Tmux CLI

What it does

When your agent uses it

• You are asked to ssh to remote machines
• Need to use interactive CLI tools that require ongoing input

Example prompts

• “/tmux-cli”

Requirements

• Node.js

Workflow steps

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

1. 1Reuse an existing session rather than spawning a new one each task (windows accumulate otherwise): check tmux-cli status / tmux-cli…
2. 2Arm auto-cleanup on the pane BEFORE connecting, so nothing lingers if the task is abandoned
3. 3Connect with keepalive so a dropped link tears itself down: ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 -o ServerAliveCountMax=3 -o…
4. 4After connecting, set the same idle timeout on the remote shell (busybox ash and bash both honour it): export TMOUT=1800.
5. 5Run work with send + wait_idle + capture. Only the pane's ssh uses the network / SSH auth; tmux-cli itself only talks to the local tmux…
6. 6Tear it down explicitly when done: tmux-cli cleanup kills the managed session; tmux-cli kill --pane= kills a single pane. Do not leave…

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 415ac71. 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:

  • ssh
  • uv

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

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use ssh and uv, 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

Tmux CLI loads about 923 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 60 tokens; SKILL.md has 485 words of instructions outside code blocks.

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

~60

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

~923

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 sammcj/agentic-coding at commit 415ac71, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© sammcj). 485 words, ~923 tokens.

name

tmux-cli

description

CLI utility to help when running ongoing interactive CLI sessions or using tmux to communicate with other CLI Agents. Use when you are asked to ssh to remote machines, or need to use interactive CLI tools that require ongoing input.

tmux-cli execute "make test" --pane=2
# Returns JSON: {"output": "...", "exit_code": 0}

tmux-cli execute "npm install" --pane=ops:1.3 --timeout=60
# Returns exit_code=0 on success, non-zero on failure, -1 on timeout

© sammcj, 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/tmux-cli of sammcj/agentic-coding.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 415ac71