tmux - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: tmux description: "Remote-control tmux sessions for interactive CLIs" always: false triggers:

tmux
terminal
session
multiplexer requires:
bin:tmux metadata: pocketrb: emoji: "🧵" os:
- darwin
- linux

Tmux Skill

Control tmux sessions via socket for isolated agent workspaces. This allows running and interacting with persistent terminal sessions.

Socket Setup

Use a dedicated socket directory to avoid conflicts:

SOCKET_DIR="${POCKETRB_TMUX_SOCKET_DIR:-${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/pocketrb-tmux-sockets}"
mkdir -p "$SOCKET_DIR"
SOCKET="$SOCKET_DIR/pocketrb.sock"

Basic Commands

Session Management

# Create a new session
tmux -S "$SOCKET" new-session -d -s mysession

# Create session with initial command
tmux -S "$SOCKET" new-session -d -s mysession "irb"

# List sessions
tmux -S "$SOCKET" list-sessions

# Kill a session
tmux -S "$SOCKET" kill-session -t mysession

# Attach to session (interactive)
tmux -S "$SOCKET" attach -t mysession

Sending Commands

# Send keys (commands) to a session
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t mysession "ls -la" Enter

# Send literal text (no Enter)
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t mysession -l "some text"

# Send special keys
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t mysession C-c  # Ctrl+C
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t mysession C-d  # Ctrl+D
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t mysession Up   # Arrow up

Capturing Output

# Capture visible pane content
tmux -S "$SOCKET" capture-pane -p -t mysession

# Capture with history (last 200 lines)
tmux -S "$SOCKET" capture-pane -p -J -t mysession -S -200

# Capture to file
tmux -S "$SOCKET" capture-pane -p -t mysession > output.txt

Common Patterns

Run Command and Get Output

# Send command
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t mysession "ruby script.rb" Enter

# Wait for completion (simple approach)
sleep 2

# Capture output
tmux -S "$SOCKET" capture-pane -p -J -t mysession -S -50

Interactive Ruby/IRB Session

# Start IRB session
tmux -S "$SOCKET" new-session -d -s ruby "irb"

# Send Ruby commands
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t ruby "require 'pathname'" Enter
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t ruby "puts Pathname.pwd" Enter

# Get output
sleep 1
tmux -S "$SOCKET" capture-pane -p -t ruby

SSH Session

# Start SSH session
tmux -S "$SOCKET" new-session -d -s remote "ssh user@host"

# Wait for connection, then send commands
sleep 3
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t remote "ls -la" Enter

Tips

Use -l flag with send-keys for literal text to avoid interpretation
The -J flag in capture-pane joins wrapped lines
Use -S -N in capture-pane to capture last N lines of history
Clean up sessions when done to avoid resource leaks
Use unique session names to avoid conflicts