100 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
100 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
# Inter-Agent tmux Comms — Standard & Tooling
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Reliable, self-identifying messaging between Mosaic agents running in tmux panes
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(Claude Code / Codex / OpenCode REPLs), across hosts.
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## The addressing standard (required)
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Every cross-agent tmux message MUST begin with an addressing preamble:
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```
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[<src_host>:<src_session> -> <dst_host>:<dst_session>] <message>
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```
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- `host` = `hostname -s` of the machine the agent runs on (e.g. `web1`, `sb-it-mgr-0-lt`).
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- `session` = the tmux session name (e.g. `mos-claude`, `rev0-4`, `installer-1`).
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- **Replies FLIP the preamble**: the recipient answers with `[<dst> -> <src>] ...`.
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Why: a fresh or context-wiped agent always knows who sent a message and to whom.
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No ambiguity about origin or lane after a tmux wipe / session restart.
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Example exchange:
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```
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[web1:mos-claude -> sb-it-mgr-0-lt:installer-1] status on #29?
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[sb-it-mgr-0-lt:installer-1 -> web1:mos-claude] Q2 done, opening PR #34.
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```
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## The helper: `agent-send.sh`
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Prepends the preamble automatically (auto-detecting your own `host:session`) and
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delivers reliably to local OR remote panes.
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```bash
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# Local target (same host, default tmux server)
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agent-send.sh -s <dst_session> -m "message"
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# Local target on a Mosaic fleet socket
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agent-send.sh -L mosaic-factory -s '=coder0' -m "message"
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# Remote target (over ssh)
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agent-send.sh -H user@host -s <dst_session> -m "message"
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# From a file / stdin
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agent-send.sh -H user@host -s <dst_session> -f msg.txt
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echo "msg" | agent-send.sh -s <dst_session>
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```
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Key flags: `-L` named tmux socket · `-s` dst session (required) · `-H` ssh target for remote · `-n` dst
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hostname for the preamble (else auto-resolved) · `-m`/`-f`/stdin body · `-S`
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override source label · `-v` verbose · `-r N` Enter-flush attempts.
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For durable fleet use, prefer exact tmux targets such as `=coder0`. The helper
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normalizes exact session targets to pane-qualified targets internally so pane
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commands do not fall back to tmux's prefix matching behavior.
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## Named socket isolation
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Durable Mosaic fleets should use a dedicated tmux socket, for example:
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```bash
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tmux -L mosaic-factory ls
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agent-send.sh -L mosaic-factory -s '=coder0' -m "status?"
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send-message.sh -L mosaic-factory -t '=coder0' -m "raw pane message"
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```
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This keeps fleet operations away from the user's default tmux server. It is the
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safe rollout path on hosts that already have manual tmux sessions.
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## Why a helper exists (the submission gotcha)
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Pasting into an interactive REPL via raw `tmux send-keys` is unreliable: a
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trailing `Enter` is frequently swallowed and the message sits as an **unsubmitted
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draft** ("Press up to edit queued messages"). Over an `ssh -> nested tmux` hop the
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plain `Enter` keyname often does not register at all — `C-m` is needed.
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`send-message.sh` solves this for a **local** pane: bracketed-paste the body
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(so multi-line content doesn't submit early), pause, then send `Enter` as its own
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keystroke and flush with a second, verifying against a draft heuristic.
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`agent-send.sh` solves the **remote** case by _shipping `send-message.sh` over ssh_
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(`ssh host bash -s -- ... < send-message.sh`) and running it local to the target
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pane — so the reliable send-keys always happens on the pane's own host. The remote
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needs only `bash` + `tmux` + `base64`; **no mosaic install required there**. The
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message crosses the wire as base64 (`-b`) to avoid all shell-quoting hazards.
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## Files
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- `agent-send.sh` — inter-agent wrapper (preamble + local/remote dispatch).
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- `send-message.sh` — low-level reliable single-pane submitter (`-b` base64 input).
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- `test-send-message-socket.sh` — smoke test for named-socket isolation.
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## Distribution
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These live in the installed framework copy at
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`~/.config/mosaic/tools/tmux/`. `install.sh` rsyncs the framework **source tree**
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to each host, so to propagate permanently, land both files in the framework
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source repo and re-run the installer on each host. Until then, `agent-send.sh`
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already works against any reachable host because it ships `send-message.sh` over
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ssh per-send — no pre-install on the target host is needed to _send to_ it.
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