aiterm-mcp
by kitepon
README.md
> **From any MCP client, launch Claude Code, Codex CLI, Grok CLI, or Cursor Agent CLI through one harness API inside a persistent interactive TUI.**
<p align="center">
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kitepon/aiterm-mcp/main/.github/og.png" alt="Aiterm — a shared forest observatory where different intelligences work in one persistent execution space" width="100%">
<br>
<sub><em>This image represents different intelligences sharing one persistent workspace and advancing the same work from their own perspectives.</em></sub>
</p>
# Aiterm
[](https://github.com/kitepon/aiterm-mcp/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/aiterm-mcp)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/aiterm-mcp)
[](https://nodejs.org)
[](LICENSE)
> *(日本語: [README.ja.md](README.ja.md))*
> **Let your AI orchestrate other AIs.** One `agent_launch` call selects the execution harness separately from its model and hands you a persistent session to drive. Cursor can run GPT, Claude, or Grok while Cursor still owns the session, hooks, and transcript.
>
> **What it is:** one persistent MCP terminal your AI drives — and can launch other coding agents into. `ssh`, `docker exec`, a REPL, or another agent's TUI all nest inside that one terminal as just text you send in. The mechanism is deliberately plain — your MCP client drives the other agent's terminal turn by turn: no hidden protocol, no separate aiterm-owned shared-memory layer, no autonomous negotiation. Launched agents still read the normal project and harness memory/configuration that a direct CLI launch would use.
>
> **No human at a terminal required.** aiterm is driven programmatically over MCP, so an AI can launch and drive another agent with no one sitting in the terminal — from an orchestration loop, a CI step, or a cron job.
>
> *MCP = Model Context Protocol — the open standard that lets tools like Claude Code plug capabilities into an AI.*
Built and maintained by [Quo at kitepon.dev](https://kitepon.dev/en).
## Install in your MCP client
検出したClaude Code・Codex・Grok・Cursorのユーザー設定へ登録する標準入口:
```bash
npm install -g aiterm-mcp@latest
aiterm-setup --json
```
`aiterm-setup`は端末の依存準備、MCP経由の端末実行、登録と読戻しまでを一回で行う。
WindowsはwingetでPowerShell 7・Git for Windows・psmux、macOSはHomebrewでtmux、
Ubuntu／Debianはsudoとaptでtmuxを準備する。必要な公式package managerと実行権限は事前に必要。
他のLinuxでも既存tmuxを利用できるが、自動導入は`unsupported`で停止する。
既存設定の他サーバーを保持し、JSON設定は変更前の`.aiterm-backup`を残す。
結果の`status`は`ready`／`unsupported`／`failed`／`restart_required`。未検出のAIは`not_detected`とし、全AI未検出は成功にしない。
登録先はglobal packageのNodeとMCP入口の絶対パスで、npm一時cacheやsource checkoutは登録しない。
global packageは、npmの現在のglobal rootか、実行中のNodeの既定のglobal rootにあるものを指す。npmのprefixを利用者ごとの場所へ向けた環境でも、共通の場所へ導入したAitermを登録できる。
CodexとGrokは、登録が同じなら公式CLIで作り直さず、利用者が足した項目（待ち時間など）を保つ。
HomebrewのNodeは更新後も有効な`opt`のパスをMCP登録とCodexのhookに使う。旧版の登録でNode更新後に起動できなくなった場合も、更新後の`aiterm-setup --json`で修復できる。
更新後も同じ入口を実行し、MCP clientを再起動する。npm install自体はユーザー設定を変更しない。
公開JSONは`schema: "aiterm.setup-result.v1"`、全体の`status`、端末の`backend`、
AI別の`integrations`と選択機能の`codex_steer`を持つ。失敗時は`reason_code`を付け、終了コードはreadyなら0、再起動待ちは3、それ以外は2となる。
MCP登録を利用者や他の製品が管理する環境では、`aiterm-setup --hooks-only`でClaude Code・Cursorの親配送hookだけを登録できる。
依存準備、端末の実動作確認、MCP登録、Codex Steerには触れない。登録済みなら設定を書き換えない。
結果は`schema: "aiterm.parent-hooks-result.v1"`、全体の`status`（`ready`／`unsupported`／`failed`）、AI別の`hooks`（`configured`／`unchanged`／`not_detected`／`failed`）を持つ。終了コードはreadyなら0、それ以外は2となる。
### CodexへSteerを有効にする（macOS・Windows・Linux）
対話実行の`aiterm-setup`で「Aiterm単品」と「Steer付き」を選べます。無人導入では明示します。
```bash
aiterm-setup --json --codex-steer enable
```
公式キューと公式hookを使い、実行中の親には同じターンの次の推論へ回答を渡し、終了後は同じ会話を自動再開します。
Codexの起動プログラムと通常のstdio通信は変更しません。hookの実行ファイルが失われてもCodexの起動・応答は継続します。
終了後の再開は公式キューの監視周期に従い、約10秒かかる場合があります。
`aiterm-setup`は`CODEX_HOME/hooks.json`へ専用の`PostToolUse`と`Stop`を追加し、公式APIでその2件だけを承認・読戻しします。
他のhookや承認は保持します。選択と配送の所有記録は`~/.config/aiterm-mcp/codex-parent-hooks/`へ保存します。
同じ設定で再実行しても既存hookの順序を変えず、新たな再起動要求を発生させません。
WindowsのhookはPowerShell 7で実行します。更新後のsetupで、既存のAiterm hookコマンドも更新します。
既存の中継は新しいhookの確認後に解除し、保存していた`CODEX_CLI_PATH`を復元します。macOSの専用LaunchAgentも解除します。
移行前から動いているCodexがあれば`restart_required`（終了コード3）を返します。完全終了・再起動後に
`aiterm-setup --codex-steer status`で`ready`を確認してください。旧設定は移行を実行するまで維持します。
hookはAiterm自身の配送記録と本文が一致する回答だけを取り出し、利用者がキューに入れた入力は保持します。
取り出し中断や出力失敗は`parent_deliveries`に`unknown`と`CODEX_HOOK_DELIVERY_UNCONFIRMED`で現れ、本文を保存します。
自動再送はしません。長い回答はCodexの公式hook処理で抜粋と全文ファイルへの参照になる場合があります。
解除・hook未対応の旧版への巻き戻し前は`aiterm-setup --codex-steer disable`を実行してCodexを再起動してください。
公式Codex Desktop（macOS・Windows・Linux）の同梱CLIを先に使い、Desktopが無い端末では通常のCodex CLI（公式キュー・hookに対応する0.154以上）を使います。
When a Desktop update moves the bundled Codex CLI, Aiterm finds it again at use time and updates its configuration. If it cannot, it returns `CODEX_DESKTOP_BINARY_MOVED`; start Desktop and rerun setup.
Aiterm単品の公式キュー配送は従来どおり利用できます。
No clone or build is required. Each client launches the published package with:
```bash
npx -y aiterm-mcp
```
Requires **Node.js ≥ 18** and a supported multiplexer backend: **tmux** on POSIX or **psmux 3.3.8+** on native Windows. Driving Codex also requires the Codex CLI to be installed and authenticated.
### Claude Code
Add it for your user account:
```bash
claude mcp add --scope user --transport stdio aiterm -- npx -y aiterm-mcp
```
Or commit this as a project-scoped `.mcp.json`:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"aiterm": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "aiterm-mcp"]
}
}
}
```
### Claude Desktop
Add this server to `claude_desktop_config.json`:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"aiterm": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "aiterm-mcp"]
}
}
}
```
### Cursor
Save this as `.cursor/mcp.json` for the project, or `~/.cursor/mcp.json` globally:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"aiterm": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "aiterm-mcp"]
}
}
}
```
**Ownership boundary:** this repository owns installation, configuration, persistent PTYs,
agent sessions, state/schema/migrations, diagnostics, recovery, updates, and releases. It can
be cloned and operated on its own using this README and the [product docs](docs/00_overview.md).
[dotagents](https://github.com/kitepon/dotagents) optionally integrates Aiterm into the wider
factory—host wiring, cross-product compatibility, and aggregate acceptance—but does not control
Aiterm and is not a runtime dependency.
**Measured, not claimed:** in the recorded 203-test benchmark, a `pty_read` puts **~7.1× fewer tokens** in your context than the raw log — and the pass/fail verdict survives the fold. → [When to reach for it vs. the built-in shell](#when-to-reach-for-it-vs-the-built-in-shell)
18 tools: seven **PTY tools** — `pty_open` / `pty_send` / `pty_read` / `pty_key` / `pty_close` / `pty_list` / `pty_observe` — to open, drive, read, and observe one persistent terminal; one canonical **agent launcher**, `agent_launch`, which selects `claude-code`, `codex-cli`, `grok-cli`, or `cursor-cli` as the execution harness; three deprecated launcher aliases kept for migration; `agent_models`; `agent_configure`; `agent_auth`; `agent_approval`; `claude_turn`; `claude_approval`; and `diagnostics`. The backend is **tmux on POSIX and psmux on native Windows**, so sessions survive even if the MCP server or the AI client restarts.
**v0.28.0 separates the execution harness from the model.** The harness owns the agent loop, authentication, hooks, session, and transcript; `model` is what that harness runs. Cursor Agent CLI can therefore select GPT, Claude, or Grok without changing the completion contract from Cursor hooks to another harness's. Composer is one of Cursor's models, not a harness and not a Grok model: use `harness: "cursor-cli", model: "composer-2.5-fast"` (or `composer-2.5`). The old launcher tools are thin compatibility aliases over the same implementation.
**v0.25.2 stabilizes repeated in-place configuration changes, including Grok 4.6.** If Grok Build
1.0.3 redraws before its `/model` success notice can be observed, aiterm confirms the requested model/effort
from the persistent footer when that state was absent before the command. Callers do not retry, restart, or
round a failure into success; explicit `grok-4.6` launch and configuration still pass the live catalog check.
**v0.25.0 gives Grok and Composer the same shared launcher controls.** Their launchers now pass
`reasoning_effort`, enforce `write_scope: "read-only"` with `--sandbox read-only`, and support
in-place model/effort changes through `agent_configure`. Before creating a PTY, aiterm checks an
explicit Grok/Composer model—and Composer's default model—against the live `grok models` catalog.
An unavailable model fails visibly instead of letting the harness CLI fall back to another model.
Composer has since left the Grok CLI and is now one of Cursor's models.
**v0.24.3 forwards explicitly selected launcher environment variables from the current MCP process.**
Pass variable names in `env_vars`; aiterm reads their current values at launch and injects only the
present ones into that agent. This works even when the persistent multiplexer server predates the MCP
process, so a stale backend-server environment cannot erase per-seat identity or workflow variables.
It also recognizes Codex v0.147's optional `fast` token in long-lived model/effort footers, keeping
`agent_configure` available on an idle `medium fast ·` session without redraw, retry, or restart.
**v0.24.2 keeps in-place configuration working in long-lived Codex sessions.** Once the
startup header has scrolled out of the captured pane, aiterm recognizes Codex by its persistent
model/effort footer together with the input prompt. An idle session is therefore configured
directly; callers do not need to redraw the TUI, retry, or restart the agent.
**v0.24.0 adds in-place agent configuration.** `agent_configure` uses each harness's
native controls to change the model and/or reasoning effort of a running Codex or Claude
session while preserving its PTY, harness session, and conversation context.
**v0.23.0 adds a local, cross-harness portable fork.** Pass `throughline_source_session`
with a mission in `prompt` to any launcher, and aiterm asks the locally installed Throughline
for that session's read-only handoff context before creating the PTY. The exact returned memory
is prepended to the mission without moving or copying the source session's database ownership.
If Throughline is missing or returns an invalid/empty result, launch fails visibly with no clean
fallback. Omitting the field preserves the ordinary clean launch.
**v0.22.0 makes launched agents full project collaborators.** All four launchers now use the
same normal `HOME`, working tree, harness home, project/user/local configuration, MCP servers,
plugins, skills, permissions, trust, memory, and session history as a direct CLI launch. Aiterm
isolates only its own per-launch completion correlation state. Every child is told that it is a
sub-agent and receives its parent session, delegation depth, lineage, and
`delegation_allowed=true`; a child may delegate further, while the lineage makes reflexive
self-copy loops visible and avoidable. The historical `managed_completion` receipt field remains
for API compatibility and means “completion correlation enabled,” not environment isolation.
**v0.21.3 removes Codex Stop hooks from the completion path.** Codex completion and
final-message attribution now come from the root rollout transcript's durable
`task_complete.turn_id`, observed after the dispatch byte boundary. A broken or stale
hook executable can no longer strand `aiterm-wait`. v0.21.0 added explicit
`write_scope` declarations for external-agent launchers; v0.21.3 also fixes their
structured launch receipts so a supplied scope and its enforcement status are retained.
v0.20.3 prevents concurrent
correlated Claude/Fable sessions from turning one broken login into many competing login
flows. Every new Claude launch verifies the
harness-owned shared credential store before creating a PTY, while healthy credentials
remain reusable across concurrent and repeated sessions. The v0.20 line also distinguishes
a non-blocking `aiterm-wait --timeout 0` observation (`running`, exit 5) from a real timed-out
wait. The v0.19 line added the correlated Claude approval relay,
preserved multiline shell delivery, and extended factory diagnostics on native
Windows. As of v0.16/0.17 a parent agent never blocks on aiterm:
agent sessionへの送信は非ブロックdispatchであり、Codex／Claude Code親には回答本文を自動配送する。
それ以外の親はreceiptのprocess起動情報で`aiterm-wait`を実行する。
終了コードは`0`=done、`3`=timeout、`4`=closed、待機しない照会の`5`=runningを表す。
Factory diagnostics and the local runtime-error store collect only when
canonical dotagents config explicitly sets `collection.enabled: true`;
collection is off by default and performs no network I/O. It ships via
tag-triggered CI with npm provenance (OIDC Trusted Publishing); the GitHub
Release re-registers the Official MCP Registry entry.
**Status:** actively maintained · current public release **v0.57.2** · runs on Linux · WSL2 · macOS · native Windows (tmux on POSIX, the tmux-CLI-compatible [psmux](https://github.com/psmux/psmux) on native Windows — no WSL required) · MIT · see the [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md).
### Update and rollback
The npm package is the standalone distribution; dotagents is not involved. For a global install,
update with `aiterm-update`. It reinstalls the requested version into the same npm prefix, then reruns the new version's
`aiterm-setup --json` to re-register and re-verify.
```bash
aiterm-update # this machine to latest
aiterm-update --host rabbit --host win-test # this machine and SSH hosts to the same version
aiterm-update --version 0.39.0 --check # report current and target versions without changing anything
```
`--host` takes an `~/.ssh/config` alias or host name; hosts are not stored. The version is resolved once on the calling
machine so every host lands on the same version. Hosts older than `aiterm-update` get it through npm first. When the
npm prefix is not writable, the result is `permission_required` with the command to run as an administrator. `aiterm-mcp`
servers that were already running keep the old code until their MCP client restarts (`running_servers`); tmux/psmux
sessions survive. Versions without `aiterm-update` use `npm install -g aiterm-mcp@latest` and `aiterm-setup --json`. To roll back, install a known-good immutable version,
for example `npm install -g "aiterm-mcp@<known-good-version>"`, then restart the MCP client. setupを持つ版では再起動前に`aiterm-setup --json`を再実行する。For an `npx` configuration,
use `aiterm-mcp@latest` to update or replace it with `aiterm-mcp@<version>` to pin or roll back.
Check the [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md) for state/schema compatibility before downgrading. Maintainer
release and artifact rollback are specified in the product-owned [release procedure](docs/RELEASE.md).
## Why now
A lot of 2026's agent tooling is converging on orchestration: a lead model delegating a mechanical refactor to Codex, running Composer on a bulk edit while it reviews the diff, fanning one task across several agents to spare its own context window. All of those agents already live in a terminal. aiterm makes that terminal a first-class, MCP-native tool — so the model doing the orchestrating can **spawn and steer the others without a human wiring up panes.**
## Built with Codex and GPT-5.6 for OpenAI Build Week 2026
aiterm predates Build Week, so the event work is kept visible in dated commits. During the submission window (July 14–16, 2026), I extended it with safe serialized delivery for long PTY input, correlated operation IDs and bounded result recovery, machine-readable launch and idempotent close receipts, and a hardened readiness gate that prevents prompts from disappearing during TUI startup redraws. The public comparison from the pre-event release is [`v0.12.2...main`](https://github.com/kitepon/aiterm-mcp/compare/v0.12.2...main).
I used **Codex with GPT-5.6** as an engineering collaborator: it inspected the implementation, challenged the API and recovery contracts, generated focused regression cases, and helped verify race, security, timeout, and malformed-event paths. I reviewed the diffs and test evidence and retained the final product and architecture decisions. At that Build Week checkpoint, the regression suite contained 262 tests covering normal operation as well as failure and recovery behavior; current release receipts live in the [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md) and release ADRs.
ClaudeがAPIエラーや安全判定の拒否で終了した時は、Stop hookが発火しなくても次の`pty_send`を新しいturnとして扱う。現在のturn開始後のエラー記録だけを確認し、過去のエラーで実行中のturnを解除しない。上流の拒否はエラーのまま返す。
Codexがサービスの誤りや通信の失敗でturnを打ち切った時は、完了待ちが`done`ではなく`error`を返す（`aiterm-wait`はexit 7、親への配送は`outcome=error`）。`error`は応答の本文とURLを落とした1行の文で、Codexが記録した種類（`internal_server_error`・`http_connection_failed`など）は`error_kind`に載る。利用上限は今までどおり`rate_limited`。誤りで終わった後の席は、次の`pty_send`を新しいturnとして受ける。
## Two ways to use it
### 1. Drive SSH, containers, and REPLs in one persistent terminal — the primitive
This is the base, and it works with just the platform backend — tmux on POSIX or psmux on native Windows. `pty_open` grabs one local terminal; `ssh host`, `docker exec -it x bash`, or a REPL are just text you `pty_send` into it — **once**. Every command after that rides the same already-authenticated session. Session kind is never a tool-level distinction.
```
pty_open() → grab one local terminal
pty_send(id, "ssh 192.168.1.2") → authenticate once, inside that terminal
pty_send(id, "uname -a") → every later command rides the SAME session
pty_read(id, { wait: true }) → read the token-reduced output, completion detected
```
<sub>**Origin.** I built aiterm for exactly this. Driving my homelab from Claude Code one command at a time meant every SSH command became its own `connect → authenticate → disconnect`: re-typing the passphrase and one-time code each time, short-lived sessions piling up, and eventually my own defenses (`fail2ban`, `MaxStartups`/`MaxSessions`, account lockout) locking me out — the security meant to stop attackers ended up stopping me. Holding one authenticated session fixes all three at once. That pain is why the persistent terminal exists; launching whole other agents inside it is what it grew into.</sub>
### 2. Launch other coding agents into that terminal — the orchestration flagship
The same primitive hosts another agent's TUI. `agent_launch` starts a selected execution harness inside a fresh persistent terminal and returns a `session_id`. `harness` names the component that owns the agent loop, authentication, hooks, session, and transcript; `model` remains an independent choice. The launched process sees the same project and user environment as a direct CLI invocation: normal configuration, MCPs, plugins, skills, permissions, trust decisions, memory, and history are not copied, filtered, or replaced. Aiterm adds only completion correlation and a non-user sub-agent context containing `role=subagent`, the parent session, delegation depth, lineage, and `delegation_allowed=true`.
起動結果には正規`harness`を含む`aiterm.agent-launch-result.v1`が付き、旧`provider`は互換fieldとして残る。同じ`harness`はagent dispatch、`aiterm-wait`、`agent_configure`、`pty_list`にも載る。Codexは通常rollout、Grokは通常session event、Claudeはlaunch固有Stop hook、Cursorは通常agent transcriptの`turn_ended`を完了正本に使う。agentへの送信は`pty_send`だけで行い、Aitermが送る時点で子の状態を見て振り分ける。Claudeは画面の実行中表示ではなくStopまで残るturnの印で判定する。実行中のturnへは差し込み（`mode=agent_steer`、新しい`event_cursor`と配送は作らない）、それ以外は非ブロックdispatch（`mode=agent_dispatch`）で、harnessごとの完了境界を表す整数`event_cursor`を返す。Codex親は選択に応じて公式Steerまたはqueue、Claude Code親は公式非同期hookで本文を自動受信する。他の親は[`aiterm-wait`](#completion-push-for-parent-agents-aiterm-wait)を使う。CursorのsubmitはadapterがCLIのextended keyboard protocolへ変換し、送信本文がcomposerへ残る場合は明示errorにする。
Set `require_agent:true` on `pty_send` when the integration requires agent delivery. If the agent registration is missing, Aiterm refuses before sending any text and returns `AGENT_SESSION_REQUIRED` with an explicit unsent message. The default preserves ordinary PTY sends; combining it with `force:true` is rejected before sending.
`pty_send` to an agent session accepts an optional `preface`: one line placed before the text, so the message reads "`preface`, blank line, `text`". For a Claude Code session Aiterm enters the `preface` without the terminal's paste markers and pastes the blank line and the text in one paste. Claude Code wraps long pasted text in `<pasted_content>` and follows instructions inside it only where the user's own words outside the tags ask it to, so this keeps an integration's header (who the message is from) outside the wrapper. For Codex, Grok and Cursor sessions the three parts are joined and pasted as before. The `preface` must be a single line of at most 200 characters with no control characters, must not start with a symbol or whitespace, and must not contain `@`; otherwise Aiterm returns `AGENT_PREFACE_INVALID` and "文字列は送信していません。" before sending anything. It cannot be used with ordinary PTY sends, `force:true`, or `remote`.
Overlapping `pty_send` calls to the same agent session are handled one at a time. A later call picks its route only after the earlier one has been sent, so the result matches calls made in sequence (a call that overlaps the first send to a freshly started Claude Code session returns `mode=agent_steer`). It returns later by however long the earlier call waits for the session to accept input. If its turn does not come within the limit (60 seconds on POSIX, 180 seconds on Windows), Aiterm refuses before sending any text and returns `AGENT_SEND_BUSY` with an explicit unsent message. A lock left by a process that exited mid-send is cleared by the next send.
`agent_launch` and `pty_send` (to an agent session) accept an optional `image`: an array of absolute paths to image files (png/jpg/jpeg/gif/webp). Aiterm appends an attachment block to the prompt, and every harness opens the path with its own file-reading tool and sees the image; the caller never learns harness-specific attachment tricks. Invalid paths are rejected before anything is sent.
`agent_launch` accepts an optional `write_scope`: either `"read-only"` or a human-readable description of writable paths. Codex/Grok use `--sandbox read-only`; Cursor uses its official read-only `--mode ask`. A path description remains declaration-only because these CLI launch surfaces provide no equivalent path allowlist flag.
Grokの無人起動は公式`--trust`で指定された作業フォルダを信頼登録し、確認画面を完了してから初回promptを送る。この登録はGrok CLIの信頼ストアへ保存され、フォルダ内のhook・MCP・LSPにも適用される。read-only sandboxの制限は維持する。画面に残る完了済みhookの結果は実行中と判定しない。
Grokで終了済みターンのweekly-limitパネルが残っている場合、次の通常`pty_send`が`Shift+X`で一度閉じ、入力受付を確認して今回の本文を送る。同じsessionと会話を保ち、receiptの`pane_input_recovery`に`grok_rate_limit_dialog_dismissed`を記録する。ターン未終了・harness不在は`GROK_RATE_LIMIT_RECOVERY_BLOCKED`、解除後の入力受付失敗は`GROK_RATE_LIMIT_RECOVERY_FAILED`となり、本文は未送信。上限の継続は`rate_limited`として返し、過去promptは再送しない。Grokの上限観測には現在の画面だけを使う。Claude Codeの上限は現在の画面の入力欄の下に出る知らせで、Codexの上限はturnを終えた記録（`task_complete`の`codex_error_info: "usage_limit_exceeded"`）で見分ける。pane logや道具の出力に残る上限の文字では判定しない。
When a Cursor pre-submit hook (`beforeSubmitPrompt`, or a Claude Code `UserPromptSubmit` hook that Cursor loads for compatibility) rejects the prompt, Cursor drops it and no turn or completion follows. Aiterm recognizes the rejection: an initial prompt returns `initial_prompt=failed`, and `pty_send` returns an error instead of a success receipt, both with `USER_HOOK_BLOCKED` and the hook's output. A rejection that comes after the 3-second start check is reported by the completion wait as `outcome=error` (`aiterm-wait` exit 7).
Grokがread-only sandboxの適用を拒否した場合、prompt送信時に`GROK_SANDBOX_STARTUP_FAILED`とCLIの原因を返す。hookパスのシンボリックリンクなど、CLIが示した原因を設定の管理元で修正し、対象sessionを`pty_close`して起動し直す。Aitermはsandboxを解除したりhookをコピーしたりしない。
この判定はGrok専用アダプターが所有する。初回prompt付きの`agent_launch`と通常の`pty_send`で、入力受付待ち中に拒否を検出すると未送信のエラーを返す。promptなし・`trust_project`指定なしの起動応答は入力受付を保証しない。`trust_project:true`では入力受付まで確認し、`startup.status`を返す。Grokのprivacy notice起動設定も同アダプターが所有する。実装の責務分担は[DESIGN](docs/DESIGN.md#failure-and-recovery)を参照。
Codex 0.155.1の「Approaching rate limits」model切替dialogは、通常の`pty_send`と`agent_configure`で同じsessionのまま一時的な**2. Keep current model**だけを選ぶ。入力受付を再確認してから本文または設定変更を進め、dispatch receiptの`pane_input_recovery`には`codex_rate_limit_model_switch_kept_current`を記録する。model切替と今後の表示抑止は選ばない。入力受付へ戻らなければ`CODEX_RATE_LIMIT_MODEL_SWITCH_RECOVERY_FAILED`となり、本文・設定変更は未送信。このdialogは`agent_approval`の対象ではなく、inspectは`reason="rate_limit_model_switch"`だけを返し、prompt digestとchoicesを出さない。
For a correlated Claude turn stopped at `Do you want to proceed?`, use `claude_approval(action: "inspect", ...)` to capture the active operation and SHA-256 screen digest, review the displayed command, then call `respond` with that exact digest and either `approve_once` or `deny`. The relay rechecks the operation and screen under the send lock, never exposes arbitrary input or permanent approval, keeps the active marker intact, and records a prompt-free owner-only receipt. `pty_send(force: true)` does not bypass this boundary.
```text
agent_launch({ harness: "codex-cli", session_name: "codex1", cwd: "/repo",
prompt: "port test/legacy.py to vitest",
model: "gpt-5.6-sol", reasoning_effort: "high",
write_scope: "test/ only; no commit" })
→ { session_id: "codex1", … } # Codex now live in a persistent terminal
pty_read("codex1", { screen: true }) → read what it's doing (token-reduced)
pty_send("codex1", "also fix the imports it broke")
→ non-blocking dispatch; receipt carries event_cursor
# Codex／Claude Code親には回答が自動で届く。それ以外の親:
$ aiterm-wait --session codex1 --cursor <event_cursor> # never in the parent's foreground; exit 0=done, 3=timeout (not done), 4=closed, 7=error (turn aborted by an API error)
pty_read("codex1", { agent_transcript: true }) → collect the full answer
```
The canonical harness choices are:
| `harness` | Launches | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `claude-code` | Claude Code CLI | Claude model and effort controls; correlated Stop hook |
| `codex-cli` | Codex CLI | OpenAI model and effort controls; durable rollout completion |
| `grok-cli` | Grok Build CLI | Grok model selected with `model`; live catalog check |
| `cursor-cli` | Cursor Agent CLI | GPT, Claude, Grok, or another Cursor catalog model; normal transcript completion |
A new terminal gets the environment of the MCP process that opened it (since 0.50.0, ADR 0081).
Values from another caller that happened to start the tmux server first no longer appear in it.
`AITERM_SESSION_ID` and `AITERM_AGENT_*` are not inherited; aiterm sets them per terminal. If a harness
passes only a few variables to its MCP process, the terminal has only those (Codex passes `HOME`, `PATH`,
`SHELL`, and `TERM` by default; forward more with `env_vars` under `[mcp_servers.aiterm]`).
`env_vars` is an allowlist of environment-variable **names**, not a name/value map. At launch,
aiterm reads each valid name from its current MCP process, shell-quotes present values, and places
them on that one harness launch command. Missing names are omitted; invalid shell variable names
fail before session creation. Only the named values can be read back with `env_keys` in `pty_list`.
Values do not enter the MCP tool arguments, but they are delivered through the
PTY launch command and retained in aiterm's per-session `.lastcmd`; the launched harness and other
processes with access to the same OS user may read them. Use this for non-secret seat identity and
workflow variables, not as a secret transport.
The selected harness CLI must be installed and authenticated. Aiterm resolves `CLAUDE_BIN` / `CODEX_BIN` / `GROK_BIN` / `CURSOR_AGENT_BIN`, then the documented default binary, then `PATH`. Cursor resolution deliberately uses `cursor-agent`, never the ambiguous `agent` name. Claude and Cursor authentication are checked before a PTY exists, so a failed preflight leaves no session. All harnesses use their normal harness-owned credential and configuration stores in place.
For Grok, Aiterm does not lock, inspect, or modify the credential. A non-empty inherited
`GROK_AUTH_PATH` must be absolute and exist; Aiterm passes it unchanged to Grok. Grok owns its
contents, permissions, and link handling. Absence of the default auth file is accepted only when
`XAI_API_KEY` is set.
Portable fork is optional. When `throughline_source_session` is present, `prompt` is the required
new mission and `launch_operation_id` cannot be combined with it. aiterm resolves Throughline via
`THROUGHLINE_BIN` and then `PATH`, runs `throughline handoff-context --session <id> --json`, and
places its returned context before a fixed separator and the mission. This route requires
`throughline >= 0.9.0`; `throughline_supplement_file` requires Throughline 0.10.8 or later. Aiterm appends
`--supplement-file <path>` without reading or interpreting the file. Throughline owns its project
binding, validation, and shared context budget. The route reads source memory without changing database session
ownership. No Throughline dependency is needed when the field is omitted.
Harness adapters translate `model` and `reasoning_effort` into each CLI's public controls. Explicit Grok models are checked against `grok models`; Cursor combines a base model such as `gpt-5.6-luna` with a separate effort such as `high`, checks the resulting current catalog ID, and uses Cursor's standard model picker for in-session changes. Missing models are errors, with no cache, retry, or fallback. Claude adds only launch-local Stop-hook settings, Codex reads its normal rollout store, Grok reads its normal session event/history, and Cursor binds its normal agent transcript with the launch ID. Pass an absolute `cwd`; `~` is not expanded.
There is no hidden protocol between agents: every launched harness is another user-visible persistent terminal session. The MCP client drives that TUI with ordinary PTY operations, and a human can attach to watch or take over.
## Demo
<p align="center">
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kitepon/aiterm-mcp/main/.github/demo.gif" alt="aiterm-mcp demo: pty_open, a token-reduced grep read, then a nested Python REPL — all in one persistent session" width="100%">
</p>
Real captured output — each block below was just run through aiterm in this repo; the numbers, the elision marker, and every `is_complete` verdict are the tool's own, not mocked. The bracketed meta line is what `pty_read` appends; its labels are Japanese in the actual output, translated here for readability (the [Japanese README](README.ja.md) shows them verbatim).
A long output folded head+tail — the middle is elided by the reducer, not by me (166 → 56 tokens):
```text
→ pty_send("demo", "seq 1 150")
→ pty_read("demo", { wait: true })
← 1
2
3
⋮ (head runs to line 29 — abbreviated in this README)
… ⟨102 lines elided · full=true, or line_range="A:B"⟩ … ← the tool's own marker
⋮ (tail resumes at line 132 — abbreviated in this README)
149
150
[aiterm demo: 51 lines / ~56 tok (raw 152 lines / ~166 tok); 102 lines hidden] [is_complete=True via quiescent]
```
A `grep` comes back exactly as grep printed it while it stays within rtk's caps (200 lines in all, 25 per file). Past a cap, the per-command reducer groups the hits by file and says what it left out:
```text
→ pty_send("demo", "grep -rn session src/")
→ pty_read("demo", { wait: true, rtk: true })
← 550 matches in 23 files:
src/agent-resolver.ts:211:// …(long lines keep ~80 chars around the pattern)
…
src/remote.ts:268:session_id: session, agent_transcript: true, raw: true,
+4 more in src/remote.ts
+7 more files
[aiterm demo: rtk:grep applied / ~4286 tok (raw ~12546 tok)] [is_complete=True via quiescent]
```
Nesting is just text you send in — here a Python REPL *inside* the same PTY (an `ssh host`, a `docker exec -it … bash`, or a launched coding-agent TUI nests exactly the same way):
```text
→ pty_send("demo", "python3")
→ pty_read("demo", { until: ">>>" }) # nested prompt = "the inner shell is ready"
→ pty_send("demo", "print(sum(range(1_000_000)))")
→ pty_read("demo", { wait: true, until: ">>>" })
← 499999500000 [is_complete=True via until]
```
The only edits to the captures above are the two `⋮` lines (a long head/tail run abbreviated for the README) and one over-long grep line truncated to fit — the `⟨…⟩` marker, the token counts, and every `is_complete` verdict are exactly what the tool printed. (Use `until: ">>>"` without a trailing space — the captured prompt is trimmed, so `">>> "` would miss and fall through to `timeout`.) While nested, pass `until` (the inner prompt) or `mark: true`, because quiescence cannot fire there by design — see [Completion detection](#completion-detection-5-layers) and [Known constraints](#known-constraints-by-design-not-bugs). A human can `attach` to the same multiplexer backend and watch any of this live (see [A human can watch](#a-human-can-watch)).
## First run (≈60 seconds)
`aiterm-setup --json`が`ready`になったら、利用するMCP clientを再起動して接続を確認する。Claude Codeの場合:
```bash
/mcp # aiterm should show as connected, exposing 18 tools
```
Your first session — four calls, one persistent terminal:
```text
pty_open() → { session_id: "t1", attach: "<platform attach command>" }
pty_send("t1", "echo hello") → command sent into the PTY
pty_read("t1", { wait: true }) → "hello" (token-reduced, completion detected)
pty_close("t1") → terminal released
```
`pty_close` is idempotent and returns a structured `closed` / `already_closed`
receipt, so durable callers can retry the same `session_id` after losing the MCP response.
On Windows, closing a Claude Code session first asks Claude Code to exit on its own (Ctrl-C twice, then a wait of up to 4 seconds)
so that its `SessionEnd` hooks run; psmux stops a session without the hangup signal that tmux sends on POSIX. The session is stopped
afterwards either way.
That's it. The terminal in `t1` is real and persistent — `ssh`, `docker exec`, a REPL, or a launched agent's TUI are just things that live inside it. To launch a worker agent instead, one call does it: `agent_launch({ harness: "codex-cli" })` returns a `session_id` you drive with the same `pty_read` / `pty_send`.
**Prefer a global install, or a different client?**
```bash
# install globally, then register the command name
npm i -g aiterm-mcp
claude mcp add --scope user --transport stdio aiterm -- aiterm-mcp
```
This registers it in `~/.claude.json`; you'll get an approval prompt the first time. For client-specific JSON, see [Install in your MCP client](#install-in-your-mcp-client).
## Headless: no human at the terminal
Because an MCP client drives aiterm programmatically over stdio, everything above can run with **nobody sitting at the terminal**. Any MCP-capable orchestrator can call `agent_launch` — including a harness matching itself — then `pty_read` the result and act on it unattended. That makes aiterm a fit for exactly the places a human-driven terminal isn't:
- **Multi-agent orchestration** — an orchestrator hands sub-tasks to Claude Code / Codex / Grok / Cursor harnesses, each in its own persistent session, and reads them all back. Composer is one of the models Cursor selects (`composer-2.5-fast`).
- **CI** — a job step can spin up an agent, drive it, and tear it down.
- **cron** — a scheduled run can launch an agent and collect its output.
The terminal is real and shared, so a human *can* jump in ([A human can watch](#a-human-can-watch)) — but nothing requires one to.
## How it works
```mermaid
flowchart LR
AI["AI / MCP client<br/>(the orchestrator)"] -->|"pty_send · pty_observe · agent_launch · agent_models · agent_configure · agent_auth · agent_approval · claude_turn · claude_approval<br/>legacy launcher aliases · diagnostics"| S["aiterm-mcp<br/>stdio MCP · 18 tools"]
S -->|"pty_read<br/>token-reduced"| AI
S -->|"tmux / psmux<br/>send · capture"| P["persistent PTYs<br/>survive restarts"]
P -->|"ssh · docker · repl"| R["nested<br/>remote · container · REPL"]
P -->|"launches a fresh PTY per agent"| A["another coding-agent harness<br/>Claude Code · Codex CLI · Grok CLI · Cursor CLI"]
```
One PTY is the only primitive. Everything else — SSH, containers, REPLs, and the launched agent TUIs — is just something interactive running inside a persistent terminal, driven with the same `pty_send` / `pty_read`. Each launcher opens its own fresh PTY. Because the PTYs live in tmux on POSIX or psmux on native Windows, sessions outlive the MCP server and the AI client.
## When to reach for it vs. the built-in shell
Your MCP client already has a shell tool, and it wins on some jobs. aiterm wins on others. We measured both on the same commands in this repo, counting tokens the same way on each side (characters ÷ 4, aiterm's own estimator), so the comparison is apples-to-apples.
Start with the built-in tool for a light one-shot. `git log --oneline -5` is one round-trip; aiterm is two — `pty_send` then `pty_read` — and that second round-trip costs more than a light command saves (~7 s vs ~13 s).
The second round-trip pays for itself once the output runs long, or the state has to outlive the call.
| Command | Built-in shell | aiterm | Verdict |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `git log --oneline -5` | 1 call, ~7 s | 2 calls, ~13 s | **shell** (fewer round-trips) |
| `npm test` (203 tests) | ~4,292 tok | ~607 tok | **aiterm** (~7.1× fewer, verdict kept) |
| `find node_modules -type f` | ~500 tok¹ | ~456 tok | tokens tie; aiterm keeps head and tail + `line_range` |
| `grep -rn "session" src/` | ~2,989 tok | ~1,096 tok | **aiterm** (~2.7×; long lines get clipped²) |
In the recorded 203-test benchmark the reduction is real and safe. The built-in tool drops the whole 223-line log — ~4,292 tokens — into context. aiterm folds its own capture of the run down to ~607:
```text
[aiterm demo: 51 行 / ~607 tok (raw 223 行 / ~4292 tok); 172 行 hidden] [is_complete=True via mark]
```
<sub>`行` = lines; the meta line is quoted verbatim from aiterm's real output.</sub>
That is about **7.1× fewer** tokens reaching the model, and the verdict survives the fold: the tail still carries `ℹ tests 203 / ℹ pass 203 / ℹ fail 0`. The reduction drops the noise and keeps the line you opened the log for. Wall-clock effectively ties, so on a run this long the extra round-trip is a small part of the total.
aiterm also holds state across calls. The built-in tool runs each call in a fresh shell, so cwd resets between calls and the environment doesn't carry. Send `cd /tmp && export BENCH_VAR=hello123`, then read it back in a second, separate call:
```text
built-in shell → var= # empty; env dropped, cwd back at project root
aiterm → cwd=/tmp var=hello123 # one persistent PTY holds both
```
`cd` then set env then build, `ssh` once then run ten commands on the authenticated session, drive a live REPL or a launched agent's TUI turn by turn — one persistent PTY holds all of it. Reach for aiterm when the terminal has to remember something.
<sub>¹ Today's harness auto-offloads the ~192 KB dump to a file and previews only a ~2 KB head, so the token counts nearly tie; aiterm reports the accurate line count and lets `line_range="A:B"` pull any slice later, head or tail. ² The `rtk` grep reducer returns grep's output unchanged while it fits rtk's caps (200 lines, 25 per file). Past a cap it groups by file, keeps ~80 chars of each long line around the pattern, and folds the rest into `+N more in <file>` / `+N more files`; use the built-in tool when you need every full line of a large search.</sub>
## vs. the alternatives
aiterm sits at the intersection of two families: terminal-driving MCP servers, and the newer "agents talk to each other through a shared terminal" idea (see [Where aiterm fits](#where-aiterm-fits)). Here's how the axes line up — honestly, including where the others are strong.
| | **aiterm-mcp** | one-shot shell MCP<br/>(e.g. `mcp-server-commands`) | terminal / SSH / tmux MCPs<br/>(e.g. `iterm-mcp`, `ssh-mcp`, `tmux-mcp`) | shared-tmux agent-to-agent<br/>(e.g. `smux`) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Persistent session | ✅ tmux / psmux, survives restarts | ❌ new shell every call | ⚠️ varies | ✅ tmux |
| SSH / containers / REPLs | nest with one `pty_send` | reconnect every command | ⚠️ often separate tools | ✅ tmux (human drives) |
| Launch another agent in one call | ✅ `agent_launch(harness=…)` | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ agents join a human-run tmux via a CLI + skills |
| Headless (no human at a tmux) | ✅ MCP-driven, programmatic | ✅ | ⚠️ varies | ❌ built around a human in the tmux |
| MCP-native (any MCP client) | ✅ one `claude mcp add` | ✅ | ✅ (they are MCPs) | ❌ tmux config + CLI + Agent Skills |
| Token-reduced reads | ✅ per-command reducers | ❌ raw output | ⚠️ rarely | ❌ raw tmux |
| Completion detection | 5-layer: exit / `mark` / `until` / quiescence / timeout | n/a (blocks per call) | ⚠️ prompt-match, fragile | ❌ agent reads the pane |
| Human can co-drive | ✅ shared socket / namespace (`attach`) | ❌ | ⚠️ varies | ✅ (its core model) |
## Where aiterm fits
"AIs talking to each other through a shared terminal" is becoming its own category — and it's a genuinely good idea. The terminal is a universal interface every coding agent already speaks, so no bespoke agent-to-agent protocol is needed; the shell *is* the shared surface. `smux` (by @shawn_pana) popularized this framing as a one-command shared tmux environment a human sets up, that agents then join via a `tmux-bridge` CLI and Agent Skills. It's good at the in-the-loop, shared-pane workflow it's built for, and it has real traction.
aiterm takes the same core insight — the terminal as the meeting point — and makes three deliberate, different choices:
1. **Headless by construction.** Because aiterm is driven programmatically over MCP, an AI can launch and drive another agent with *no human sitting in the tmux* — from an orchestration loop, a CI step, or a cron job. The shared-tmux tools lead with a human at the keyboard (their docs center on interactive pane navigation), so unattended operation isn't their native mode; aiterm's is.
2. **MCP-native, not a workflow you adopt.** aiterm is a stdio MCP server: one `claude mcp add` line and it works as structured tools in any MCP client that speaks stdio (tested in Claude Code; Cursor, Cline, and Claude Desktop speak the same protocol and should work the same way). It doesn't ask you to adopt a tmux config, learn pane navigation, or install skills into your setup — the client already knows how to call tools.
3. **Launching an agent is one tool call — an orchestration primitive.** `agent_launch({ harness: "codex-cli" })` spawns Codex in a persistent terminal and returns a session you drive immediately. You don't arrange panes or paste between them by hand; the launch, the steering, and the reads are all tool calls the orchestrating model can make on its own.
On top of that sits a productized layer a raw tmux bridge doesn't have: **token-reduced reads** and **5-layer completion detection**. None of this makes the human-in-the-tmux model wrong — it's a different, complementary bet on where the human is standing.
## Tools
### Session observation and startup
`pty_open` defaults to bash on POSIX and PowerShell 7 on Windows. Ordinary terminals and agents receive
`AITERM_SESSION_ID`. A terminal inherits the environment of the MCP process that opened it. Pass names in `env_vars` to register them on the session.
`pty_list({ env_keys: ["JOB_OWNER"] })` returns only registered non-secret values in `environment`; unregistered and missing values are null.
Its `aiterm.pty-list-result.v1` receipt contains `observed_at` and `sessions`, whose entries include `session_id`,
`current_command`, `attached`, `width`, `height`, `harness`, and `environment`. Existing text remains available.
`pty_observe({ session_id, cursor? })` returns `aiterm.pty-observe-result.v1` with `exists`, `observed_at`, `state`
(busy/idle/blocked/dead/missing/unknown), `reason`, `pane_alive`, and `harness_alive`. `pane_process` and `harness_process`
are separate identities. `process_identity` selects the harness for agents, or the unique child process-group leader
for an ordinary terminal, using the pane when no child leader exists. An identity contains `pid`, `process_group_id`,
`started_identity`, and `argv_digest`; unresolved identities are null. Windows PIDs are native and its process-group field
is null. Start identity uses POSIX `LC_ALL=C ps lstart` or Windows UTC ISO milliseconds; the argv digest is SHA-256 hex.
Pass `activity.cursor` into the next observation to obtain `output_changed` and `cpu_delta_seconds`; first observations and
recreated panes return null differences. `cpu_seconds` is the current subtree's cumulative CPU. If a process disappeared
between observations, the delta covers only observed increments and `cpu_delta_complete` is false.
`background_cpu_seconds`, `background_cpu_delta_seconds`, and `background_cpu_delta_complete` apply the same measurement
only to descendants created at least 60 seconds after the pane, excluding startup MCP processes. `token_hint` is the latest
displayed token count or null. Callers do not need raw argv or pane-text parsing.
Two fields tell a caller what closing an agent session would lose. `activity.post_startup_process_count` is the number of
processes in the session that did not exist when `agent_launch` finished startup (before the first prompt), so background work
started in the first minute is counted too. Two kinds of process are not counted: Codex's own `codex-code-mode-host` helper, and
the direct children of an `mcp-lazy` relay (the MCP server it starts on first use and its wake predicate). What runs below them
is counted. A startup process that the harness restarted (a process with the same parent and the same arguments as a startup
process that has exited, such as a reconnected MCP server) is not counted either, and neither are the processes Aiterm itself
starts to read the process table (`ps`, or PowerShell and its console host on Windows). `pending_child_deliveries`
is the number of sub-agent results this session is still waiting for as a parent, whoever the caller is. Both are null when
Aiterm cannot tell (ordinary terminals, agents launched by 0.48.0 or earlier for the process count, or an unresolved harness
process), and may be absent when a remote host runs an older Aiterm. Treat null or absent as unknown, not as zero.
Another product that needs to deliver an answer to a Codex parent can ask Aiterm with `aiterm-parent-delivery` instead of registering its own hooks.
Aiterm's registered hooks and the official queue deliver it. `codex verify --thread <uuid>` checks the parent and reports configuration in `steer`
(`enabled`: the hooks are registered and trusted and the parent started after they were installed; `disabled`: official queue only, so the text arrives
after the turn ends). `codex submit --thread <uuid> --delivery <uuid> --text-file <file|->` hands the text over once and returns the queue's acceptance id.
`codex state --thread <uuid> --delivery <uuid>` reports how it arrived (`hook:"emitted"` with `turn_id`: the hook put the text into that turn; `queued`:
whether it is still in the official queue). Each result is one JSON line; failures are `{ok:false, code, message, outcome_unknown}` with exit 1, and a
reused delivery id is refused with `PARENT_DELIVERY_DUPLICATE`. Only Codex parents are supported. `aiterm-setup` records the command's location in
`~/.config/aiterm-mcp/delivery-provider.json`. Node products can call it through `aiterm-steer-delivery` (0.3.0 or later), for example
`submitCodexParentAnswerViaAiterm`.
When Aiterm is registered behind a relay that starts the MCP server only on first use, a sleeping server cannot take over the
deliveries of an owner that has exited. `aiterm-delivery-wake --parent <codex|claude|cursor>` answers whether one needs to start:
exit 0 when an exited owner still holds a delivery for that parent kind, exit 1 otherwise, exit 2 for bad arguments. It prints
nothing, starts no child process, and marks the delivery so that only one of the seats running the same check starts its server
(the mark is retaken after 30 seconds if nobody took the delivery over). For `mcp-lazy`, pass it as the wake predicate with the
same environment as the server:
`MCP_LAZY_WAKE_COMMAND='["/absolute/path/to/node","/absolute/path/to/aiterm-mcp/dist/delivery-wake-cli.js","--parent","claude"]'`.
Owner start times are checked through `/proc` on Linux; elsewhere an existing PID is treated as a live owner.
`aiterm-setup` does not rewrite a registration that wraps the same server in the `mcp-lazy` relay. When the registered command is an executable whose name starts with `mcp-lazy` and its args are the direct registration's command followed by its args (relay flags before `--` are allowed), the Claude Code, Codex, Grok, and Cursor registrations are left as they are. If the wrapped server path differs, setup writes the direct registration.
`agent_launch({ harness, cwd, trust_project: true })` completes known workspace, project-hook, and project-MCP startup
consent even without a prompt, then verifies input readiness and harness liveness before returning `startup.status="ready"`.
For Claude Code's first-run text-style menu, it confirms the item already selected on screen before continuing startup.
If the CLI then requests an account login method, the launch reports `vendor_onboarding_required`; complete that choice in the official interactive Claude Code CLI.
The input-readiness wait is 30 seconds. Only when it expires while the agent has not drawn anything yet (a busy host), the launch
waits up to 50 seconds from startup. If nothing is drawn by then, it still returns `initial_prompt=not_sent` and keeps the session.
A prompt-free launch without this option retains `startup.status="not_checked"`. `initial_prompt.status` distinguishes
`not_requested`, `not_sent`, `submitted_unconfirmed`, and `started`. Failure responses retain structured session information.
WindowsのCodexもhook確認を認識し、npm shim経由の起動を一つのharnessとして識別する。
`submitted_unconfirmed` (the prompt left the composer, but the turn start was not observed within the confirmation window) is
not a tool error: `isError` is not set, the text carries an unconfirmed-start note, the session is alive and the parent
delivery stays registered. Do not resend an unconfirmed prompt or relaunch the agent; observe with `pty_observe` or wait
using its returned cursor.
For a live Codex approval, inspect with `agent_approval({ action: "inspect", session_id })`, review `prompt` and `choices`,
then respond with `observed_prompt_digest` and `approval_choice` (`approve_once` or `deny`). Unknown or changed dialogs return
`status="blocked"` and `isError:true` without sending input. Permanent approval is not exposed. Correlated Claude approvals
continue to use `claude_approval`.
| Tool | Role | Key args |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `pty_open` | Open one terminal and return a `session_id` | `name?`, `shell?`, `env_vars?` |
| `pty_send` | Send text. On an agent session Aiterm picks the route when it sends: if the child's turn is running, it steers the text into that turn (`agent_steer`); otherwise it is a non-blocking **dispatch** returning an `event_cursor` (`agent_dispatch`). Steering fails when Grok does not queue the text or Cursor leaves it in the composer | `session_id`, `text`, `enter=true`, `mark`, `force`, `require_agent=false`, `preface`, `rtk`, `raw` |
| `pty_read` | Read output, token-reduced (incremental by default) | `session_id`, `wait`, `until`, `until_regex`, `timeout`, `screen`, `full`, `lines`, `line_range`, `raw`, `rtk`, `agent_transcript`, `operation_id` |
| `pty_key` | Send a control key | `session_id`, `key` (`C-c`/`Enter`/`Up`…) |
| `pty_close` | Close idempotently; return `closed` / `already_closed` | `session_id` |
| `pty_list` | Text and structured session list, with explicitly requested non-secret environment values | `env_keys?` |
| `pty_observe` | Pane/harness liveness, native process identity, state, and activity | `session_id`, `cursor?` |
| `agent_launch` | Canonical agent launch; harness and model are independent | `harness`, `prompt?`, `model?`, `reasoning_effort?`, `cwd?`, `write_scope?`, `trust_project?`, `env_vars?`, `throughline_source_session?`, `throughline_supplement_file?` |
| `agent_auth` | 公式CLIの認証を開始・確認・取消し、公式URL・device code・入力待ちを返す | `harness`, `action`, `session_id?`, `cwd?`, `env_vars?`, `relogin?` |
| `agent_models` | List the models and reasoning efforts a harness offers now, read from that harness's own catalog without sending a prompt | `harness`, `cwd?`, `include_hidden?` |
| `agent_approval` | Inspect a Codex approval and submit a one-time approval or denial | `action`, `session_id`, `approval_choice?`, `observed_prompt_digest?` |
| `claude_agent` / `codex_agent` / `grok_agent` | Deprecated compatibility aliases (`composer_agent` was removed in 0.41.0; run Composer with `agent_launch` on `cursor-cli`) | legacy launcher arguments |
| `agent_configure` | Change model/effort in a running Claude, Codex, Grok, or Cursor session without restarting it | `session_id`, `model?`, `reasoning_effort?` |
| `claude_turn` | Issue (dispatch-only) or recover one correlated Claude operation | `action`, `session_id`, `operation_id`, `text?` |
| `claude_approval` | Inspect or answer the current correlated Claude approval prompt | `action`, `session_id`, `operation_id?`, `approval_choice?`, `observed_prompt_digest?` |
| `diagnostics` | Read-only factory readiness as machine-readable JSON | (none) |
`diagnostics` never starts a PTY or agent. It reports package version, MCP call readiness, a read-only PTY-list summary, bounded runtime-error-store status, and optional vendor-launcher availability. It deliberately excludes paths, environment values, credentials, command text, PTY output, and raw logs; normal unset optional dependencies are `not_applicable`, while an indeterminate probe is `unverified`.
The result carries two text items. The first is the factory JSON described above (`aiterm-mcp.factory-diagnostics.v1`), whose fields are fixed. The second reports the parent-delivery hooks (`aiterm-mcp.parent-delivery-diagnostics.v1`): a `status` (`ready` / `setup_required` / `not_applicable` / `unverified`) and `reason_code` for Claude Code and Cursor, plus `caller_status` for the calling client. When `caller_status` is `setup_required`, agent dispatch from that client is rejected; run `aiterm-setup`. Hook status is not folded into `overall` in the first item.
### Local runtime error snapshot
snapshotの`product_version`は各recordの最終実発生時の版を表す。store v2は旧v1を読み取り、単発記録の版を保持し、複数回の旧集約の版は`unknown`にする。読取りでは状態JSONを書き戻さず、次のロック内更新でv2を保存する。consumerを先に更新し、旧writerの終了後に新writerを使う。v2保存後の旧版への切替は、製品のバックアップ復元を伴う。
`aiterm-runtime-errors snapshot` exposes a machine-readable, product-owned local snapshot for the dotagents factory adapter. Collection is fail-closed unless the canonical dotagents factory-reporter config is schema-exact, its host profile matches the executing OS, and it contains the JSON boolean `collection.enabled: true`; reporting fields are schema-validated but endpoints and credential files are never contacted, and the store performs no network I/O. The only accepted observations are three fixed codes owned by the core boundary (PTY dependency, persistence, and optional vendor launcher). Stored data is limited to fixed templates and aggregate metadata (SHA-256 fingerprint, count, first/last seen, status, and monotonic sequence); exceptions, stderr/stdout, stacks, prompts, terminal/transcript/event bodies, paths, and arbitrary context cannot enter the API. Persisted JSON is revalidated with exact top/record fields and a recomputed fingerprint before explicit DTO projection.
Consumer flow is `aiterm-runtime-errors snapshot`, then `aiterm-runtime-errors ack --cursor N` after durable ingestion. Operators can use `resolve|reopen --fingerprint SHA256`. MCP collection and diagnostic reads run in timeout-bounded child processes, so a FIFO or stalled filesystem cannot block terminal work; child failure emits only the fixed store diagnostic. Store mutation uses a bounded bakery ticket queue: every waiter owns a never-reused ticket containing PID, process-start identity, and an owner token, so dead owners are removed by unique filename without fixed-path reclaim ABA. The queue deadline measures lack of progress by the same head owner, not total wait behind healthy predecessors; normal polling uses the native process-liveness check and validates process-start identity only when a blocker stalls. Worker deadlines use forced termination so a SIGTERM-ignoring child cannot mutate state after timeout. POSIX state is atomically replaced under `$XDG_STATE_HOME/aiterm-mcp/` (default `~/.local/state/aiterm-mcp/`) with owner/mode rechecked on every read. Windows native uses `%LOCALAPPDATA%\aiterm-mcp\`; each DACL is rebuilt and read back as one non-inherited FullControl ACE for the current SID. Windows path/DACL/timeout behavior is covered by pure tests in this change; no new Windows integration success is claimed.
**Reporting to BugHub is off by default.** Aiterm sends runtime errors nowhere unless both hold: the user ran
`aiterm-runtime-errors reporting enable`, and a credential file placed by the BugHub owner exists
(`~/.config/bughub/product-credentials/aiterm-mcp.json`, or `%LOCALAPPDATA%\bughub\product-credentials\aiterm-mcp.json` on Windows;
it is read only when it is a regular file readable by its owner alone). The destination comes from that file. The payload is the
cumulative error codes, counts, first/last timestamps, versions, severity, and resolution marks; prompts, paths, and stacks are neither
stored nor sent. A separate process does the sending, never the MCP process, and there is no polling: a report is attempted when an error
is recorded, when a record is resolved or reopened, and when the MCP server starts (only while something is unreported, at most once per
hour), or on `aiterm-runtime-errors report` (once, at most once per minute). A record becomes acknowledged only after the response
signature is verified; otherwise the next attempt resends the then-current totals. `aiterm-runtime-errors reporting status` shows the
switch, the credential state, the unreported count, and the last attempt; `reporting disable` turns it off. Enabling reporting also
enables collection on that host.
### Interactive agent harnesses
`agent_launch` starts a selected harness's interactive coding-agent TUI inside a fresh persistent PTY and returns its `session_id`. The harness owns the agent loop, authentication, hooks, session, and transcript; `model` is independent. The TUI is a full-screen app, so read it with `pty_read({ screen: true })` for the rendered view.
`agent_configure({ session_id, model?, reasoning_effort? })` changes a running Claude, Codex, Grok, or Cursor TUI through the harness's standard controls, preserving the PTY and conversation context.
`agent_auth({ harness, action:"start"|"status"|"cancel", session_id?, cwd?, env_vars?, relogin? })`は、各harnessの公式CLIで認証を進める。Claudeは`claude auth login`、CodexとGrokは`login --device-auth`、Cursorは`NO_OPEN_BROWSER=1 cursor-agent login`を使い、資格情報は各CLIだけが保存する。Aitermは資格情報を読取り・copy・編集せず、独自OAuthも実装しない。`remote`は他toolと同じ標準対応。
`start`は、公式の状態が認証済みなら何も起こさず`authenticated`（`session_id:null`）を返す。`relogin:true`を付けると、認証済みに見えても公式ログインを開始し、`session_id`付きの結果を返す。別のアカウントへ入り直す時と、ログインの期限切れを状態から見抜けない時に使う。Aitermは資格情報を消さず、置き換えは公式CLIが行う。ただし、公式CLIがログインを始めた時点で元のログインを消す事がある（Codex 0.160.0の`codex login --device-auth`は、始めた時点で`auth.json`を消す。途中で`cancel`しても戻らない）。Claude CodeとCursorは、途中で`cancel`すれば元の資格情報が残る（無効な資格情報で確認）。
`status`（sessionなし）は、公式CLIに今の状態を聞く。
| harness | 聞き方 | 期限が切れたログイン |
|---|---|---|
| Codex | `codex login status`が「Logged in」の時、公式App Serverの`getAuthStatus`→`account/read` | `blocked`（`account`が`null`）。`codex login status`だけでは「Logged in」のままで見抜けない |
| Claude Code | `claude auth status --json` | **見抜けない**（公式の答えが`loggedIn:true`のまま）。起動は通り、最初のturnが認証の誤りで終わる |
| Grok | `grok models`（状態の命令は無い） | `blocked`（`You are not authenticated.`）。Grokは使えない資格情報を自分で消す |
| Cursor | `cursor-agent status` | `failed`（`Logged in (unable to fetch user details)`。期限切れか通信できないかは区別できない）。`relogin:true`で入り直す |
結果は`aiterm.agent-auth-result.v1`。`status`は`waiting`／`authenticated`／`blocked`／`failed`、`session_id`・`url`・`user_code`・`input_required`・`message`を返す。`start`のsession IDを保存して`status`へ渡す。公式HTTPS URLと明示device codeだけを返し、CLIの生出力・token・OAuth callback codeを結果へ載せない。`input_required:true`なら同じsessionの`pty_read(screen:true)`で公式画面を表示し、`pty_send`／`pty_key`で人の入力を中継する。
Grokには公式認証status commandが無いため、session付きの確認は公式loginのexit 0を正本にし、session無しの確認は`blocked`を返す。他harnessは公式statusも照合する。Claudeは認証後の公式初回案内を同じsessionで進め、選択待ちは`blocked`／`input_required:true`で返す。`authenticated`は認証結果であり、`agent_launch`の起動準備完了は別途確認する。`cancel`は指定した認証sessionだけを閉じ、資格情報を削除しない。
PTYが消失した場合は、相関記録の有無にかかわらず`status`が`failed`、`cancel`が既に終了・取消済みを示す`blocked`を返し、どちらも`session_id:null`となる。保存したsession IDを解除して`start`で再開始できる。生存中の通常PTYやharness不一致、記録の破損・読取り失敗はエラーを返す。
`agent_models({ harness, cwd?, include_hidden? })` returns the model IDs and reasoning efforts the installed harness offers right now, so a UI can build its choices from the machine that actually runs the agents. It reads each harness's own catalog and never sends a prompt or starts a turn:
| `harness` | Source | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `codex-cli` | App Server `model/list` | Per-model efforts and default effort. `include_hidden: true` also returns models Codex hides. |
| `claude-code` | stream-json `initialize` control request (the same `models` the Agent SDK's `supportedModels()` returns) | Hooks and MCP servers are disabled and the session is not persisted. `ultracode` is added to models that support effort and reported in `adapter_efforts`, because Claude Code accepts `--effort ultracode` but the catalog does not report it. |
| `grok-cli` | `grok agent stdio` `initialize` (`_meta.modelState`) | Per-model efforts; no session is created. |
| `cursor-cli` | `cursor-agent models` | Split into base model IDs and the efforts Aiterm can append as `<model>-<effort>`. `-fast` variants and IDs with an embedded effort are not offered; pass such a full ID as `model` without an effort. |
The result (`aiterm.agent-models.v1`) is `{ harness, source, harness_version, default_model, efforts, adapter_efforts, models: [{ id, display_name, efforts, default_effort, hidden }] }`. Every `id` and effort can be passed to `agent_launch` and `agent_configure` as is; `efforts` at the top is the union across models. An unavailable catalog is `MODEL_CATALOG_UNAVAILABLE` and a malformed one is `MODEL_CATALOG_INVALID`; Aiterm never falls back to another list. With `remote`, the catalog comes from the harness on that host.
```json
{ "name": "agent_models", "arguments": { "harness": "grok-cli" } }
```
| `harness` | Launches | Model behavior |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `claude-code` | Claude Code CLI | Claude catalog model; native effort controls |
| `codex-cli` | Codex CLI | OpenAI catalog model; native effort controls |
| `grok-cli` | Grok Build CLI | Grok catalog model |
| `cursor-cli` | Cursor Agent CLI | Cursor catalog model, including GPT/Claude/Grok; effort uses model parameter override |
The selected harness CLI must be installed and authenticated. Use each product owner's official installer and updater; Aiterm does not distribute alternate CLI tarballs. For Cursor Agent CLI, use `curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash` on macOS/Linux/WSL or `irm 'https://cursor.com/install?win32=true' | iex` on native Windows, authenticate once with `agent login`, and update with `agent update`; Aiterm invokes the unambiguous `cursor-agent` binary. Missing binaries, invalid model/effort values, unavailable Grok catalog models, and nonexistent `cwd` fail before a session exists.
Set `throughline_source_session` together with a non-empty mission in `prompt` to prepend
Throughline's read-only handoff context. This optional route requires `throughline >= 0.9.0`,
cannot be combined with `launch_operation_id`, and leaves the source session's database ownership
unchanged. Optional `throughline_supplement_file` is passed unchanged to Throughline and requires
`throughline_source_session` and Throughline 0.10.8 or later; Aiterm does not read or classify the supplement. Throughline is resolved through `THROUGHLINE_BIN` and then `PATH`; a missing or invalid
export fails before the PTY exists instead of silently launching clean.
When an agent's answer is longer than the on-screen tail (pane height ≈ 24 lines), callers recover it in full with `pty_read({ agent_transcript: true })`. It returns the most recently completed turn's final assistant message in plain text with no re-prompting. The existing human-readable content keeps its diagnostic suffix; machine callers read the answer alone from `structuredContent.text` in `aiterm.pty-read-result.v1`. Claude reads the bounded owner-only result captured by the launch-correlated Stop hook and verifies its digest/byte count; it never reads Claude's private transcript. Durable machine callers should use `claude_turn`: `issue` sends once, `recover` never sends, `pending` is distinct from unsafe or malformed state, and only `completed` carries the exact verified `raw_output`. Codex uses the normal rollout transcript's `task_complete.turn_id`; Grok returns the last non-empty assistant message after the last real user row, excluding tool-use preambles; Cursor uses the normal agent transcript bound to the launch ID and current turn. A turn that completed with an empty answer is not an error: `text` is the empty string and `answer_empty` is `true`, so callers can tell it apart from an answer that could not be read. Missing or ambiguous attribution, including an answer that cannot be located in the record, remains an explicit error.
### Completion detection (5 layers)
For PowerShell over SSH, `mark:true` recognizes the current standard `PS ...>` prompt and emits PowerShell syntax even when Aiterm runs on macOS or Linux. A prompt left in earlier output is not used to select the syntax.
`pty_read({ wait: true })` decides "is the command done?" via five layers: process exit / a `mark:true` sentinel / an `until` match / output quiescence with shell return / timeout. `mark` emits the shell's exit status on POSIX shells and `0` (success) or `1` (failure) on PowerShell; fish/csh/tcsh are rejected before send because they do not share either status syntax. When `mark` or `until` is active, that requested evidence takes precedence and a momentarily quiet shell cannot complete the read as quiescent. Agent sessions add a sixth exact layer: Codex observes normal rollout `task_complete`; Grok observes normal session `turn_ended`; Claude observes its additive launch-correlated Stop event; Cursor observes `turn_ended(status:"success")` in the launch-bound normal agent transcript. `aiterm-wait --cursor` performs that harness-specific observation without the parent blocking or polling. Pre-send readiness failures are MCP errors, and late completion remains recoverable without resending.
### Completion push for parent agents (`aiterm-wait`)
**Codex／Claude Code／Cursor親には子の回答本文が自動で届く。** Codex／Claude Codeでは、子を起動・dispatchした後は別作業へ進むか親のturnを終える。Aitermが完了を観測し、加工前の本文を保存して親へ渡す。waiter、`pty_read`による回答回収、子への返送指示は不要。子は全対応harnessから選べる。
Codex／Claude Codeの自動配送ではreceiptに`parent_delivery`が付き、`wait_process`／`wait_command`はnullになる。`pty_observe`の`parent_deliveries`で`waiting`、`ready`、`sending`、`submitted`、`failed`、`unknown`を確認できる。`submitted`はCodexの公式受信口での受付またはClaudeのhookへの本文出力を示し、modelの読了ではない。MCP再接続後は未送信の記録を再開し、出力中断で結果が分からない場合は本文を保持して`unknown`とする。自動再送はしない。
For queue delivery, use a Codex runtime that supplies MCP `_meta.threadId` and the official `thread/queue` API (verified with Codex CLI 0.154.0). `aiterm-setup` checks the installed queue entry point; Aiterm verifies the requesting thread before each dispatch. Codex native sub-agents reject external queue input and cannot be automatic-delivery parents. Steer相当の選択時も公式キューへ投入し、専用hookが同一ターンへ取り込みます。
Claude Codeは2.1.259以上の対話sessionに対応する。`aiterm-setup`が専用の`PreToolUse`、`PostToolUse`、`SessionEnd`を登録するため、Channelsの起動flagは不要。公式`asyncRewake` hookだけが裏で待ち、親はその間も次のturnへ進める。回答は`Stop hook feedback`として届く。hookのexit 2は親の再開信号であり、子の成功・失敗は本文の`outcome`で区別する。
`/clear`等の会話終了後は未送信の旧回答を送らず、本文を保存する。受信hookの上限は24時間。hookの終了・出力失敗・無効化を成功扱いせず、別の待機経路へ黙って切り替えない。Claude Desktopのチャット、Web、`agent_id`付きの会話（`--agent`起動とnative subagent）はこの受信契約に含めない。
hookを持たない旧版、または0.52.2以前へ戻す時は、install前に`aiterm-setup --remove-claude-parent-hooks`を実行する。Aiterm専用hookだけを解除し、他製品のhookと設定は保持する。
Cursor parents (`clientInfo.name` of `cursor-vscode`) use the same completion capture. `aiterm-setup` adds `afterMCPExecution` and `postToolUse` to `~/.cursor/hooks.json` and keeps every other hook and its position. A missing registration fails the dispatch with `CURSOR_PARENT_HOOK_UNAVAILABLE` before the child is sent. While the parent keeps calling tools, the answer is injected through `additional_context` on the next tool result. If the parent ends the turn, start the receipt `wait_process` in the background first; that receiver exits when the answer arrives. `wait_command` is null. `submitted` means the hook or the receiver claimed the text, not that the model has read it. No claim within 24 hours is `failed`, the text is kept, and nothing is resent. Remove only Aiterm's entries with `aiterm-setup --remove-cursor-parent-hooks`. Cursor Cloud Agents and Background Agents are outside this contract.
Claudeをリンク経由の`cwd`から起動した場合も、実体パスに対応する会話記録を参照する。
**For other parent hosts**, dispatch and start the receipt's waiter in a separate process:
1. Launch the child with `agent_launch({ harness: ... })`; every launch shares the normal project/user environment and adds only completion correlation plus lineage. Send a turn with plain `pty_send` (or `claude_turn issue` for durable Claude operations). The call returns immediately with an `event_cursor` in its structured receipt. If the child is still working when you send, Aiterm steers the text into the running turn instead (`mode: "agent_steer"`); the original request's completion then covers it, so no new cursor or delivery is created.
2. Pass the receipt's `wait_process.executable` and `wait_process.args` unchanged to a true argv process API. PowerShell 7's `Start-Process` is the exception because it joins `-ArgumentList` arrays; pass `windows_start_process_argument_list` as its one ready-made argument string instead. This invokes the bundled waiter through the exact Node runtime that is already running aiterm, including on native Windows where npm's human-facing bin is a PowerShell script shim and install paths may contain spaces. `wait_command` remains a compatibility display string for humans. The waiter observes the harness-owned completion source, plus Claude's additive launch hook, as a **pure reader** and exits with a one-line `aiterm.agent-wait-result.v1` receipt. **Exit ≠ done**: the receipt's `outcome` is authoritative (`0` = `done`, `3` = `timeout`, `4` = `closed`, `1` = error).
3. **親自身のforegroundでwaiterを実行しない。** receiptのprocess起動情報を、そのhostが持つバックグラウンドprocess APIへ渡す。親は別作業へ進むかturnを終え、process終了の通知で続行する。
4. Collect the result exactly as before: `pty_read(agent_transcript: true)`, or `claude_turn recover` for durable Claude operations. The waiter carries the signal, never the payload.
**If your host has no completion push** (no mechanism that re-invokes the agent when a background process exits), `--timeout 0` is a one-shot check instead of a wait: it scans the event file once and returns `running` (exit `5`) when the turn is still in flight, `done` (exit `0`) when it finished, `closed` (exit `4`) when the session is gone. It is deliberately absent from the receipts and tool descriptions — a host that *does* get pushed should be woken, not poll. An unknown session name is an error, never `running`, so a typo cannot masquerade as a child that is still working.
`aiterm-wait` takes no locks, never writes session state, and never dispatches — any number can run beside the MCP server and each other, and `pty_close`/concurrent sends are unaffected.
### Launch an agent on another machine in one call (`remote`)
Add `remote` to `agent_launch` and the same launch runs in the Aiterm of another machine reached over SSH. Entering the machine and starting its agent become one call, and completion reaches the parent exactly as it does for a local child. The intended use is sending the same task to Linux, macOS, and Windows machines in parallel.
```jsonc
agent_launch({ "harness": "codex-cli", "remote": { "host": "rabbit" }, "cwd": "/home/kite/project", "prompt": "..." })
```
- `remote` takes `host`, `user`, `port`, `identity_file`, `passphrase` or `passphrase_env`, and `ssh_options` (`Key=Value`). A bare `host` is used as an `~/.ssh/config` alias. Aiterm does not store or manage destinations; the caller owns where to connect and with which key.
- A plain `passphrase` stays in the calling AI's conversation log. Prefer ssh-agent or `passphrase_env` (an environment variable name). A received passphrase lives only in the MCP process memory and reaches ssh through `SSH_ASKPASS`; it is never written to state files or logs.
- The remote machine needs `aiterm-mcp`, tmux (psmux on Windows), and the harness CLI. The remote shell family (POSIX, PowerShell, or cmd) is detected on first contact. On POSIX machines Aiterm takes only PATH from the login shell, so CLIs under `~/.local/bin`, Homebrew, or nvm are found; on Windows it starts `aiterm-mcp` with the user's PATH as is.
- Pass the same `remote` to later `pty_send`, `pty_read`, `pty_close`, `pty_observe`, and so on. Session names belong to the remote machine and never collide with local sessions of the same name.
- Codex, Claude Code, and Cursor parents receive the answer automatically, as with a local child. Completion is observed with `ssh <host> aiterm-wait`, reconnecting at the same cursor if SSH drops. Other parents get an ssh-based `wait_process`.
- Calls to the same destination share one SSH connection through ControlMaster. `image` attachments and `claude_turn issue` are not yet supported with `remote`.
- POSIX SSH control sockets use a short private directory even with a long TMPDIR. Connections stay isolated by state root; OpenSSH closes idle masters and removes their sockets after 600 seconds.
### Token reduction
- `pty_read` by default strips control characters, collapses repeated lines, and folds long output into head+tail (with a restore hint and a meta line).
- `pty_read({ rtk: true })` further shrinks the observed output with a per-command reducer (`git status`/`git log`/`grep`/`pytest` and more) — a self-contained reimplementation that needs no `rtk` binary.
- `pty_send({ rtk: true })` rewrites a known command into `rtk` form before sending, so reduction happens at the source if `rtk` exists there (passthrough otherwise).
### Input and output
`pty_send` does not interpret command or prompt meaning; it delivers the requested text to the terminal. By default it sanitizes ESC and bracketed-paste terminators, while `pty_read` neutralizes control characters in returned output (`raw: true` keeps them unchanged). The shell, remote endpoint, or launched harness owns command authorization.
Each `pty_send` accepts at most 64 KiB of UTF-8 text. Sends to the same session are serialized across aiterm processes so chunks cannot interleave. Every OS pastes through its multiplexer in UTF-8-safe 256-byte chunks with a 10 ms drain interval; macOS, Linux, and WSL2 have all demonstrated silent middle/trailing loss when a long input is pushed without that boundary. Sanitized multiline text sent while a POSIX shell or PowerShell is in the foreground is encoded as one newline-free input (`eval` for POSIX shells; a dot-sourced, UTF-8 Base64-decoded scriptblock for PowerShell): the shell receives the complete script before it runs the first line, so a pager or REPL started mid-script cannot consume later lines as interactive keystrokes. Single-line input, `raw:true`, and non-shell frontends remain direct PTY pastes. Agent dispatches additionally wrap the whole text once in `ESC[200~/201~` and stream the wrapped text in the same chunks, so the agent TUI sees one paste (an image path is never split across pastes), hardening prompt injection against mid-word key-interpretation corruption and dropped submits. If a later chunk fails, aiterm reports the partial-send state and does not press Enter automatically. A lock left by a terminated sender fails closed before sending; use `pty_list` to confirm the affected session, close it with `pty_close`, then recreate the same session ID. There is no public kill-all tool.
## A human can watch
Sessions live on a shared tmux socket on POSIX or a shared psmux namespace on native Windows. The attach line printed by `pty_open` and `agent_launch` lets a human attach to the same terminal and intervene, including a Claude/Codex/Grok/Cursor harness session: `tmux -S … attach -t <id>` on POSIX, or `psmux -L <namespace> attach -t <id>` on native Windows.
## Requirements
- **Node.js >= 18**
- **tmux or psmux** (platform runtime prerequisite)
- **macOS / Linux / WSL2** run tmux directly. On macOS install it with `brew install tmux` (stock macOS ships none). If your MCP client is launched from the **GUI** rather than a terminal, Homebrew's bin (`/opt/homebrew/bin` on Apple Silicon, `/usr/local/bin` on Intel) may be off its `PATH`; aiterm auto-searches those locations, or set **`AITERM_TMUX=/path/to/tmux`** to point at it explicitly.
- **Native Windows** has no tmux, so aiterm drives [psmux](https://github.com/psmux/psmux) — a tmux-CLI-compatible native terminal/session multiplexer — with a per-install `-L` namespace. **psmux is not a shell.** `pty_open` defaults to PowerShell 7 (`pwsh.exe`) and never falls back to Windows PowerShell 5.1, PowerShell 6, or `cmd.exe`; if only 5.1 is installed, use Microsoft's official installer or package manager first. Install psmux **3.3.8 or newer** (`winget install marlocarlo.psmux`; 3.3.8 is the first release whose `pipe-pane` file sink, byte-exact `paste-buffer` wire, and foreground `#{pane_current_command}` behave the way aiterm's capture/dispatch paths rely on). [Git for Windows](https://gitforwindows.org/) remains required for the explicit Bash shell used internally by harness launchers; System32's `bash.exe` is the WSL launcher and is deliberately not used. Override multiplexer/Bash resolution with **`AITERM_PSMUX`** / **`AITERM_BASH`**. Other products consume persistent terminals through Aiterm's public API instead of depending on psmux directly.
- For **agent harnesses**: the selected CLI, installed and authenticated through its product owner's official path — `claude`, `codex`, `grok`, or Cursor's `cursor-agent`. Portable fork additionally needs `throughline >= 0.9.0`; ordinary clean launch does not. (Not needed if you only use the PTY tools.)
- Optional: the [`rtk`](https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk) binary (used by `pty_send`'s `rtk: true` delegation; works fine without it)
## Known constraints (by design, not bugs)
- **While nested (ssh / docker / REPL / a launched agent TUI), quiescence cannot fire by design**, because the foreground command is no longer in the shell set (bash/sh/zsh/fish/dash). When nested with no `until` and no `mark`, `pty_read({ wait: true })` returns early as `is_complete=False via nested` (rather than burning the full `timeout`, since no signal can confirm completion there) with a note to pass `until` (a literal substring by default; `until_regex: true` for a regex) or `mark: true` (an exit-code sentinel, auto-detected) for a confirmed completion. For a full-screen agent TUI, read `{ screen: true }` once its output settles.
- **`is_complete=False` is not a failure.** It means "completion was not observed within `timeout`." For long commands, raise `timeout` or use `until`/`mark`.
- **Agent harnesses run their real TUI; aiterm doesn't proxy the model API.** The selected harness owns model choice, authentication, and behavior. There is no hidden inter-agent protocol; the MCP client drives the Claude/Codex/Grok/Cursor TUI with ordinary send/read operations.
- **`pty_send({ rtk: true })` is single-line only and needs the external `rtk` binary** (passthrough without it). The `pty_read({ rtk: true })` reducer, by contrast, is self-contained and rtk-independent.
- **The `pytest` reducer matches rtk 0.50.0** on test counts and `FAILURES`-block formatting (locked by regression tests). It **deliberately preserves the full failure reason** on the `FAILED` summary lines (emitted under `-ra`/`-rf`), whereas rtk 0.50.0 truncates the reason at the first `" - "` — a readability choice, so those lines are intentionally not byte-identical to rtk. The `[full output: …]` recall-pointer line rtk appends on large output is not reproduced on the read side.
- **The `grep` reducer matches rtk 0.50.0**: within the caps it returns the output unchanged, and past a cap its grouped form is byte-identical to `rtk grep` without the recall hints. `git log` keeps every commit when you set a count (`-n`) or a range (`A..B`); otherwise it shows 10 and ends with `[+N more commits]`. Like rtk's `never_worse`, a reducer whose result would cost more tokens than the output is skipped.
- **tmux is started with `-f /dev/null`**, so it does not read `~/.tmux.conf` (to keep behavior reproducible across machines).
- **All sessions share one multiplexer endpoint** (`claude.sock` on POSIX, one psmux namespace on native Windows). The platform's `kill-server` command removes them all.
## Development
```bash
npm install
npm run build # tsc → dist/
npm test # build, then the node:test regression suite (requires tmux or psmux)
npm link # put `aiterm-mcp` on PATH locally
```
開発中は変更に直結する試験を先に実行する。GitHub Actionsは共通実装・CI自身・未分類の変更をMac・Linux・Windowsで検証し、
Windows固有だけの変更はLinuxとWindowsを選ぶ。版番号だけの変更はLinuxの配布情報・pack確認、文書だけなら文書検査を行う。
試験内容とOSの選択、週次・手動実行の範囲は[公開手順](docs/RELEASE.md)に従う。
`npm run release -- <version>` syncs the version, commits, tags, and publishes the GitHub Release in
one command; tag-triggered npm publishing checks only that the tagged commit is on `origin/main` and does not
wait for another CI run. The native
Windows runner needs psmux ≥ 3.3.8 and Git for Windows on its PATH, and must run as an
interactive Windows user; `NETWORK SERVICE` lacks the per-user environment the pane shell and
harness CLIs rely on and is not a valid runner identity.
Logic lives in `src/core.ts` (tmux control, reduction, completion detection, safety, agent launch) and `src/rtk.ts` (per-command reducers); `src/index.ts` is the MCP surface. The current architecture is in [`docs/DESIGN.md`](docs/DESIGN.md), the release procedure is in [`docs/RELEASE.md`](docs/RELEASE.md), and `prototype/python/` remains the reducer's historical porting source (the pytest and grep reducers are ported to match upstream rtk 0.50.0, except the deliberate `FAILED`-line difference noted above, and is locked by regression tests).
## Try it
公開packageを導入して、検出したAIへ登録する。cloneやビルドは不要:
```bash
npm install -g aiterm-mcp@latest
aiterm-setup --json
```
If aiterm let your AI hand a task to another agent — or saved you a round-trip of tokens — **[star the repo](https://github.com/kitepon/aiterm-mcp)**. It's the cheapest way to help others find it.
- **npm:** https://www.npmjs.com/package/aiterm-mcp
- **Issues / bug reports:** https://github.com/kitepon/aiterm-mcp/issues
## Shared agent environment
All harnesses use the caller's normal project and user environment. Aiterm does not copy,
symlink, filter, or replace harness configuration, authentication, MCP, plugin, skill, permission,
trust, memory, or history stores. Cleanup removes only aiterm-owned launch metadata and completion
correlation files.
The ordinary environment comes from the MCP process that opened the terminal, not from whichever caller
started the persistent multiplexer server (since 0.50.0). Every harness still accepts
`env_vars: ["NAME", ...]`; those names are placed on the launch command and registered on the session.
## License
MIT
TDQS
A3.6/5.0
Scored across 18 tools
Disambiguation3/5
The pty_* session tools are clearly distinct, but the set contains three legacy launch aliases (claude_agent, codex_agent, grok_agent) that duplicate agent_launch(harness=...), and approval handling is split across agent_approval and claude_approval plus claude_turn. Descriptions explain the overlaps, but an agent must decide between parallel launch/approval paths that do nearly the same thing.
Naming Consistency4/5
Predominantly consistent snake_case with meaningful prefixes (pty_*, agent_*, claude_*), which reads predictably. The deviation is the legacy per-harness names (claude_agent, codex_agent, grok_agent) that break the agent_launch pattern and the lone bare `diagnostics`.
Tool Count3/5
18 tools is on the heavy side for the apparent scope, and three of them (claude_agent, codex_agent, grok_agent) are explicitly deprecated aliases of agent_launch, inflating the count without adding capability. The core PTY and agent lifecycle operations justify most of the surface, but it is heavier than necessary.
Completeness4/5
The domain (persistent terminal control plus agent orchestration) is well covered: open/send/read/key/close/list/observe for PTYs, and launch/configure/models/auth/approval/turn for agents. Minor gaps exist around session naming/attach or generic (non-Claude/Codex) approval handling, but agents can work around them.
Maintenance
ActivityActive
ResponsivenessNo issues