By name: timeline-smoke description: >- Smoke test a VJ timeline end-to-end with real macOS screencapture PNGs at every cue step, plus tmux text dumps and state JSON. Capture-then-review pattern — all evidence collected first, comparison done after. Use when testing a new timeline, verifying the pipeline after code changes, or debugging cue behaviour. Triggers on: "smoke test timeline", "test the timeline", "capture each step", "screenshot each cue".
Timeline Smoke Test
End-to-end smoke test for a VJ timeline. Fires each cue, screenshots the real TUI on the external monitor after each one, captures state JSON + tmux text, then runs a review pass on everything collected.
Quick run
./tests/timeline-smoke/run.sh scratch/timelines/test-8bar.json
Results in scratch/smoke-capture-<timestamp>/.
What it captures per cue
| File | What |
|---|---|
00-baseline.png |
macOS screencapture of TUI before run |
01-cue_t0s.png |
real external monitor screenshot after cue fires |
01-cue_t0s.txt |
tmux pane text dump |
01-cue_t0s_state.json |
full /state JSON snapshot |
expected.jsonl |
machine-readable expected-state log |
validate.txt |
timeline-validate output |
dry-run.txt |
timeline-dry-run resolved cue schedule |
timed-capture.txt |
timeline-capture timed run log |
review.txt |
timeline-review expected-vs-actual report |
Capture-then-review pattern
Recording pass and review pass are fully separated:
- Run fires cues sequentially, sleeps for repaint, screenshots
- After ALL cues have fired, review.txt is generated
- No inline assertions — just evidence collection
This means you can watch the TUI during the run without the test racing against assertions.
Environment
| Var | Default | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
DISPLAY_NUM |
2 |
macOS display index for screencapture |
API |
http://127.0.0.1:8099 |
Control API |
TMUX_SESSION |
wibwob-screenshot |
tmux session name |
REPAINT_WAIT |
1.0 |
Seconds to wait after cue before screenshot |
External monitor is display 2 on the current setup. Use DISPLAY_NUM=1 for main monitor.
Prerequisites
- App running:
CONTROL_API_PORT=8099 bun run devin tmux sessionwibwob-screenshot - TUI visible on external monitor (display 2)
- If app is not running, load
tmux-launchskill first
Finding display number
# Capture each display to a /tmp file, check which one has the TUI
screencapture -x -D 1 /tmp/d1.png
screencapture -x -D 2 /tmp/d2.png
# Read them to check
Examples
tests/timeline-smoke/examples/test-8bar.json — 8-bar test timeline, one change per bar
Files
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
tests/timeline-smoke/run.sh |
Main smoke test script |
tests/timeline-smoke/examples/ |
Canonical example timelines for testing |
scratch/smoke-capture-*/ |
Timestamped output from each run |
Relation to other skills/scripts
| Thing | Role |
|---|---|
vj-timeline skill |
Authoring timelines, understanding format |
scripts/timeline-capture.ts |
Timed capture (used inside this script) |
scripts/timeline-review.ts |
Review pass (used inside this script) |
ww-screenshot skill |
Single-window crop (not used here — this captures full display) |
tui-smoke-test skill |
Agent/session smoke tests — different concern |
Known issues / gotchas
- Run AFTER clearing the desktop — baseline capture will show leftover windows otherwise
- tmux pane width may not match TUI width if terminal was resized — text dumps look wide
REPAINT_WAIT=1.0may need increasing on slow machines or for heavy primer loads- The cue-firing in this script is manual (API calls) not the real timed runner.
Use
timed-capture.txt+review.txtfor timing-accurate ground truth.