wezterm

name	wezterm
description	Control and inspect WezTerm terminal panes. Use when terminal interaction, command execution, reading terminal output, monitoring running processes, or working with existing shell sessions is required.
tags	["terminal","shell","wezterm","development"]

WezTerm Terminal Control

Interact with existing WezTerm panes via the CLI. WezTerm must be running and on PATH.

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Workflow

Always read before acting. Always read after acting.

1. List panes to find the right target
2. Read pane contents to confirm state
3. Send command
4. Read again to verify output

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List Panes

wezterm cli list --format json

Returns pane_id, tab_id, window_id, title, and current working directory. Run this first unless a pane ID is already known.

Pane selection priority:

1. Working directory matches the target repo
2. Title references the current project
3. Interactive shell prompt is visible

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Read a Pane

wezterm cli get-text --pane-id <PANE_ID>

Use to inspect output, check for running processes, confirm command completion, or locate errors.

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Send a Command

wezterm cli send-text --pane-id <PANE_ID> --no-paste "<COMMAND>\r"

\r executes the command. Omitting it inserts text without running it.

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Create a New Pane

wezterm cli split-pane --right    # horizontal split
wezterm cli split-pane --bottom   # vertical split

Returns the new pane ID. Prefer reusing existing panes.

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Focus a Pane

wezterm cli activate-pane --pane-id <PANE_ID>

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Monitoring Long-Running Commands

Poll until completion is observed in output — do not assume success.

wezterm cli send-text --pane-id <PANE_ID> --no-paste "npm test\r"
sleep 2
wezterm cli get-text --pane-id <PANE_ID>
# repeat until done

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Caution

Inspect state before running destructive commands:

rm -rf  |  git clean -fdx  |  git reset --hard
docker system prune  |  terraform destroy  |  kubectl delete  |  drop database

Never assume these are safe. Read first.