| name | terminal-bubble |
| description | Send a live terminal bubble into a Clawline chat stream. The bubble connects to a per-bubble destination via the provider over WebSocket and renders an interactive terminal inside the message flow. Use when Flynn asks to send a terminal, share a live shell, or embed a terminal in chat. Also use when another skill or workflow needs to surface a live terminal session to the user. |
Terminal Bubble
Send an interactive terminal bubble to a Clawline stream. The bubble renders a live tmux session inside the chat message flow via SwiftTerm + WebSocket.
Prerequisites
- Clawline provider running on TARS (port 18800)
- A tmux session on the destination host (created or existing)
- Target stream must be a per-user Clawline session (
:main, :dm, or custom s_*)
Procedure
1. Determine target stream
Default to the current session's stream. Extract the stream suffix from the session key:
agent:main:clawline:flynn:s_417c16a8 → target = "flynn:s_417c16a8"
agent:main:clawline:flynn:main → target = "flynn:main"
If Flynn specifies a different stream, use that.
2. Choose a destination
Every new terminal bubble must carry an explicit destination address. In the current routing model this is an SSH target string such as mike@eezo or eezo.
You do not need to hand-author a descriptor. Omit terminalSession.name for a destination login shell, or provide it when attaching or creating a named tmux session on the destination.
3. Send the terminal-bubble request
Send a structured message sendAttachment request with terminal mime type plus destination.address.
Request shape:
{
"target": "<stream>",
"mimeType": "application/vnd.clawline.terminal-session+json",
"title": "<human-readable title>",
"terminalSession": {
"name": "<optional-existing-tmux-session-name>"
},
"destination": {
"address": "<destination-address>"
}
}
Required fields: mimeType, target, destination.address
Title rule: title is presentation only. It may match the destination, but routing authority is destination.address.
Session rule: terminalSession.name is optional. When supplied, it is the caller-facing tmux session name to attach or create on the destination host. When omitted, the provider connects to destination.address and leaves the user in the destination login shell; it does not generate a tmux session name. terminalSessionId is an opaque descriptor/auth id; tmuxSessionName and top-level terminalSessionId are compatibility aliases for request input only and must match terminalSession.name when supplied together.
Send:
message(action=sendAttachment, channel=clawline, target=<stream>, mimeType=application/vnd.clawline.terminal-session+json, destination={"address":"<destination-address>"}, terminalSession={"name":"<optional-existing-tmux-session-name>"}, title="<optional title>")
The provider emits a version 3 descriptor attachment. The descriptor always has an opaque terminalSessionId for auth/lookup. The tmux identity lives in terminalSession.name when supplied and defaults to attach_or_create; unnamed requests have no tmux identity.
4. Verify
After sending, ask Flynn what they see. Expected: a chromeless terminal bubble with live shell content. If empty/collapsed, check:
- the destination host in
destination.address is reachable from the provider
- Provider baseUrl is correct and reachable from device
- Stream session key is a valid per-user Clawline key
Quick reference
| Field | Value |
|---|
| MIME type | application/vnd.clawline.terminal-session+json |
| WS path | /ws/terminal |
| Auth mode | chat_token |
| Descriptor version | provider-generated 3 |
| Routing authority | destination.address |
| tmux session name | optional caller-supplied terminalSession.name; unnamed requests use a login shell |
| tmux location | Host named by destination.address |
Common patterns
Debug shell for Flynn:
Send a destination-aware request without terminalSession.name. The provider connects to the destination login shell. Good for ad hoc debugging when a durable tmux session is not required.
Attach to existing agent session:
Send a destination-aware request with terminalSession.name set to the existing tmux session name on that destination host.
Tail logs:
Out of scope for this minimal routing slice unless another product surface intentionally writes that command into the created shell.
Routing model
The provider now routes terminal bubbles per bubble, not per process. For a version 3 descriptor with destination.address and no terminalSession.name, the provider SSHes to that address and opens a login shell. With terminalSession.name, it attaches or creates that named tmux session for that bubble. The provider-global terminal.tmux.ssh.target remains only as a visibly legacy/unknown compatibility fallback for old version 1 bubbles that lack destination metadata.
Provider SSH config still supplies shared connection defaults such as identity file and host-key settings:
{
"terminal": {
"tmux": {
"ssh": {
"identityFile": "/Users/mike/.ssh/id_ed25519_clu"
}
}
}
}
Do not rely on the provider-global ssh target to choose the destination for a new bubble.
Known limitations
- 30-second offscreen teardown: If the bubble scrolls off-screen for 30+ seconds, the terminal disconnects and requires manual reconnect tap.
- Terminal history not preserved across cell reuse/recreation in the chat scroll.
- Error UX is generic: Many failure modes collapse into a disconnected overlay.
