tmux

name	tmux
description	Remote-control tmux sessions for interactive CLIs by sending keystrokes and scraping pane output. Use when monitoring background sessions, sending input to interactive terminals, or managing parallel workers.
alwaysInclude	false
requiredBins	["tmux"]
platforms	["darwin","linux"]

tmux Session Control

Control tmux sessions by sending keystrokes and reading output.

When to Use

• Monitoring long-running processes in tmux
• Sending input to interactive terminal applications
• Scraping output from background sessions
• Managing parallel worker sessions

When NOT to Use

• Running one-off shell commands — use ShellExec directly
• Non-interactive scripts — use ShellExec
• Process not in tmux

Common Commands

List Sessions

tmux list-sessions

Capture Output

# Last 20 lines
tmux capture-pane -t session-name -p | tail -20

# Entire scrollback
tmux capture-pane -t session-name -p -S -

# Specific pane
tmux capture-pane -t session-name:0.0 -p

Send Keys

# Send text (doesn't press Enter)
tmux send-keys -t session-name "hello"

# Send text + Enter
tmux send-keys -t session-name "command" Enter

# Special keys
tmux send-keys -t session-name Escape
tmux send-keys -t session-name C-c          # Ctrl+C
tmux send-keys -t session-name C-d          # Ctrl+D (EOF)

Session Management

tmux new-session -d -s newsession
tmux kill-session -t sessionname
tmux rename-session -t old new

Window/Pane Navigation

tmux select-window -t session-name:0
tmux select-pane -t session-name:0.1
tmux list-windows -t session-name

Safe Input Pattern

For interactive TUIs, split text and Enter to avoid paste issues:

tmux send-keys -t session-name -l -- "command text here"
sleep 0.1
tmux send-keys -t session-name Enter

Check All Sessions Status

for s in $(tmux list-sessions -F '#{session_name}'); do
  echo "=== $s ==="
  tmux capture-pane -t $s -p 2>/dev/null | tail -5
done

Notes

• Use capture-pane -p to print to stdout
• -S - captures entire scrollback history
• Target format: session:window.pane
• Sessions persist across SSH disconnects