Tmux Agent Tools

Tmux Agent Tools

Fast paths (read this first)

Non-negotiable rules:

1. Engine-only — never type raw tmux at a worker. Drive every worker through agent-tmux <cli> subcommands (send-wait, status, result, capture, stop); read-only inventory is tmux-agent-sessions list, not raw tmux ls. Raw tmux bypasses naming, redaction, result contracts, and cleanup. Before concluding the engine lacks a command, check the capability table below; plain shell is a last resort for genuine gaps — say why.
2. A send is not done until submission is verified. Bare send can leave text unsent in the input box. Default to send-wait: it appends a fresh nonce and waits for it, confirming the prompt landed.
3. Every blocking wait takes a timeout — never hand-roll sleep/polling loops. Multiple workers: one bounded watch --any|--all|--count <n> --timeout <s> --json …. Mixed-engine fleets: trust reason:result_updated or resolve with tmux-agent-sessions.
4. Reusing a worker for a follow-up task? result init first, then send-wait, then result wait-required — never reuse without result init, or the wait returns the stale prior result. Details: references/multi-agent.md#persistent-teammates-worker-reuse.

Fast answers:

• Bounded task with no follow-ups? Default to interactive start (headed): the tmux pane is the debug surface — capture, status, or attaching shows exactly what the CLI is doing, mid-run and post-mortem. start --headless (claude -p / codex exec) is OPT-IN only: user explicitly asks for it, or the output is trivially verifiable and nobody will need to inspect the run. A headless failure leaves only an exit code and a stdout file — repeatedly observed to cost long blind-debugging sessions (user ruling 2026-08-03: headed by default).
• Wrapper not on PATH? Run it from this bundle: <skill-dir>/scripts/agent-tmux codex ….
• Worker "failed" but the pane says PASS? Exit code is not the verdict — see references/core-workflow.md#5-read-the-agents-structured-result ("Exit code is not the verdict") before re-dispatching or reporting failure.
• Auto-delegate substantial work? Use the inline-vs-worker gate in the using-tmux-agent-tools skill (absorbed there, no longer a separate subagent); details live in references/core-workflow.md.
• Long-running external CLI worker (Codex or Claude Code)? Dispatch it with ONE agent-tmux <cli> assign <name> <dir> <prompt-file> call — the stepwise sequence (start → result init → send → confirm-processing → blocking supervise) IS the supervision, so the proxy hosts it and nothing else (the OLD per-worker polling proxy stays retired, 2026-08-08). The host is ONE supervision proxy — a general-purpose subagent on sonnet low whose brief runs that single assign call and reports its exit code (see model-dispatch.md §4, 2026-08-17/18 rulings). Parent foreground assign is banned in ALL forms, --detach included, and is denied at the tool call by the tmux-assign-host-gate hook; parent run_in_background is REQUIRED, not a last-resort fallback, whenever the proxy reports anything non-terminal — measured 2026-08-30, the harness reaps a proxy's foreground call at ~600s and a subagent has no TaskOutput, so a reaped proxy can only report in-flight and the parent must own the wait itself (a task orphaned by a terminated subagent notifies nobody; incident c48c0d3a lost 2h40m that way). Log the reason in the run dir, and never pipe the listener — a trailing | tail reports tail's status, so the wrapper's exit 2 reads as success. The parent MUST NOT additionally poll status/capture/probe unless assign reports a failed step or the user asks; harvest with bounded result wait-required --wait <s> calls. A pending result is a TERMINATING PROCEDURE, not a verdict: keep waiting within the bound → bound expires still pending, re-prompt the worker ONCE with the literal path from result --path <name> and wait one more bounded round → only then may a pane capture stand in, labelled UNCONFIRMED and never shipped as a verified answer. Heed assign's result-path delivery UNCONFIRMED warning — a worker that never learned its path can never write result.json, so that pending is permanent. Teardown order: stand the proxy DOWN BEFORE stopping the worker it supervises, or the proxy is stranded on a signal that can no longer arrive. Never brief a proxy to return the worker's output verbatim — it is forbidden to read that output, so the brief is unsatisfiable; have the WORKER write to a declared artifact path and read that file yourself.
• Writing the worker prompt? Shape it with the delegation-templates skill: GOAL / ACCEPTANCE / REPORT + common footer, plus its tmux addendum (no-cascade ban + literal result path).
• New or renamed CLI? Add a profile with bin=…, then prove it with doctor --json and start --dry-run; see references/profiles.md.

Overview

agent-tmux <cli> <command> runs any AI coding CLI as a managed tmux worker; claude/codex/agy are built-in presets, other CLIs use an optional profile. The old claude-tmux/codex-tmux/agy-tmux shims are DEPRECATED (removal: v0.39) — always spell agent-tmux <cli> <command>.

Required preflight and safe invocation

Before the first worker command:

1. Resolve the wrapper bundle instead of assuming PATH. Probe, in order, <repo-dir>/skills/tmux-agent-tools/scripts, ~/.agents/skills/tmux-agent-tools/scripts, ~/.claude/skills/tmux-agent-tools/scripts, and ~/.codex/skills/tmux-agent-tools/scripts; use bare wrapper names only when no bundle exists and PATH lookup succeeds.
2. Run the resolved agent-tmux <cli> setup and stop if preflight fails.
3. Pass the raw task as a separately quoted argument or prompt-file content. Never interpolate task text into eval, sh -c, or a constructed shell command.
4. Pass task-specific credentials only through --secret KEY=URI. Never embed credential values in task text or a constructed shell command.

When to use

• Long-running Claude/Codex/agy/custom CLI work that needs later supervision.
• A worker must write structured result.json for a parent agent or wrapper.
• You need verified follow-up sends, liveness/status checks, bounded waits, or cleanup.
• Multiple workers need first/all/N completion via one wrapper watch call.

Command choice

Start flags precede positionals: start --exact --model <m> <name> <dir>; a misplaced flag exits 2.

Full capability table (every subcommand + when to use it): references/cheatsheets.md.

When not to use

• A one-off shell command or a simple file read, search, test, or build — run it directly instead of spawning a worker.
• Externally visible, destructive, or privacy-sensitive work unless the user has already authorized it.

The 6 commands you need most

# Dispatch a prompt-file task: ONE command runs the whole verified sequence
# (start -> result init -> send --from-file -> confirm the pane is processing
# -> blocking supervise). Prefer this over hand-chaining the steps; it cannot
# be misordered and it catches "task never reached the CLI" before waiting.
agent-tmux codex assign job ~/repo /abs/path/prompt.txt

# Bounded one-shot (headed by default; add --headless only when the user opted in):
agent-tmux codex start --exact job ~/repo 'Task. Write final JSON to the wrapper-provided result path when done.'
agent-tmux codex result wait-required job --fields status,summary --wait 600 --json   # returns at process exit
agent-tmux codex supervise --result-required --silent-while-unchanged --json job       # one silent call until terminal event
agent-tmux codex stop job

# Interactive one-worker flow (only when follow-ups are needed): start -> send-wait -> supervise -> stop.
agent-tmux codex start --exact worker ~/repo 'Task. Write final JSON to the wrapper-provided result path when done.'
agent-tmux codex send-wait worker 'Follow-up instruction.' 180
agent-tmux codex status --json worker
agent-tmux codex result --json --wait 30 worker
agent-tmux codex stop worker

# Multiple workers: block on first/all/N completion with one bounded call.
agent-tmux codex watch --any --timeout 600 --json w1 w2 w3

Full walkthrough: references/core-workflow.md.

result.json completion contract

Agents write $TMUX_AGENT_DIR/<name>/result.json with schema_version: 1, canonical status (success|failed|blocked|needs-input), summary, artifacts, and errors (optional verdict/decision). Codex/generic prompt sends inject the literal result path once per session; the worker cannot rely on $TMUX_AGENT_RESULT inside tool sandboxes. Branch in this order — never scrape the pane when a valid result exists: .present -> .valid -> .body.

--fields names keys in THAT contract, never a prompt placeholder: harvesting with artifact_path (which no worker writes) left two finished workers unharvested for ~24 minutes on 2026-09-08. Ask for status,summary, read .body, and request a produced file as .body.artifacts. A terminal result missing a requested field now exits 3 (event:"contract-mismatch", worker body attached) instead of waiting — fix the field list, do not re-dispatch. A CLI that cannot launch exits 4 at assign step 0 with blocked_reason (keychain_locked, login_required, quota_exhausted, cli_not_found) and starts nothing: report the blocker, do not wait. For a TUI that submits on every newline, dispatch with assign --prompt-delivery file-ref (profile prompt_delivery; agy ships it) — agy received one pasted prompt as 12 separate inputs, GOAL and CONTEXT never arriving, and still reported assigned:true.

agent-tmux codex result --json --wait 30 worker
agent-tmux codex supervise --result-required --silent-while-unchanged --json worker

If .present:false, the agent never wrote the file — re-prompt with the literal path from result --path <name>. Full schema, worked example, status --json fields, approval-gate exit codes, concurrency model: references/contracts.md.

Safety

• Wrappers use permissive CLI flags by default (--dangerously-skip-permissions for Claude, --yolo for Codex). Never use for destructive, privacy-sensitive, externally visible, payment, or irreversible work without explicit user authorization.
• status --json reports confirmation_detected:true plus blocked_reason when a pane appears to wait for confirmation. It does not auto-accept; answer only after you trust it.
• Before spawning more than one worker: ask the user for tool+model+effort per worker, set a worker upper bound, and forbid cascade spawning in every prompt. Details: references/multi-agent.md.
• Secret injection (--secret KEY=URI, fail-closed) and audit log (TMUX_AGENT_TOOLS_AUDIT_LOG): references/security.md.

References

Load these only when you hit the relevant scenario — they are not needed for routine use:

• references/core-workflow.md — full single-worker workflow, session naming, remote sessions, peer-review, approval gates, the inline-vs-worker gate.
• references/profiles.md — custom CLI profile keys, precedence, examples, detection overrides.
• references/cheatsheets.md — full capability table, scenario commands, marker pitfalls, failure triage.
• references/multi-agent.md — dialogue/fanout rules, bridge pattern, SSH participants, github-comment behavior.
• references/contracts.md — status --json/result.json schemas, approval exit codes, concurrency, inventory/cleanup.
• references/security.md — secret injection, audit log, environment overrides, pre-flight checks.
• references/troubleshooting.md — failure modes and fixes for stuck/unsent/stale-marker scenarios.
• references/recipes.md — copy-pasteable workflows (approval gate, fanout, DAG).

Bundled schemas

schemas/ ships result-status-summary.schema.json and fanout-summary.schema.json — the offline fallback the scripts already resolve for result.json validation when no other copy is found on disk.

The agents/ subagent bundle (tmux-delegate.md, claude-oneshot.md, codex-oneshot.md) is retired — see CHANGELOG. The inline-vs-worker gate and the one-shot forwarding pattern they carried now live in the using-tmux-agent-tools skill's decision tree; there is nothing to install into ~/.claude/agents/ anymore.