Pane Folding

Pane folding collapses a pane into a thin strip that shows only its title. The program inside keeps running. The panes beside the strip take over the space it gave up, and when you unfold it, the pane returns to exactly the place and size it had.

Fold the panes you want to keep but do not need to watch right now:

• a coding agent that works for twenty minutes,
• a dev server or a test watcher,
• a tail -f on a log,
• a build you are waiting on.

Closing such a pane loses its state. Maximizing the pane you work in hides every other pane. Folding does neither: everything stays in the layout, labeled, one keystroke from coming back.

What a fold looks like

A tab with three stacked panes, before and after you fold the top one:

 Before                          After folding pane 1
┌─────────────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────────────┐
│ 1  agent                │     │▓▓ 1 · agent ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
│                         │     ├─────────────────────────┤
│                         │     │ 2  tests                │
├─────────────────────────┤     │                         │
│ 2  tests                │     │                         │
│                         │     ├─────────────────────────┤
├─────────────────────────┤     │ 3  server               │
│ 3  server               │     │                         │
│                         │     │                         │
└─────────────────────────┘     └─────────────────────────┘

The strip shows a fold icon, the pane's title, and the last part of its working directory. Pane 1 is still running behind it. Panes 2 and 3 grew into the rows it gave up. Focus moved to a pane you can type in.

How it differs from closing and maximizing

	Close	Maximize	Fold
The program keeps running	No	Yes	Yes
You still see the other panes	Yes	No, they hide	Yes
Who gets the space	The neighboring panes	The maximized pane	The neighboring panes
You get the pane back	No	Yes, in its place	Yes, in its place and at its size

Maximize and fold are two ends of one control. The size ladder walks a pane from folded, to normal, to maximized with one key pair.

Try it in 60 seconds

You need Nash 0.7.0 or newer. Check with nash --version, and update with nash update or the download page.

SUPER is the Command key on macOS.

1. Press SUPER+SHIFT+D to split the pane into two stacked panes.
2. Move focus to the top pane with CTRL+ALT+K. Start something long there, for example ping localhost.
3. Press SUPER+SHIFT+E. The top pane folds to a strip. The bottom pane takes the space and receives focus.
4. Press SUPER+E. The strip unfolds, and the top pane is back in its place at its old size. ping never stopped.

You can also double-click a strip to unfold it.

What to read next

• Fold and Unfold a Pane lists every key, mouse gesture, and command.
• The Pane Size Ladder explains how SUPER+E and SUPER+SHIFT+E also maximize and restore panes.
• How Folding Rearranges Your Panes tells you which neighbor takes the space, and what happens to focus.
• Configuration changes the colors, thickness, and title of a strip.
• Scripting folds panes from a shell with nash cli fold-pane.
• Fold state is saved with your layout. See Persistence and Limits, Session Restore, and the Multiplexer.
• Running an agent in a pane you fold? Its status still shows in the tab title. See Connect Your Coding Agent.

Versions

Capability	Nash
Maximized pane badge and corner marker	0.5.6
Pane folding, SUPER+E and SUPER+SHIFT+E, nash cli fold-pane	0.7.0
SUPER+M and SUPER+SHIFT+M on the same ladder	0.7.4
SUPER+E restores a maximized pane	0.7.4
Enter unfolds a selected strip	0.8.1

We recommend the latest release.