DEV Community: PSMUX

5 Rust TUI Tools That Make Windows PowerShell Feel Like Linux

PSMUX — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 10:02:31 +0000

Every year, the gap between Linux and Windows developer experience gets smaller. A big part of that is the Rust ecosystem building incredible CLI and TUI tools that work natively on Windows.

Here are 5 tools that transformed my Windows PowerShell workflow.

1. psmux — tmux, But Native on Windows

What it replaces: WSL + tmux, Windows Terminal tabs

cargo install psmux
tmux new-session -s work

psmux is a full tmux-compatible terminal multiplexer. Split panes, manage sessions, detach and reattach — with identical keybindings and config. It even installs a tmux alias so your muscle memory transfers perfectly.

Why it matters: Session persistence. Close your terminal, reopen it tomorrow, tmux attach — everything is exactly where you left it. No WSL overhead, no Cygwin.

🔗 https://github.com/marlocarlo/psmux (174 ⭐)

2. pstop — htop That Runs on Windows

What it replaces: Task Manager, Get-Process

cargo install pstop
htop

Yes, you can type htop on Windows. pstop gives you per-core CPU bars, process tree view, search/filter, kill/priority management, 7 color schemes, and a complete F2 setup menu — it's full htop parity.

Three tab views (Main / I/O / Net), persistent configuration, full mouse support.

🔗 https://github.com/marlocarlo/pstop (27 ⭐)

3. psnet — Wireshark in Your Terminal

What it replaces: Wireshark (for quick checks), netstat, TCPView

cargo install psnet
psnet

Real-time network monitor with live speed sparkline graphs, DNS-resolved connection table, Wireshark-style traffic event log, and actual packet payload preview. The killer feature: zero dependencies — no Npcap, no WinPcap. Uses built-in Windows APIs.

🔗 https://github.com/marlocarlo/psnet

4. ripgrep (rg) — grep, But Fast

What it replaces: Select-String, findstr

cargo install ripgrep
rg "pattern" ./src

The gold standard for recursive code search. Respects .gitignore, handles Unicode, works across every platform. If you're not using ripgrep, you're living in the past.

🔗 https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep

5. starship — A Prompt That Actually Helps

What it replaces: Default PS1 prompt

cargo install starship
# Add to $PROFILE:
Invoke-Expression (&starship init powershell)

Shows git status, language versions, execution time, battery — all in a beautiful, fast prompt. Works in PowerShell, cmd, bash, zsh, fish.

🔗 https://github.com/starship/starship

The Combo: All Five Together

# Install everything
cargo install psmux pstop psnet ripgrep starship

# Start a tmux session
tmux new-session -s dev

# Split panes:
# Pane 1: code with ripgrep for searching
# Pane 2: htop for monitoring
# Pane 3: psnet for network

# Beautiful starship prompt in every pane

The Common Thread: Rust

All five tools share:

Single binary — no runtime, no dependencies
Blazing fast — native performance
Cross-platform (except psmux/pstop/psnet which are Windows-focused)
Active development — maintained and improving
MIT/Apache licensed — free forever

Install Rust in 30 Seconds

winget install --id Rustlang.Rustup
# Restart terminal
# Now `cargo install` works for everything above

What Rust CLI tools are in your daily workflow? Share in the comments!

Stop Using WSL Just for tmux — psmux is tmux for Windows, Natively

PSMUX — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 09:55:06 +0000

You Don't Need WSL Just for tmux

I've seen this conversation a hundred times:

"How do I get tmux on Windows?"
"Install WSL"

And sure, WSL works. But running an entire Linux kernel + distro just to split your terminal? That's like buying a car because you need a cup holder.

What if tmux Just... Worked on Windows?

cargo install psmux
tmux new-session -s work

That's it. psmux gives you tmux — the actual tmux command — running natively on Windows. Not through WSL. Not through Cygwin. A native Windows binary.

Everything You Know Transfers

If you know tmux, you know psmux. The keybindings are identical:

tmux	psmux	What it does
`Ctrl+b %`	`Ctrl+b %`	Split horizontal
`Ctrl+b "`	`Ctrl+b "`	Split vertical
`Ctrl+b d`	`Ctrl+b d`	Detach
`Ctrl+b c`	`Ctrl+b c`	New window
`Ctrl+b [`	`Ctrl+b [`	Copy mode
`tmux ls`	`tmux ls`	List sessions
`tmux attach -t x`	`tmux attach -t x`	Reattach

Your .tmux.conf works too:

set -g prefix C-a
set -g mouse on
set -g base-index 1
bind-key -T prefix h split-window -h
bind-key -T prefix v split-window -v

psmux reads ~/.tmux.conf automatically (along with ~/.psmux.conf and ~/.psmuxrc).

Feature Parity

psmux isn't a toy. It's a serious tmux implementation:

Split panes — horizontal and vertical
Multiple windows with tabbed navigation
Session management — create, detach, reattach, kill, rename
Mouse support — resize panes, click tabs
Copy mode — vim-like scrollback with visual selection
Synchronized panes — type in multiple panes simultaneously
Status bar — full tmux format variable support (#S, #I, #W, etc.)
Theming — fg, bg, bold, dim, italics, etc.
Hooks — run commands on events
Layouts — even-horizontal, even-vertical, tiled, main-horizontal
Format engine — 100+ tmux-compatible variables
Config file — drop-in .tmux.conf compatible

The WSL Tax

Here's what you pay for tmux-via-WSL:

Cost	Impact
~2GB disk space	WSL distribution + kernel
Memory overhead	VM running even when idle
Filesystem bridge	Slow Windows file access from WSL
Path translation	`/mnt/c/Users/...` ↔ `C:\Users\...`
Port forwarding	`localhost` sometimes doesn't work
Can't run Windows apps	Native Windows tools don't work in WSL panes
Separate package management	`apt` for WSL, `winget`/`choco`/`scoop` for Windows

With psmux: 0 overhead. Native Windows paths. Native tools. One system.

Install Options

# Cargo (recommended)
cargo install psmux

# Scoop
scoop install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/marlocarlo/psmux/master/scoop/psmux.json

# Chocolatey
choco install psmux

# All three install psmux, pmux, AND tmux commands

Related: The PS Suite

psmux is part of a trio of Windows-native TUI tools:

psmux — tmux for Windows → https://github.com/psmux/psmux
pstop — htop for Windows → https://github.com/psmux/pstop
psnet — Network monitor → https://github.com/psmux/psnet

All Rust, all single-binary, all zero-dependency.

Are you using WSL just for tmux? Try psmux and let me know if it replaces your workflow!

The Linux Tools Windows Never Had — Until Now (tmux + htop + Wireshark in PowerShell)

PSMUX — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 09:54:30 +0000

The Pain Every Windows Developer Knows

You just switched to Windows (or you've always been here), and you miss three things:

tmux — Split your terminal, manage sessions, detach and reattach
htop — A beautiful, keyboard-driven process monitor
Network visibility — Something like Wireshark but in your terminal

The standard answers are always the same: "Just use WSL", "Install Cygwin", "Use Windows Terminal tabs".

But here's the thing — you shouldn't need a Linux subsystem just to split your terminal. You shouldn't need Npcap just to see your network connections. And Task Manager is... well, Task Manager.

Meet the PS Suite

Three tools. All Rust. All single-binary. All zero-dependency. All Windows-native.

1. psmux — tmux for Windows

cargo install psmux
tmux  # Yes, this Just Works™ on Windows now

psmux is a full, tmux-compatible terminal multiplexer built for Windows. Not a wrapper. Not through WSL. Native.

Same keybindings as tmux (Ctrl+b prefix, % split, " split, etc.)
Session detach/reattach that survives terminal closes
.tmux.conf compatible — your existing config mostly just works
The tmux command itself works — zero muscle-memory retraining

# Your existing habits transfer 1:1
tmux new-session -s work
tmux split-window -h
tmux attach -t work

174 stars on GitHub — people are noticing.

🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/marlocarlo/psmux

2. pstop — htop for Windows

cargo install pstop
htop  # Yes, on Windows.

pstop doesn't just look like htop — it is htop for Windows:

Per-core CPU bars, color-coded by user/system/virtual
Process tree view with ├─ connectors (press F5)
F2 setup menu with 7 color schemes, column customization
Three tab views: Main / I/O / Net
Full mouse support — click, scroll, resize
Kill processes, change priority, set CPU affinity
Persistent config — your settings survive restarts

The best part? It installs both pstop AND htop commands. You can literally type htop on Windows.

🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/marlocarlo/pstop

3. psnet — Network Monitor (Wireshark-style, in Your Terminal)

cargo install psnet
psnet  # Run as Admin for full features

psnet gives you real-time network visibility without installing anything:

Live speed graphs — Unicode sparklines for download/upload
DNS-resolved connections — see github.com not 140.82.121.4
Traffic event log — watch connections OPEN/CLOSE in real-time (like Wireshark)
Wire preview — actual packet payloads (HTTP headers, JSON responses)
Zero dependencies — no Npcap, no WinPcap, uses Windows built-in APIs

🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/marlocarlo/psnet

Why Native Matters

Here's the real cost of "just use WSL":

WSL Cost	Native (PS Suite) Benefit
~2GB disk for WSL distro	~3MB total for all three tools
Slow Windows filesystem access	Native Windows paths, full speed
Path translation (`/mnt/c/...`)	Normal `C:\` paths
Port forwarding hassles	Direct access
Extra memory for VM	Zero overhead
Can't use Windows tools in tmux panes	PowerShell, cmd, Windows tools all work
Two systems to maintain/update	One system

Install All Three in One Command

cargo install psmux pstop psnet

Don't have Rust? Install it in 30 seconds:

winget install --id Rustlang.Rustup

My Daily Workflow

# Morning: start or reattach my session
tmux attach -t work || tmux new-session -s work

# Window 1: code/build/test (shell)
# Window 2: htop (system monitoring)
# Window 3: psnet (network monitoring)

# Switch with Ctrl+b 1/2/3
# End of day: Ctrl+b d (detach)
# Everything persists. Back tomorrow.

Try Them Out

All three are MIT-licensed, open source, and actively maintained:

psmux (tmux): https://github.com/marlocarlo/psmux
pstop (htop): https://github.com/marlocarlo/pstop
psnet (network): https://github.com/marlocarlo/psnet

If you find them useful, a ⭐ on GitHub goes a long way.

What Linux tools do you wish worked natively on Windows? Drop a comment below!

pstop: I built htop for Windows in Rust

PSMUX — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 13:42:08 +0000

pstop: htop for Windows PowerShell

If you've ever wanted htop on Windows without WSL or Cygwin, that's exactly what pstop does. It's a real time system monitor built in Rust that runs in your terminal.

Install

cargo install pstop

This installs both pstop and htop commands. Yes, you can type htop on Windows.

Don't have Rust? Install it from rustup.rs (takes about 30 seconds).

What it does

Header:

Per core CPU bars, color coded by usage type (user/system/virtual)
Memory bar showing used, buffers, cached
Swap bar with usage threshold
Network bar with live RX/TX throughput

Process table:

PID, USER, CPU%, MEM%, TIME+, Command
Sort by any column (click header or F6)
Search (F3) and filter (F4) in real time

Views:

Main: full process table
I/O: disk read/write rates per process
Net: network focused view

Tree view:
Press F5 to see parent/child process hierarchy with collapsible nodes.

F2 Setup menu:

Meters: configure header layout
Display Options: 14 toggleable settings
Colors: 7 built in schemes with live preview
Columns: add/remove/reorder visible columns

Color schemes

Default (classic htop green/cyan)
Monochrome
Black Night
Light Terminal
Midnight Commander
Black on White
Dark Vivid

Performance

~1 MB single binary (release build with LTO + strip)
50ms event polling
Configurable refresh rate (200ms to 10s)
Native Win32 API calls
Zero runtime dependencies

Tech stack

Rust
ratatui 0.29 (TUI framework)
crossterm 0.28 (terminal backend)
sysinfo 0.33 (system information)
windows 0.58 (native Win32 APIs)