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MobaXterm for Linux: Build a Similar Workflow with Tabby + MultiExec + Better Sidebar

MobaXterm is a Windows app. On Linux, use Tabby with PTTS MultiExec for simultaneous session input and Better Sidebar for connection organization.

MobaXterm is a Windows application. Linux users looking for a similar terminal and SSH workflow can use Tabby + PTTS MultiExec + Better Sidebar. PTTS MultiExec enhances Tabby's built-in broadcast input for a MobaXterm-style MultiExec workflow: sending the same input to several terminal sessions at once. This stack focuses on that workflow without claiming to reproduce every MobaXterm feature.

What MobaXterm MultiExec does

With several terminal sessions open, MobaXterm MultiExec lets one command or input reach multiple sessions. That is useful when administering a group of systems in parallel: you can request the same information from each host and compare the results without retyping the command in every terminal. MOBATEK describes this capability as multi-execution in its official feature documentation.

Recommended Linux stack

  • Tabby — the terminal and SSH client. This third-party application runs on Linux and provides local terminals, SSH connections, tabs, and split panes. It is the base environment for the two plugins.
  • PTTS MultiExec — simultaneous session input. Developed by PTTS, this plugin extends Tabby's built-in MultiExec with persistent broadcast input and per-pane exclusions. It addresses the part of the MobaXterm workflow where you type once across several sessions.
  • Better Sidebar — connection organization. This third-party Tabby plugin adds favorites, connection status indicators, and drag-and-drop organization of profiles and folders in the sidebar.

Third-party software notice: Tabby and Better Sidebar are third-party projects and are not developed or maintained by PTTS. PTTS MultiExec is the PTTS-developed component in this recommended stack.

How the workflow maps

  • Opening terminals and SSH sessions: MobaXterm supplies the Windows environment; Tabby supplies the Linux terminal and SSH environment.
  • Sending input to several sessions: MobaXterm calls this MultiExec / multi-execution. In this stack, PTTS MultiExec enhances Tabby's broadcast controls and keeps broadcast mode active as focus moves between panes.
  • Finding and organizing connections: MobaXterm has a session sidebar. Tabby profiles with Better Sidebar provide the connection organization layer in this recommended Linux workflow.

Why include Better Sidebar?

Simultaneous input is only one part of working across several systems. Finding the right connections and seeing which ones are active also matters. Better Sidebar's favorites, status indicators, and profile folders can help users accustomed to MobaXterm's connection sidebar feel more at home in Tabby. These features are documented in the Better Sidebar project.

The roles are separate: use Better Sidebar to organize connections and PTTS MultiExec to control broadcast input. This recommendation does not imply a special integration between the plugins.

Get the stack

Add MultiExec to Tabby

  1. Install Tabby for Linux from the official Tabby site. Open a local terminal or configure an SSH profile and confirm it connects.
  2. Follow the installation steps on the PTTS MultiExec product page. It also lists the environment validated by PTTS.
  3. Follow the Better Sidebar installation instructions: open Tabby's Settings → Plugins, find better-sidebar, install it, and fully restart Tabby.

Try a simple multi-session workflow

  1. Open two SSH sessions to systems you administer. Confirm each session is at a shell prompt and identify which host is in each pane.
  2. Use PTTS MultiExec's Tile control to view the sessions together before enabling broadcast input.
  3. Enable MultiExec and send hostname. Each included session should report its own hostname; the input is shared, while the results stay separate.
  4. Use Exclude on a pane when it should stop receiving shared input. Disable MultiExec before continuing with commands intended for only one host.

Broadcast input does not make the remote systems identical. Check the prompt and command context in every included pane before sending input, especially when the systems need different actions.

What to expect

This is a recommended stack for a similar Linux terminal and SSH workflow. PTTS specifically addresses the MultiExec / simultaneous-session-input use case. PTTS makes no claim that the stack reproduces every MobaXterm capability. If your daily work depends on other features, check those requirements against the individual projects before switching.

MobaXterm is a trademark of MOBATEK. PTTS is not affiliated with or endorsed by MOBATEK.