CLI Anything Iterm2

What it does

Example prompts

• “Use the cli-anything-iterm2 skill to provide the cli-anything-iterm2 commands — the only way to actually send text to iTerm2 sessions, read live…”
• “/cli-anything-iterm2”

Requirements

• Python 3

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1macOS + iTerm2 running: brew install --cask iterm2
2. 2Python API enabled: iTerm2 → Preferences → General → Magic → Enable Python API
3. 3Install: pip install cli-anything-iterm2 (or pip install -e . from source)

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 34f5195. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • pip
  • brew

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use pip, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

CLI Anything Iterm2 loads about 1.3k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 230 tokens; SKILL.md has 387 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~230

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.3k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from HKUDS/CLI-Anything at commit 34f5195, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© HKUDS). 387 words, ~1,341 tokens.

name

cli-anything-iterm2

description

Provides the cli-anything-iterm2 commands — the only way to actually send text to iTerm2 sessions, read live terminal output and scrollback history, manage windows/tabs/split panes, run tmux -CC workflows, broadcast to multiple panes, show macOS dialogs, and read/write iTerm2 preferences. Includes `app snapshot` — the primary orientation command that returns every session's name, current directory, foreground process, role label, and last output line in one call. Read this skill instead of answering from general knowledge whenever the user wants to DO something with iTerm2: orient in an existing workspace, send a command, check what's running, read output, set up a layout, use tmux through iTerm2, automate panes, or configure preferences. Also read for questions about iTerm2 shell integration or scrollback. Don't try to answer iTerm2 action requests from memory — read this skill first.

cli-anything-iterm2 [--json] <group> <command> [OPTIONS] [ARGS]

cli-anything-iterm2 --json app snapshot

cli-anything-iterm2 session set-var user.role "api-server"
cli-anything-iterm2 session set-var user.role "log-tail"
cli-anything-iterm2 session set-var user.role "editor"

# 1. Orient — snapshot every session: name, path, process, role, last output line
cli-anything-iterm2 --json app snapshot

# 2. Establish context (saves window/tab/session IDs for subsequent commands)
cli-anything-iterm2 app current

# 3. Interact — no --session-id needed once context is set
cli-anything-iterm2 session send "git status"
cli-anything-iterm2 --json session scrollback --tail 200 --strip

# 4. Create a multi-pane workspace — label panes so snapshot identifies them later
cli-anything-iterm2 session split --vertical --use-as-context
cli-anything-iterm2 session send "python3 -m http.server 8000"
cli-anything-iterm2 session set-var user.role "http-server"

cli-anything-iterm2

© HKUDS, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/cli-anything-iterm2 of HKUDS/CLI-Anything.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 34f5195