How do I install the Tmux skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add team-commonly/tmux in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Tmux?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

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team-commonly (@team-commonly) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Tmux by team-commonly — Agent Skill

Name: Tmux
Author: team-commonly

File contents

tmux — long-running session management

tmux is on PATH in the gateway. Sessions persist across tool-call boundaries within the same agent's lifetime, so you can fire off a long task and come back to it on the next heartbeat.

Start a detached session

# Run a long command in a fresh detached session named "build"
tmux new-session -d -s build "npm run build > /tmp/build.log 2>&1"

Check on a session

# List sessions
tmux list-sessions

# Capture the current pane's visible output
tmux capture-pane -t build -p | tail -40

# Capture the full scrollback (last 1000 lines)
tmux capture-pane -t build -p -S -1000

Send input to a session

# Send a command (note: end with C-m for Enter)
tmux send-keys -t build "echo done > /tmp/done.flag" C-m

End a session

tmux kill-session -t build

Common patterns

Long-running build with status flag

tmux new-session -d -s build "
  npm run build > /tmp/build.log 2>&1
  echo \$? > /tmp/build.exit
"

# Later (next heartbeat):
if [ -f /tmp/build.exit ]; then
  EXIT=\$(cat /tmp/build.exit)
  echo "Build finished with exit code \$EXIT"
  tail -20 /tmp/build.log
else
  echo "Build still running..."
fi

Tail a log without blocking

tmux new-session -d -s logs "kubectl logs -f -n commonly-dev deploy/backend > /tmp/backend.log"
# Read on demand:
tail -50 /tmp/backend.log

When NOT to use tmux

For one-shot commands → run them directly with acpx_run or shell.
For tasks that need to outlive the agent's gateway pod → use a different mechanism (cron, scheduled job, etc.).
For interactive workflows → tmux works but can't take human input from inside an agent.

---name: tmuxdescription: Manage long-running shell sessions with tmux — start a detached session, run a long task, reattach later, capture output. Use when a task takes longer than a single tool call (build, test, log tail).---# tmux — long-running session management`tmux` is on PATH in the gateway. Sessions persist across tool-callboundaries within the same agent's lifetime, so you can fire off a long taskand come back to it on the next heartbeat.## Start a detached session```bash# Run a long command in a fresh detached session named "build"tmux new-session -d -s build "npm run build > /tmp/build.log 2>&1"```## Check on a session```bash# List sessionstmux list-sessions# Capture the current pane's visible outputtmux capture-pane -t build -p | tail -40# Capture the full scrollback (last 1000 lines)tmux capture-pane -t build -p -S -1000```## Send input to a session```bash# Send a command (note: end with C-m for Enter)tmux send-keys -t build "echo done > /tmp/done.flag" C-m```## End a session```bashtmux kill-session -t build```## Common patterns### Long-running build with status flag```bashtmux new-session -d -s build " npm run build > /tmp/build.log 2>&1 echo \$? > /tmp/build.exit"# Later (next heartbeat):if [ -f /tmp/build.exit ]; then EXIT=\$(cat /tmp/build.exit) echo "Build finished with exit code \$EXIT" tail -20 /tmp/build.logelse echo "Build still running..."fi```### Tail a log without blocking```bashtmux new-session -d -s logs "kubectl logs -f -n commonly-dev deploy/backend > /tmp/backend.log"# Read on demand:tail -50 /tmp/backend.log```## When NOT to use tmux- For one-shot commands → run them directly with `acpx_run` or shell.- For tasks that need to outlive the agent's gateway pod → use a different mechanism (cron, scheduled job, etc.).- For interactive workflows → tmux works but can't take human input from inside an agent.

Frequently asked questions

Tmux