Run a command with a time limit in a cross-platform way. Do not rely on GNU timeout (coreutils)—it is not default on macOS. Use when agents may run on macOS or when timeout 10s npm run dev fails.
Installation
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Run a command with a time limit in a cross-platform way. Do not rely on GNU timeout (coreutils)—it is not default on macOS. Use when agents may run on macOS or when timeout 10s npm run dev fails.
Cross-Platform "Run with Timeout"
Do not use timeout (GNU coreutils) when agents may run on macOS—it is not installed by default.
Options
macOS / BSD: (cmd &); sleep N; kill $! — run command in background, sleep N seconds, then kill the background job.
Alternative: Small Node script that spawns the command and kills it after N seconds.
When to Use
When a task uses something like timeout 10s npm run dev and it fails on macOS.
Prefer documenting one cross-platform pattern rather than retrying with timeout repeatedly.
Keep It Short
This skill should stay a few lines; the main point is "do not use timeout unless the environment is known to provide it."