[abcdef123xyz123]

I customize/copy my configs on the boxes I use regularly and just learn enough of the defaults to get by on boxes I am using only occasionally (eg I know enough vi to get by but if I am using a box for a bit I install emacs and if I am using it a lot I copy my .emacs as well). It helps that I keep my configs small and in a single file for each program so I can copy them quickly if I need to.

For tmux, it will look at VISUAL/EDITOR so for vi keys you could just try to remember to run it as "VISUAL=vi tmux" or to run "tmux set -g mode-keys vi" if you forget.

[Legogris]

Didn't consider that the mode can be set from environment variable, then it can just be automatically set from my ssh command, thanks for the tip!

Searching back in the buffer in emacs mode is the one thing I've been keep having to look up