Tilix

What is Tilix?

Tilix was first released in 2014 by the GNOME community and has since become a staple for developers who need a flexible terminal. It builds on the long history of terminal emulators in Linux, adding a modern, GTK‑based UI and integration with the GNOME desktop.

The program is aimed at users who run multiple shell sessions, such as system administrators, developers, and power users. It works well on Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu, and its keyboard shortcuts are similar to those in MobaXterm.

Compared to MobaXterm, Tilix feels more native to Linux: it uses GNOME’s theming, supports drag‑and‑drop pane rearrangement, and saves session layouts to a simple JSON file. It lacks the built‑in X11 terminal and SSH client of MobaXterm, but its session management and split‑screen features are more powerful.

Best for: Power users who need a flexible, tiling terminal on Linux.

Key features of Tilix

• Tiling panes (vertical/horizontal)
• Drag‑and‑drop rearrangement
• Session persistence via JSON
• Customizable keybindings
• Drop‑in support for SSH, SFTP
• Export/import layouts
• Built‑in terminal multiplexer
• Integration with GNOME Shell

Tips for Windows users

If you’re coming from MobaXterm, you’ll notice that Tilix uses a JSON file (~/.config/tilix/tilix.json) to store layouts instead of the .mxt file. Keyboard shortcuts differ: for example, Split pane is Ctrl+Shift+E (horizontal) or Ctrl+Shift+O (vertical). Dragging a pane to the edge will create a new terminal. The workflow is similar, but you’ll need to re‑map shortcuts if you want the same feel. File transfer via SFTP is handled by a separate plugin, not built‑in.