Tmux Ops

Guide agents to reliably inspect tmux state, target the correct pane, and send keys.

Quick start

Heuristic: Most of the time, the pane you need is in the current tmux window. Start by inspecting panes in the current window; only broaden to all windows (-a) if you don't find the right process/title.

# List all panes with IDs
tmux list-panes -a -F '#{session_name}:#{window_index}.#{pane_index} #{pane_id} #{pane_current_command} #{pane_title}'

# Send keys to a pane
tmux send-keys -t %3 "echo hello" C-m

# Capture recent output from a pane
tmux capture-pane -t %3 -p -S -200

Workflow

1. Identify target pane

# Start with panes in the current window (most common case)
tmux display-message -p '#{session_name}:#{window_index}.#{pane_index} #{pane_id} #{pane_current_command} #{pane_title}'
tmux list-panes -F '#{session_name}:#{window_index}.#{pane_index} #{pane_id} #{pane_current_command} #{pane_title}'

# Fallback: search across all windows/sessions
tmux list-sessions
tmux list-windows -a -F '#{session_name}:#{window_index} #{window_name}'
tmux list-panes -a -F '#{session_name}:#{window_index}.#{pane_index} #{pane_id} #{pane_current_command} #{pane_title}'

2. Confirm focus (optional)

tmux display-message -p -t %3 '#{session_name}:#{window_index}.#{pane_index} #{pane_id} #{pane_current_command}'

3. Send keys

tmux send-keys -t %3 "<command>" C-m

Common operations

• Start a new session

tmux new-session -d -s work

• Create or split panes

tmux split-window -t work:0 -h
tmux split-window -t work:0 -v

• Select a pane

tmux select-pane -t %3

• Stop the process in a pane (graceful)

tmux send-keys -t %3 C-c

• Close a pane

tmux kill-pane -t %3

• Capture logs

tmux capture-pane -t %3 -p -S -200

Safety rules

• Always list panes and confirm the target pane ID before sending destructive keys.
• Prefer C-c to stop a process before kill-pane.
• Avoid kill-session unless the user explicitly asks.

Output guidance

• Return concise summaries: target pane ID, action taken, and any captured output snippets.
• When searching, state whether you checked the current window first; only list -a results if needed.
• If the target pane is ambiguous, ask the user to choose from the pane list.