tmux

🚀 tmux Skill

Control tmux sessions programmatically to run interactive terminal applications (REPLs, debuggers, databases) without blocking.

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📋 Quickstart (Easy Way)

Use LogPilot for automatic output capture + AI analysis:

# Install LogPilot
cargo install logpilot

# Watch your tmux session
logpilot watch mysession --pane mysession:0.0

Ask AI about what's happening

logpilot ask "What errors appeared?" logpilot summarize --last 5m

Add to Claude Code: `claude mcp add --scope user logpilot -- logpilot mcp-server`

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## 📋 Manual Control (Raw tmux)

Use isolated sockets to avoid conflicts with personal tmux:

```bash
# Setup socket
export SOCKET="${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/ai-tmux-sockets/agent.sock"
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$SOCKET")"

# Create session and run
SESSION=agent-py
tmux -S "$SOCKET" new -d -s "$SESSION"
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t "$SESSION" 'python3 -q' Enter

# Capture output manually
tmux -S "$SOCKET" capture-pane -p -J -t "$SESSION" -S -100

# Cleanup
tmux -S "$SOCKET" kill-session -t "$SESSION"

📋 Core Commands

Action	Command
New session	tmux -S "$SOCKET" new -d -s NAME
Send keys	tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t NAME 'cmd' Enter
Send literal	tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t NAME -l 'text'
Capture output	tmux -S "$SOCKET" capture-pane -p -J -t NAME -S -N
List sessions	tmux -S "$SOCKET" list-sessions
Kill session	tmux -S "$SOCKET" kill-session -t NAME

Control keys: C-c (SIGINT), C-d (EOF), C-z (suspend), Escape

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📋 Interactive Recipes

🔁 Python REPL

SESSION=agent-py
SOCKET="${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/ai-tmux-sockets/agent.sock"
tmux -S "$SOCKET" new -d -s "$SESSION"
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t "$SESSION" 'PYTHON_BASIC_REPL=1 python3 -q' Enter
sleep 1
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t "$SESSION" -l 'print(2+2)'
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t "$SESSION" Enter
tmux -S "$SOCKET" capture-pane -p -J -t "$SESSION" -S -10
tmux -S "$SOCKET" kill-session -t "$SESSION"

🔁 GDB Debugger

SESSION=agent-gdb
SOCKET="${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/ai-tmux-sockets/agent.sock"
tmux -S "$SOCKET" new -d -s "$SESSION"
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t "$SESSION" 'gdb --quiet ./program' Enter
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t "$SESSION" 'set pagination off' Enter
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t "$SESSION" 'run' Enter
# ... later ...
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t "$SESSION" C-c
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t "$SESSION" 'bt' Enter
tmux -S "$SOCKET" send-keys -t "$SESSION" 'quit' Enter 'y' Enter

Node.js / psql / etc.

Same pattern: new → send-keys → capture-pane → kill-session

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📋 LogPilot Reference

Task	Command
Watch session	logpilot watch SESSION
Watch pane	logpilot watch SESSION --pane TARGET
AI summary	logpilot summarize --last 10m
Ask question	logpilot ask "Why is it failing?"
With logs	logpilot ask "Explain" --include-logs
Status	logpilot status

MCP Setup

{
	"mcpServers": {
		"logpilot": {
			"command": "logpilot",
			"args": ["mcp-server"]
		}
	}
}

Or: claude mcp add --scope user --transport stdio logpilot -- logpilot mcp-server

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🎨 Best Practices

1. Use LogPilot — easiest way to capture and analyze output
2. Always use -S "$SOCKET" — prevents conflicts with user tmux
3. Use -l flag — literal text, no shell expansion issues
4. PYTHON_BASIC_REPL=1 — required for interactive Python
5. Kill sessions when done — prevents resource leaks