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A nice feature of tmux is the support it has for scripting. It's possible to open a manipulate windows in a session you not attached to. The same script can be used from within a tmux session as well. See my blog post for an example of such a script.

The script below is what I use to start working everyday. I just sit down and type 'tmuxgo', and whether I simply detached the night before or had a power outage I will have just the window layout I want.

#!/bin/bash
################################################################################
# tmuxgo - Dale Bewley <dale @ guifreelife org> - Sat Feb 19 08:53:30 PST 2011
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Use me to get your tmux session restored after a reboot or reattach daily.
# Just type tmuxgo every morning and hit ^bd at the end of the day. Login
# remotely and do the same.
#
# Attaches to an existing session named $SESSION or will create one if missing.
# The created session will be pre-populated with a number of windows. 
#
# For example, window 0 running IRC, window 1 running email, window 2 logged
# into a router used daily.
#
#
# Bugs & Todos:
#	o If session already exists, instantiate any missing windows.
#	  This could be done by checking tmux list-windows, not sure needed.
#
#	o Window 0 automatically changes name to 'weechat 0.3.3', ignoring 
#	  the -n option. The following should fix it, but does not:
#		tmux set-window-option -t $SESSION:0 automatic-rename off
#	  Same thing happens when issuing configure command on Arista switches.
#	  Note that name (#W) and title (#T) are not necessarily the same value.
################################################################################

# the name of your primary tmux session
SESSION=$USER
# your IRC nickname
IRC_NICK=$USER

# if the session is already running, just attach to it.
tmux has-session -t $SESSION
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
	echo "Session $SESSION already exists. Attaching."
	sleep 1
	tmux attach -t $SESSION
	exit 0;
fi

# create a new session, named $SESSION, and detach from it
tmux new-session -d -s $SESSION

# Now populate the session with the windows you use every day
# Some windows I specifically want at a particular index.
# I always want IRC in window 0 and Email in window 1.

# 0 - IRC
tmux set-window-option -t $SESSION -g automatic-rename off
tmux new-window    -t $SESSION:0 -k -n irc # weechat-curses
tmux set-window-option -t $SESSION:0 automatic-rename off
#tmux set-window-option -t $SESSION:0 monitor-content $IRC_NICK
tmux rename-window -t $SESSION:0 -n irc
# 1 - Mail
tmux new-window    -t $SESSION:1 -n mail alpine
# 2 - Music (on one workstation, nothing on another)
# So that I can quickly hit ^b2<spacebar> to pause my tunes, I always put music in window 2.
# Makefile target does this: mpg123 --shuffle --control --list *m3u
#tmux new-window -t $SESSION:2 -n music 'cd ~/Music; make music'
tmux new-window    -t $SESSION:2 -n temp # just to leave 2 empty

# After those base windows are statically defined, what follows depends where
# I'm working and what my focus is.
# So these new windows will just  number sequentially.
tmux new-window    -t $SESSION -a -n work
tmux new-window    -t $SESSION -a -n root  'sudo su -'
tmux new-window    -t $SESSION -a -n fw    'ssh root@fw'
tmux new-window    -t $SESSION -a -n virt  'ssh root@sammy'
tmux new-window    -t $SESSION -a -n lime  'ssh root@lime'
tmux new-window    -t $SESSION -a -n scsi  'ssh root@donkey'
tmux new-window    -t $SESSION -a -n back  'ssh root@bacula'
tmux kill-window   -t $SESSION:2 # just want to leave slot 2 empty 
#

# all done. select starting window and get to work
# you may need to cycle through windows and type in passwords
# if you don't use ssh keys
tmux select-window -t $SESSION:0
tmux attach -t $SESSION

Get the source https://github.com/dlbewley/tmux-scripts
Here's a screenshot: