persistent session
also: detachable session, tmux session
A user session that remains active across reboots or disconnections, preserving the user's environment, open applications, and state. Commonly achieved through terminal multiplexers or systemd user services.
A persistent session maintains your work environment even after logging out, rebooting, or losing network connectivity. Unlike a standard login session that terminates when you close your terminal or disconnect from SSH, a persistent session keeps running in the background and can be re-attached later.
The most common tool for creating persistent sessions is tmux (terminal multiplexer), which allows you to detach from a session and reconnect later without losing your running processes or command history. For example, you can start a long-running task in tmux, disconnect your SSH connection, and reconnect hours later to find the task still running.
Another approach uses systemd --user services to keep applications running as part of your user session across reboots. This is useful for persistent background services that should survive system restarts without requiring root privileges or system-wide configuration.