tmux

What This Skill Does

The tmux skill empowers OpenClaw to remote-control tmux sessions, enabling persistent, interactive CLI workflows. By programmatically sending keystrokes, capturing screen output, and managing multiple concurrent terminal panes, this skill allows an agent to bridge the gap between simple script execution and full-blown interactive terminal usage. It is designed specifically to handle long-running TUI applications, coding assistants, or complex REPL environments without needing the agent to remain continuously connected to a single execution context.

Installation

You can integrate this capability by running the following command in your terminal: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/brennerspear/tmux-controller

Use Cases

This skill is indispensable for scenarios requiring sustained terminal interaction. Use it to:

• Manage multiple independent coding agents (e.g., Claude Code, Codex) across different feature branches simultaneously.
• Maintain persistent Python or Node.js REPL sessions, allowing the agent to evaluate code, check state, and maintain context over long periods.
• Perform interactive debugging of CLI tools that require manual confirmation, password entry, or interactive configuration flags.
• Run long-running background tasks that need to be monitored or polled for completion signals, such as large repository migrations or build pipelines.

Example Prompts

1. "Start a new tmux session named oc-auth-fix, move to the project directory, and launch the Claude CLI to begin working on the authentication logic."
2. "Check the output of the oc-data-migration session. If the last line contains a 'Finished' prompt, signal that the task is complete and capture the full logs."
3. "Send a sequence of commands to the oc-billing-refactor session to install the latest npm dependencies, waiting 100ms between typing the command and pressing Enter to ensure the TUI registers the input correctly."

Tips & Limitations

Always adhere to the oc- prefix naming convention to prevent session collisions. Never use -S for custom sockets, as this obscures the session from user-level tmux attach commands. When interacting with TUI applications, avoid combining text and Enter keystrokes in a single command; use a delay to ensure inputs are processed as intended. For Python REPLs, enforce PYTHON_BASIC_REPL=1 to prevent formatting issues. Keep session names short and avoid spaces to ensure compatibility with shell piping. Remember that this skill interacts with the local system environment, so ensure your agent has appropriate file system and execution permissions.