tmux

name	tmux
description	Remote-control tmux sessions for interactive CLIs by sending keystrokes and scraping pane output.
metadata	{"mmclaw":{"emoji":"🐾","os":["darwin","linux"],"requires":{"bins":["tmux"]}}}

tmux Session Control

Control tmux sessions by sending keystrokes and reading output. Essential for managing AI agent sessions.

When to Use

✅ USE this skill when:

• Monitoring AI agent sessions in tmux
• Sending input to interactive terminal applications
• Scraping output from long-running processes in tmux
• Navigating tmux panes/windows programmatically
• Checking on background work in existing sessions

When NOT to Use

❌ DON'T use this skill when:

• Running one-off shell commands → use exec tool directly
• Starting new background processes → use exec with background:true
• Non-interactive scripts → use exec tool
• The process isn't in tmux
• You need to create a new tmux session → use exec with tmux new-session

Example Sessions

Session	Purpose
mmclaw-main	Primary interactive session
mmclaw-1 - mmclaw-8	Parallel agent sessions

Common Commands

List Sessions

tmux list-sessions
tmux ls

Capture Output

# Last 20 lines of pane
tmux capture-pane -t mmclaw-main -p | tail -20
# Entire scrollback
tmux capture-pane -t mmclaw-main -p -S -
# Specific pane in window
tmux capture-pane -t mmclaw-main:0.0 -p

Send Keys

# Send text (doesn't press Enter)
tmux send-keys -t mmclaw-main "hello"
# Send text + Enter
tmux send-keys -t mmclaw-main "y" Enter
# Send special keys
tmux send-keys -t mmclaw-main Enter
tmux send-keys -t mmclaw-main Escape
tmux send-keys -t mmclaw-main C-c          # Ctrl+C
tmux send-keys -t mmclaw-main C-d          # Ctrl+D (EOF)
tmux send-keys -t mmclaw-main C-z          # Ctrl+Z (suspend)

Window/Pane Navigation

# Select window
tmux select-window -t mmclaw-main:0
# Select pane
tmux select-pane -t mmclaw-main:0.1
# List windows
tmux list-windows -t mmclaw-main

Session Management

# Create new session
tmux new-session -d -s mmclaw-main
# Kill session
tmux kill-session -t mmclaw-4
# Rename session
tmux rename-session -t mmclaw-1 mmclaw-9

Sending Input Safely

For interactive TUIs, split text and Enter into separate sends to avoid paste/multiline edge cases:

tmux send-keys -t mmclaw-main -l -- "Please apply the patch in src/foo.ts"
sleep 0.1
tmux send-keys -t mmclaw-main Enter

Agent Session Patterns

Check if Session Needs Input

# Look for prompts
tmux capture-pane -t mmclaw-3 -p | tail -10 | grep -E "❯|Yes.*No|proceed|permission"

Approve Agent Prompt

# Send 'y' and Enter
tmux send-keys -t mmclaw-3 'y' Enter
# Or select numbered option
tmux send-keys -t mmclaw-3 '2' Enter

Check All Sessions Status

for s in mmclaw-main mmclaw-1 mmclaw-2 mmclaw-3 mmclaw-4 mmclaw-5 mmclaw-6 mmclaw-7 mmclaw-8; do
  echo "=== $s ==="
  tmux capture-pane -t $s -p 2>/dev/null | tail -5
done

Send Task to Session

tmux send-keys -t mmclaw-4 "Fix the bug in auth.js" Enter

Notes

• Use capture-pane -p to print to stdout (essential for scripting)
• -S - captures entire scrollback history
• Target format: session:window.pane (e.g., mmclaw-main:0.0)
• Sessions persist across SSH disconnects