls                  # Bob, before server-access
access not allowed
$ tmux -S /tmp/pair.sock server-access -l    # Alice, after -a bob
alice (W)
bob (W)
$ tmux -S /tmp/pair.sock server-access -l    # after -r bob
alice (W)
bob (R)
$ tmux -S /tmp/pair.sock send-keys -t support 'echo second from bob' Enter   # Bob, read-only
client is read-only

On tmux 3.2a (AlmaLinux 9 and other RHEL 9 based systems) there is no access list: server-access gives unknown command: server-access, and anyone who can open the socket file has full control. Our read-write test from the second account worked with the chgrp and chmod steps alone. On those systems, share the socket only with people you would give your shell to. AlmaLinux 10 ships tmux 3.3a, Ubuntu 24.04 ships 3.4 and Ubuntu 26.04 ships 3.6a, which all have server-access.

Show a web app on the server to the other person

Teleconsole could forward a port from your machine. Without it, use SSH port forwarding: according to the OpenSSH manual, -L forwards a local port through the SSH connection to a host and port on the remote side. For an app that listens on port 3000 on the server, the other person runs:

ssh -L 8080:localhost:3000 user@203.0.113.10

and opens http://localhost:8080 in their own browser while that SSH session stays open.

Safety checklist

• Anyone in a read-write session types with your account, and with root rights if you share a root shell. Share with people you trust, and stay in the session while they work.
• Prefer separate accounts with server-access, and read-only access for people who only need to watch.
• End the session (or remove the user with server-access -d) as soon as you are finished.
• Avoid tools that run a script straight from a website into your shell, especially for projects that are no longer maintained.

Related: install tmux and learn the basics, add a user to a group in Linux, keep SSH sessions from timing out and connect to your server with PuTTY. If you would like a Linux engineer to work through a problem with you, see Hire an Expert.

Official documentation: tmux manual (server-access, attach-session), tmate project status, Teleconsole repository (archived).