zellij_skill

Overview

This skill lets you remote-control zellij terminal multiplexer sessions: send keystrokes, spawn processes, and scrape pane output for interactive CLIs. It manages a configurable zellij data directory, targets panes by id, and includes helpers to wait for prompts or capture full pane output. Use it when you need programmatic interaction with TTY-based tools and multi-agent workflows.

How this skill works

The skill starts and manages zellij sessions in a specified data directory (defaulting to a temp-based path or CLAWDBOT_ZELLIJ_DATA_DIR). It sends input using zellij action write-chars/write for control keys, captures output via zellij pipe, and discovers panes and sessions with list-sessions and helper scripts. Additional helpers poll panes for text or list panes to automate wait-and-collect patterns.

When to use it

• Drive interactive REPLs or CLIs that require a real TTY
• Run and monitor multiple coding agents in parallel (isolated sessions)
• Capture pane output for scraping logs, prompts, or command results
• Send complex keystroke sequences or control keys (Ctrl+C, Enter) to a specific pane
• Automate workflows that need session lifecycle control (create, attach, delete)

Best practices

• Set CLAWDBOT_ZELLIJ_DATA_DIR or pass an explicit data-dir to isolate state
• Keep session names short and avoid spaces to simplify discovery
• Target panes by numeric pane-id; find ids with list-sessions --long or helper scripts
• Prefer zellij exec/background for non-interactive long jobs; use zellij only for real TTYs
• Use wait-for-text.sh to detect prompts or completion instead of blind sleeps
• Kill sessions when done to avoid accumulating state in the data directory

Example use cases

• Start a python REPL in a detached zellij session and send test commands, then pipe output to capture results
• Run multiple agent sessions (agent-1..agent-N) each in its own worktree, send task commands, and poll panes for the shell prompt to mark completion
• Automate an interactive installer by sending keystrokes and waiting for specific prompts with wait-for-text.sh
• Capture full terminal output from a pane via zellij pipe for post-processing or archival
• Clean up stale sessions on a data directory with a cleanup script to reclaim resources