Spawn a persistent PTY terminal session. Returns a session_id used by all other session_* tools. Supports interactive shells, SSH, REPLs, and database CLIs. Snapshot mode is always available.

Send input text, a control character, or a special key to an active session. Use control_char for signals (e.g. 'c' for Ctrl-C). Use key for special keys (e.g. 'up', 'tab', 'f1').

Resize the terminal window of an active session. Sends SIGWINCH to the process.

Read output from a session. Mode 'auto' (default) auto-detects TUI applications and switches between stream and snapshot. 'diff' returns only changed screen lines.

Terminate a session gracefully. Sends EOF, then SIGHUP, then SIGKILL.

List all active terminal sessions with their status and idle time.

Execute a command in a temporary session and return the output. The session is automatically cleaned up after execution.

Read output from a session until a regex pattern matches or timeout expires. Use this instead of session_read when you know what output to expect.

Send input and read output in a single call. Combines session_send + session_read to halve round trips. Optionally waits for a regex pattern in the output.