tmux

Control tmux sessions/panes for interactive CLIs: list, capture output, send keys, paste text, monitor prompts.

Use for existing interactive tmux sessions. For one-shot commands, use normal shell. For new non-interactive background jobs, use background execution.

Basics

bash

tmux ls
tmux list-windows -t shared
tmux list-panes -t shared:0
tmux capture-pane -t shared:0.0 -p
tmux capture-pane -t shared:0.0 -p -S -

Target format: session:window.pane, e.g. shared:0.0.

Send input

Literal text, then Enter:

bash

tmux send-keys -t shared:0.0 -l -- "Please continue"
tmux send-keys -t shared:0.0 Enter

Special keys:

bash

tmux send-keys -t shared:0.0 C-c
tmux send-keys -t shared:0.0 C-d
tmux send-keys -t shared:0.0 Escape

Use -l -- for arbitrary text. Split text and Enter to avoid paste/newline surprises.

Sessions

bash

tmux new-session -d -s worker
tmux rename-session -t old new
tmux kill-session -t worker

Prompt checks

bash

tmux capture-pane -t worker-3 -p | tail -20
tmux capture-pane -t worker-3 -p | rg "proceed|permission|Yes|No|❯"

Approve/select only when the prompt is understood:

bash

tmux send-keys -t worker-3 -l -- "y"
tmux send-keys -t worker-3 Enter

Helpers

• scripts/find-sessions.sh: discover sessions.
• scripts/wait-for-text.sh: wait until pane output contains text.

Notes

• capture-pane -p prints to stdout for scripts.
• -S - captures full scrollback.
• tmux sessions persist across SSH disconnects.