emacsclient

name	emacsclient
description	Always use emacsclient instead of emacs. This applies to all Emacs operations: user requests, byte compilation, check-parens, running ERT tests, and any other elisp evaluation.
tools	Bash

Always use emacsclient

The user has an Emacs server running. All Emacs operations must go through emacsclient, never emacs or emacs --batch. This includes both user-requested actions and agent-initiated operations like byte compilation, syntax checking, or running tests.

Examples

• Open a file: emacsclient --no-wait "/path/to/file"
• Evaluate elisp: emacsclient --eval '(some-function)'
• Open at a line: emacsclient --no-wait +42 "/path/to/file"
• Byte compile a file:

  emacsclient --eval '
  (byte-compile-file "/path/to/file.el")'
  

• Check parentheses:

  emacsclient --eval '
  (with-temp-buffer
    (insert-file-contents "/path/to/file.el")
    (check-parens))'
  

• Run ERT tests:

  emacsclient --eval '
  (progn
    (load "/path/to/test-file.el" nil t)
    (ert-run-tests-batch-and-exit "pattern"))'
  

Rules

• Always use emacsclient, never emacs or emacs --batch.
• Use --no-wait when opening files so the command returns immediately.
• Use --eval when evaluating elisp.
• Always format --eval elisp across multiple lines with proper indentation.
• Run emacsclient commands via the Bash tool.