/tmux-layout

name: tmux-layout
description: >
  Use this skill when the operator wants a prepared tmux visualization layout for the session's
  side-channels (STATE.md tail, CI-watch, events.jsonl tail). Renders a 4-pane default layout or debug
  layout. Read-only side-channel observability — the coordinator chat stays in the operator's original
  terminal. Trigger phrases: "tmux layout", "split panes for ci watch", "visualize session side-channels",
  "show me state-md tail and ci".
user-invocable: true
model: inherit
color: cyan
tools: Read, Bash, Grep, Glob

tmux-layout — Operator-Side Visualization Substrate

> Status: PROPOSED per ADR-0007 (`docs/adr/0007-tmux-visualization-substrate.md`). Opt-in skill — NOT default. > Project-instruction file resolution: this is `CLAUDE.md` on Claude Code / Cursor IDE; the equivalent on Codex CLI is `AGENTS.md`. See `skills/_shared/instruction-file-resolution.md`.

Purpose

Render a prepared tmux layout for *operator-side observability* of the session's asynchronous side-channels — STATE.md updates, CI status, events.jsonl wave/gate transitions. NOT a coordinator chat surface, NOT a wave-agent host. The coordinator chat remains in the operator's original terminal, period (per AUQ-001 in `.claude/rules/ask-via-tool.md`).

When to Use

• During a long deep-session when you want CI status visible alongside Quality-Gate output without polling `glab ci status` manually.
• During `/debug` Phase 2 hypothesis testing (use `--layout debug`).
• Anywhere `tail -F .claude/STATE.md` + a CI watcher would speed up your loop.

When NOT to Use

• For wave-agent visualization — wave agents are in-process `Agent()` calls; no PID, no TTY, no pane to attach.
• For autopilot multi-story panes — autopilot.jsonl currently shows 11 entries / 8 dry-runs; below the value threshold for a pane-per-story UI.
• As your coordinator chat surface — that stays in the terminal where you invoked /tmux-layout.

Usage

/tmux-layout                        # default layout (4 panes)
/tmux-layout --layout debug         # debug layout (4 panes, /debug companion)
/tmux-layout --json                 # machine-readable output (no attach)
/tmux-layout --session-name my-ws   # custom tmux session name
/tmux-layout --force                # replace existing session (PSA-003 escape hatch)
/tmux-layout --with-status-pane     # add a 5th pane tailing agent-status telemetry (#565)
/tmux-layout --help                 # full CLI usage

The skill prints a one-line tmux command. Paste it into a SECOND terminal (do not run it where /tmux-layout was invoked). That second terminal becomes the layout. Your original terminal (the coordinator chat) stays where it is.

Default Layout (4 panes; 5 with `--with-status-pane`)

| Pane | Content | Command | |---|---|---| | 1 | **Shell** (operator scratch — NOT claude) | `bash` (interactive) | | 2 | STATE.md tail | `tail -F <state-dir>/STATE.md` | | 3 | CI watch (poll-loop wrapper) | `while true; do clear; glab ci status -R <spec> --output json \| jq -r '.jobs[] \| ...'; sleep 15; done` | | 4 | events.jsonl wave/gate filter | `tail -F .orchestrator/metrics/events.jsonl \| jq --unbuffered 'select(.event \| test("wave\|gate\|spiral"))'` | | 5 | agent-status telemetry (#565, only with `--with-status-pane`) | `while true; do clear; node --input-type=module -e '...readCurrentStatus({repoRoot:"<own lock root>"})...'; sleep 2; done` — the root holding this session's own lock, resolved once when the layout is rendered (`resolveOwnLockRootFor`, #1730); none found → `process.cwd()` |

Pane 5 renders through `readCurrentStatus()` (`scripts/lib/agent-status.mjs`), never the cache file directly (#1342): its header line `agent-status · source=<live-map|rebuilt-log|stale-cache|absent> · at=<ISO|n/a>` says WHAT is on screen, in four states — `live-map` = every shown record came from the current-map cache and the cache was VERIFIED against the ledger, `rebuilt-log` = at least one record was taken from the append-only `agent-status.jsonl` because the cache was behind (or unreadable) for that agent, `stale-cache` = no ledger to check the cache against, `absent` = nothing on disk yet (no ledger, no cache), which stays unmarked because a fresh repo is not a degradation — plus a leading `⚠` and the words STALE / `DEGRADED: <reasons>` in TEXT whenever the view is not verified live. The render command is exported as `buildStatusPaneRenderCommand({ repoRoot })` so it can be executed once (outside the poll loop) in tests; without `repoRoot` it reads its own cwd.

`<state-dir>` is resolved via `resolveStateDir()` from `scripts/lib/platform.mjs` (`.claude/`, `.codex/`, or `.cursor/`). Pane 3 command is vcs-aware (`glab` for gitlab, `gh pr checks` for github, informational `echo` fallback when no CLI).

Debug Layout (4 panes — `--layout debug`, depends-on #562)

| Pane | Content | Command | |---|---|---| | 1 | **Shell** (operator scratch) | `bash` (interactive) | | 2 | Hypothesis-test runner | `npm test -- --watch <scope>` (or per-skill-config) | | 3 | Debug-artifact tail | `tail -F .orchestrator/debug/*.md` | | 4 | Diff-watch | `watch -n 2 'git diff --stat \| head -30'` |

Architecture

Three sibling modules under `scripts/lib/tmux-layout/`:

• `layouts.mjs` — `renderDefaultLayout()`, `renderDebugLayout()`, `detectVcsCommand()`.
• `vcs-detector.mjs` — `detectVcsCommand({config, projectRoot})` returns `{bin, args, fallback, blocking}` per vcs key.
• `tmux-shell.mjs` — `detectTmuxVersion()`, session-collision policy helpers.

Entry point: `scripts/tmux-layout.mjs` (parseArgs from `node:util`, dispatcher to layout functions).

PSA-003 Compliance

Session-collision policy: **refuse + `--force`**. The skill NEVER kills, overwrites, or modifies a tmux session it did not create unless the operator passes `--force` explicitly. See `.claude/rules/parallel-sessions.md` § PSA-003.

AUQ-001 Compliance

The coordinator chat (where AskUserQuestion fires) stays in the operator's