headless-terminal

Drive hostile or full-screen terminal UIs through the ht CLI from montanaflynn/headless-terminal. Use when an agent needs reliable PTY-backed interaction, screen snapshots, or wait/synchronization for tools like vim, top, htop, git add -p, SSH-driven TUIs, installers, auth prompts, or REPLs. Prefer this over plain shell I/O when redraw behavior, alternate screen handling, cursor state, or deterministic waits matter; fall back to exec/process or tmux for ordinary shell commands and human-operated sessions.

Overview

Use ht from https://github.com/montanaflynn/headless-terminal as the special-purpose tool for terminal programs that behave badly under plain stdin/stdout control. It gives a real PTY, terminal-state snapshots, and explicit wait conditions so the agent can drive a TUI without guessing when the screen settled.

Do not let the hammer make everything look like a nail. ht is powerful but heavyweight; if a normal command, pipe, exec with pty=true, or tmux session fits better, use that instead.

Workflow

1. Confirm ht exists before committing to this path.
2. Decide whether the task actually needs ht; explicitly reject hammer/nail overuse and try simpler shell or host-agent primitives first when they fit.
3. Create a uniquely named session with ht run.
4. Send the smallest meaningful keystrokes.
5. Wait for a deterministic condition.
6. Snapshot with ht view.
7. Stop and remove the session when done, unless the user explicitly wants a persistent session.

Choose ht vs other tools

Use ht when:

• a program needs a real tty and redraws the whole screen
• alternate-screen behavior matters
• cursor position or screen state matters
• the task needs reliable waits after keys are sent
• you want a text or PNG snapshot of the terminal state

Prefer exec / process when:

• the command is ordinary shell I/O
• output is line-oriented and does not depend on screen state
• no full-screen TUI is involved
• exec with pty=true is enough to satisfy a TTY check without needing screen snapshots

Prefer tmux when:

• a human will monitor or resume the session directly
• persistence and shared human visibility matter more than terminal snapshots

Preflight

Check availability first:

bash

command -v ht

If ht is missing, say so plainly and switch to another tool or ask whether to install it. The expected install source is Montana Flynn's headless-terminal:

bash

brew install montanaflynn/tap/ht

Without Homebrew, use a release tarball from https://github.com/montanaflynn/headless-terminal/releases that matches the host OS/architecture, then put the ht binary on PATH.

Security/trust posture for publishing:

• Tap installs and release tarballs are still trust decisions; name the repo/owner explicitly.
• Prefer the tap or release artifacts over random packages or copy-pasted scripts.
• If a user is security-sensitive, suggest reviewing the GitHub repo and release page before installation. Important disambiguation: not every package named ht or headless-terminal is this CLI. On macOS/Homebrew, the core formula ht refers to HTE, a viewer/editor/analyzer for executables, not this terminal automation tool. The public npm package headless-terminal is an old library and may not provide the expected ht run / ht send CLI. Do not install either as a guess; verify that the candidate explicitly supports the commands this skill uses.

Core commands

bash

ht run --name demo-$(date +%s) <cmd...>
ht send demo "keys..." --wait-idle 200ms --view
ht view demo
ht view demo --format png > screenshot.png
ht wait demo --wait-text "READY"
ht stop demo
ht remove demo

Treat command names and flags as version-sensitive. If ht --help is available, check it before relying on less-common flags such as PNG output or cursor waits.

Waiting strategy

This is the main reason to use ht.

Prefer, in order:

1. --wait-text when a known string should appear
2. --wait-cursor when the cursor position is predictable
3. --wait-idle when the app redraws and then settles
4. --wait-duration only when nothing better exists

Do not rely on blind sleeps when a real wait condition is available.

Practical patterns

Drive vim safely

bash

ht run --name notes vim /tmp/notes.md
ht send notes "ihello<Esc>" --wait-idle 200ms --view
ht send notes ":wq<CR>" --wait-exit
ht remove notes

Drive a remote TUI over SSH

bash

ht run --name remote ssh [e-mail]
ht send remote "top<CR>" --wait-idle 500ms --view
ht send remote "q" --wait-idle 200ms
ht send remote "exit<CR>" --wait-exit
ht remove remote

Inspect git add -p

bash

ht run --name addp git add -p
ht view addp

Then send one choice at a time and wait after each response.

Operating guidance

• Use unique named sessions so follow-up commands stay readable and do not collide with older runs.
• Send the minimum keystrokes needed; avoid giant pasted blobs.
• After any state-changing input, capture a fresh view before assuming success.
• If the screen looks wrong, inspect with ht view before sending more keys.
• Clean up exited sessions with ht remove.
• Ask before using ht for privacy-sensitive auth flows, remote systems, or destructive TUI operations. A real PTY can make it easy to do real damage quickly.

Failure modes

• If the program exits immediately, check the command, working directory, and whether the program refuses non-interactive/unknown terminals.
• If waits time out, use a different wait condition instead of stacking longer sleeps.
• If the captured screen is stale or blank, check whether the app uses an alternate screen, requires a larger terminal size, or has already exited.
• If a task is simple enough for plain shell control, stop using ht and simplify.
• If the session is for a human to keep around, tmux is usually the better container.

References

• references/examples.md: quick fit checks, sample command patterns, and wait-strategy examples
• references/keys.md: vim-style key notation such as <CR>, <Esc>, arrows, control/meta keys, and raw bytes
• references/waits.md: wait strategy decision tree and timeout guidance
• references/recipes.md: recipes for vim, REPLs, installers, watch, terminal sizing, screenshots, and recording
• references/troubleshooting.md: exit codes, stale views, wait timeouts, zombies, daemon issues, and ht debug