handling-interactive-commands

name	handling-interactive-commands
description	Handle interactive CLI commands safely using tmux (local execution only)
version	1.0.0
author	OpenOps Team
risk_level	write
requires	{"cli":"tmux","install":"brew install tmux"}

Handling Interactive Commands

Goal

Use tmux to run commands that require a real terminal (TTY) so the user can interact (type passwords, confirm prompts, use editors/pagers/TUIs), while still capturing a transcript back into the chat.

This skill provides guardrails and a preferred workflow; you can still rely on your general tmux knowledge whenever it helps.

When to Use (Interactive Signals)

Use interactive mode when you see or expect:

• Commands cannot run or throw error wnen running in non-interactive terminal.
• Password prompts or MFA prompts (sudo, ssh, scp, sftp, git over SSH, cloud CLIs that open login flows)
• Editors/pagers/TUIs (vim, nano, less, more, top, htop, fzf, git rebase -i, git commit without -m)
• Installers / CLIs that ask questions (package managers, *_init, *_configure, *_login)
• Anything that prints “Press any key”, “Select…”, “Continue?”, or waits for input

Prefer Non-Interactive First (When Possible)

Before using interactive mode, try to make the command non-interactive:

• Add “yes” flags: --yes, -y, --confirm, --force (when safe)
• Disable pagers: --no-pager, GIT_PAGER=cat, PAGER=cat, LESS=-FRX
• Set CI mode where supported: CI=1
• Provide inputs via stdin for simple prompts (only when safe and clear)

If that fails or is risky/unclear, switch to interactive mode.

How to Use (Preferred)

Use the tool:

• interactive_execute_tmux(command, timeout_s=...)

Behavior:

• A temporary tmux session is created.
• The command runs inside tmux.
• Output is captured from the pane into a transcript.
• The user is attached to tmux to interact.
• The user detaches (Ctrl-b then d) or exits the shell to return.
• The tool returns a transcript so the agent can continue with evidence.

Important:

• The transcript may include sensitive output. Avoid printing secrets; prefer token env vars and masked inputs when possible.

Simple tmux basics (for the user)

• Attach/detach:
  • Detach: Ctrl-b then d
  • Exit: type exit to close the shell
• List sessions: tmux ls
• Kill a session: tmux kill-session -t <name>

Failure Handling

If tmux is missing:

• Ask permission to install it (macOS): brew install tmux
• Re-run the interactive flow after tmux is installed.

If the command got stuck:

• Detach and kill the session (tmux kill-session -t <name>) and retry with safer flags, or break the task into smaller steps.